Culture

Disney casts Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim in live-action Tangled

Movieweb reports Disney is moving forward with a live-action Tangled and has cast Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim as Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Michael Gracey is set to direct from a screenplay by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and the studio reportedly conducted screen tests in December

Culture

Amazon’s wrinkle-free travel clothes for winter start at $10

People reports that Amazon is offering a collection of wrinkle-free travel clothes for the upcoming winter holiday, with pieces starting at $10. The assortment includes cozy winter pants, sweaters, matching lounge sets and more — examples listed include the Wiholl 2-Piece Lounge Set ($33, orig. $47), Ofeefan Long-Sleeve Tunic ($10, orig.

Politics

Labor senator urges royal commission into alleged Bondi attack

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing growing pressure from within his party to call a royal commission after the alleged Bondi terror attack, with Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah the latest government MP to publicly back such an inquiry. Ananda-Rajah, a senator from Victoria who formerly served as the member for

Tech

Anthropic in talks to raise $10 billion at about $350 billion valuation

Anthropic, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence start-up that makes the Claude chatbot, plans to raise $10 billion in funding that would value it at roughly $350 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Talks over the financing are said to be led by Coatue Management, GIC and

Politics

Spencer Pratt announces bid for Los Angeles mayor after losing home in Palisades fire

Reality television personality Spencer Pratt has announced his candidacy for Mayor of Los Angeles, Independent.co reports. He made the announcement at a “They Let Us Burn” rally in Pacific Palisades, marking one year since devastating wildfires in the area. Pratt, known from The Hills, and his wife Heidi Montag

Culture

Cowboy Bebop adapted into a 60-minute cooperative board game

Cowboy Bebop: Boardgame Boogie is a 60-minute cooperative game in which players take the roles of Spike, Jet, Faye, and Edward, adapting moments from the anime into tabletop play. The reviewer compared its feel to titles such as Star Wars: Outer Rim, Firefly, and Tobago. Play involves chasing bounties and

Culture

Mad Men: Collider's 10 best Don Draper episodes, led by the finale

Collider has ranked the 10 best Don Draper episodes from Mad Men, placing the series finale "Person to Person" (Season 7, Episode 14) at No. 1. The list spans Don's journey across the show's seven seasons and 92 episodes, noting key moments such as

World

U.S. to withdraw from U.N. climate treaty, administration says

The Trump administration said Wednesday that the United States was withdrawing from 66 international agreements, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, the treaty that sets a legal framework for international negotiations to address climate change. Established in 1992, the UNFCCC provides the umbrella for annual

Tech

Google and Character.AI agree to settle suit over Florida teen’s death

Google and Character.AI agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused their chatbots of contributing to the death of a 14-year-old in Florida, according to a legal filing on Wednesday. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in October 2024 by Megan

Sports

Palhinha overhead kick not enough as Tottenham lose late at Bournemouth

According to Goal, Joao Palhinha scored his second overhead kick of the season at the Vitality Stadium, but Tottenham were beaten late as Antoine Semenyo — in what is expected to be his final game for the south coast side ahead of a move to Manchester City — netted the winner. Spurs

Crypto

Flowdesk: record demand and deeper liquidity suppress volatility in crypto credit

Flowdesk says record demand, met by even deeper liquidity, has reduced volatility in crypto credit markets. The firm said this liquidity depth has suppressed volatility across staking and stablecoin lending. Flowdesk linked the lower volatility to the combination of strong demand and deeper market liquidity. According to Flowdesk, these developments

Culture

Millions crash Netflix logging on for rumored Stranger Things episode

Movieweb reports that millions of Stranger Things fans overwhelmed Netflix by logging in en masse after an online conspiracy claimed a secret episode would appear at 8 P.M. ET on January 7. Theories circulating under the #conformitygate tag argued the New Year's Eve finale was a false

Politics

Renee Nicole Good, 37, mourned after fatal shooting by federal agent in Minneapolis

Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot and killed by a federal agent on Wednesday in Minneapolis and was being mourned as a cherished member of the community. Mourners placed flowers at a makeshift memorial near the site of the shooting. State Representative Leigh Finke of St. Paul paid tribute, saying

