Culture

Fans celebrate Game of Thrones' best additions not from the books

It's been almost seven years since Game of Thrones ended with possibly the most controversial TV finale ever, but fans are still finding new aspects of the show to praise. Despite the HBO show being notorious for outpacing its source material — which many think contributed to its downfall

Culture

This Mardi Gras in New Orleans Might Be a Bit Greener

New Orleans’s Mardi Gras has produced more waste in recent years, averaging 1,123 tons a year over the last decade, the Sanitation Department says. Grounds Krewe director Brett Davis called the situation an environmental catastrophe. The region is vulnerable to hurricanes and coastal erosion, and weeks of parading

Tech

Steam Deck Still Out of Stock; Valve Says Expect Intermittent Shortages

Valve updated the Steam Deck store page to warn the handheld is currently out of stock in some regions and will be intermittently unavailable for the foreseeable future. “Note: Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages,” the disclaimer reads. “Steam Deck

Politics

Trump Sought Vast Budget Cuts. Congress Granted Few.

Shortly after returning to office, President Trump proposed some of the steepest spending reductions in recent U.S. history, aiming to pare back core federal functions. Nearly a year later, Congress has rejected much of that vision, leaving many programs intact. Lawmakers preserved a wide set of domestic programs — in

Crypto

Bitcoin’s Safe-Haven Dream Is Cracking, Analyst Says — Crypto Eyes AI Era

Veteran analyst Ran Neuner and others are questioning Bitcoin’s long-held role as a safe haven and digital gold. Despite a weakening US Dollar—the US Dollar Index fell roughly 9% in 2025 and another 2% year-to-date in 2026—Bitcoin declined 20–22% YTD, trading for $68,255 as of

Culture

Sam Raimi's Send Help Surpasses The Cabin in the Woods at the Box Office

Sam Raimi's Send Help continued its strong run in its third weekend, taking in another $8.8 million domestically — a drop of just 3% despite being pulled from 500 locations nationwide. That small decline helped the film achieve a higher per-theater average in week three than in week

Politics

Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader, Dies at 84

The Rev. Jesse Jackson died on Tuesday. He was 84. His family said he "died peacefully" but did not give a cause. He had been hospitalized in November for treatment of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), the Rainbow PUSH Coalition said, and in 2017 he had announced that he

Sports

Flick blames Barcelona mistakes after shock 2-1 loss to Girona

Hansi Flick refused to blame a controversial refereeing decision after Barcelona's 2-1 defeat at Girona, instead pointing to defensive mistakes. Pau Cubarsi had given Barca the lead with a headed finish from a Jules Kounde cross, but Thomas Lemar equalised almost immediately and Fran Beltran struck the winner

Business

Why I spent my severance on a startup instead of an MBA

Sam Perry long viewed an MBA as a shortcut to senior corporate roles, but after being laid off in 2022 in his late 30s he chose a different path. Rather than spend his mid-five-figure severance on expensive degrees that might not guarantee a job, he decided to back a side

Culture

Styx: Blades of Greed review

Nine years in the making, Cyanide has expanded Styx’s scope without sacrificing its core stealth. The game shifts toward a semi-open world built around three massive, hugely vertical maps, and it still feels closely related to the level-based design of the earlier entries. Metroidvania-style traversal upgrades mean returning to

Culture

University of North Texas Closes Exhibition With Anti-ICE Artwork

The University of North Texas abruptly closed an exhibition by Victor Quiñonez a week after it opened. Quiñonez said he learned of the shutdown when students messaged him that the gallery windows in Denton had been covered and the door locked. Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá packed political messages

Culture

Best Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (Feb. 13-15)

With Valentine's Day tomorrow, it's a fine moment to spotlight video game romance. Not every title features courting, but plenty of RPGs let you wine, dine, and smooch your party members, while others let you watch relationships evolve for better or worse. This short selection highlights

Culture

Styx: Blades of Greed is a dense, inventive open-world stealth game

Styx: Blades of Greed pushes the series into a semi open world, knitting together complex bases into dense, sneaking-ready maps. The game offers a huge variety of approaches—decoy clones, cloaking amber magic, poison bile, bottle distractions and classic hiding spots—so players can tackle rooms and objectives in countless

Business

China aims for a bumper Lunar New Year to boost domestic spending

Chinese officials hope this year’s extra-long lunar new year holiday will lift the economy as boosting domestic spending becomes a key priority. The government expects a record 9.5 billion passenger trips across the 40-day spring festival period, up from 9 billion last year, with hundreds of millions of

Sports

Joan Garcia rejects Man of the Match tag after Girona defeat

Barcelona’s title defence hit a massive stumbling block on Monday as Hansi Flick’s side suffered a damaging 2-1 defeat at Girona. The result leaves the Blaugrana trailing arch-rivals Real Madrid in the race for the Liga crown. After shaking off the disappointment of Lamine Yamal's first-half

Culture

Tyra Banks 'very emotional' in ANTM documentary sit-down

The Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model examines the behind-the-scenes chaos and complicated legacy of the long-running series. Tyra Banks appears on screen, but the filmmakers say she had no creative control and will see the finished film like any subscriber. Co-director Mor Loushy said it

Crypto

Dollar Bearish Bets Hit 14-Year High: What It Means for Crypto

Short positioning in the US dollar has reached its highest level since January 2012, the Bank of America foreign exchange and rates sentiment survey shows. The US Dollar Index is down 1.3% year to date, and overall dollar exposure has fallen below the lows of April 2025 as fund

Culture

Linda Hamilton Cameos in the 'Dark Winds' Season 4 Premiere

The Season 4 premiere of Dark Winds included a brief, surprising cameo from Linda Hamilton, who appears as Barbara Sena in "Kǫ'Tsiitáá' Álnééh (Baptism by Fire)." The series follows Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito as they pursue a new case across the Navajo

Sports

Real Madrid need reinvention as special circumstances are needed to rule Europe

All eyes are on Real Madrid again but in a different way than the 15-time Champions League winners are accustomed. Every fan expects Real to be among the best eight in Europe, yet they are in the playoffs for a second season after a 4-2 defeat at Benfica in the

Sports

Bayern: Harry Kane's summer 2026 release clause has expired

Harry Kane’s future beyond the summer of 2026 may already be decided, with Bayern Munich appearing confident an extended stay at the Allianz Arena will be agreed rather than a summer move. Kane moved to Germany in 2023 and is under contract until 2027. Bayern supervisory board member Uli

World

Sheriff rules out burglary in Nancy Guthrie disappearance

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators have ruled out the idea that Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance was a botched burglary and are treating it as a kidnapping. He pointed to newly released security footage that shows an armed, masked person outside her home the night she went missing more

Culture

A Rio Carnival Party That Goes On and On

The square began filling well before dawn: some revelers in neon fishnets and glitter, others napping on the grass after a night of parties, and the musicians arriving last with drums and trumpets. It was the start of a roving marathon block party known as the Boi Tolo, a swell

Crypto

Kevin O’Leary Warns Bitcoin’s Quantum Problem May Be Bigger Than Expected

Kevin O’Leary said concerns about quantum computing are keeping institutions from increasing their Bitcoin allocations. He described quantum computing as a “new concern floating around now” and said the possibility of a powerful quantum system eventually compromising blockchain cryptography is enough to make large investors cautious. He warned that,

World

U.S. and Iran Resume Nuclear Talks in Geneva as Tensions Rise

Nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran were set to resume in Geneva, with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner expected to attend. President Trump said he would be involved “indirectly” and called the talks “very important,” stressing that Iran would not welcome the consequences of failing

Culture

'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' Hides Its Climactic Fight in Fog

Episode