Culture

Bug cancels two Broadway performances due to illness in company

People reports the Carrie Coon-led Broadway revival of Tracy Letts’s Bug canceled two performances at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Wednesday, Jan. 7 due to an illness in the company; details were not immediately disclosed. A representative said Act 2 of the day’s matinee and the evening

World

Protests and strikes spread across Iran as judiciary threatens crackdown

On Jan. 7, 2026, strikes and protests spread to several major Iranian cities, and the head of the judiciary warned that crackdowns would be intensified and protesters prosecuted. Merchants and business owners closed bazaars in Tabriz, Isfahan, Mashhad and Kerman to protest the dire economy and plunging currency, and shops

Tech

Asus updates ZenBook A14 with Snapdragon X2 Elite and long battery life

At CES 2026, Asus unveiled updates to the ZenBook A14 lineup, adding a 16‑inch option and a new 14‑inch model (UX3407NA) powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite processor. The Snapdragon X2 Elite configuration uses an 18‑core CPU with 12 Prime cores and six Performance cores, and includes

Crypto

Investors struggle to file crypto taxes as CARF expands global reporting

Beincrypto reports that digital asset users are increasingly raising concerns about filing crypto taxes as on-chain activity and multi-chain trading volumes grow. The IRS treats digital assets as property, so gains are taxable when assets are sold, swapped, or spent and income taxes apply to staking, airdrops and similar receipts;

Culture

Friction-maxxing: choosing inconvenience to build character

A piece in The Cut by Kathryn Jezer-Morton introduces the term "friction-maxxing" and argues for avoiding modern conveniences such as ChatGPT, location sharing and Uber Eats in order to regain satisfaction and personal resilience. The article frames friction-maxxing as doing hard things that ultimately make you a better

Culture

Collider: No secret Stranger Things episode appeared on January 7

Collider reports that a weeklong fan theory claiming Netflix had hidden a secret bonus Stranger Things episode scheduled to drop on January 7 proved false: nothing new appeared and the published finale remains unchanged. The theory, dubbed "#ConformityGate," held that a concealed epilogue would recontextualize elements such as

Culture

Dawn French and Mark Heap lead BBC One sitcom Can You Keep a Secret?

Dawn French and Mark Heap star in a new sitcom, Can You Keep a Secret?, which airs at 9.30pm on BBC One. The series is created and written by Simon Mayhew-Archer (producer of This Country and Such Brave Girls) and directed by Simon Hynd (Ghosts, Motherland). Recently widowed Debbie

World

Authorities use force as protests spread in Kurdish regions of Iran

Demonstrations over economic conditions broke out across Kurdish cities in western Iran on Wednesday and were met with force by authorities, witnesses and rights groups said, even as Kurdish parties and exiled opposition figures called for a general strike. Protesters said security forces fired teargas, pellet guns and what demonstrators

Sports

Ben Chilwell sends emotional farewell as Liam Rosenior is named Chelsea head coach

Goal reports Ben Chilwell has sent an emotional farewell to Liam Rosenior as his ex-Strasbourg boss prepares to take charge at Chilwell's former club Chelsea. Rosenior has been named as the Blues' new head coach following Enzo Maresca's acrimonious exit, and Chilwell posted on his

Culture

No Season 5 Episode 9: Netflix to air behind-the-scenes episode on January 12

Movieweb reports that Netflix has confirmed there will be no ninth "secret" episode of Stranger Things Season 5 and instead will air a behind-the-scenes episode on January 12 that revisits the final season. The teaser released early Wednesday highlighted many of Netflix's big 2026 shows and

Tech

Ford to debut AI assistant in app in early 2026, bring in‑car integration in 2027

Ford announced at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show that it is developing an AI assistant that will arrive first in its smartphone app and expand into vehicles in 2027, and it also teased a next-generation BlueCruise driver assistance system. The company said the digital assistant is hosted by Google Cloud

Culture

Arthur Cohn, Swiss Film Producer and Six-Time Oscar Winner, Dies at 98

Arthur Cohn, a Swiss film producer who won six Academy Awards, died on Dec. 12 in Jerusalem. He was 98. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his son Emanuel, an actor. Mr. Cohn produced a range of films that earned Oscars, including the Italian drama The Garden of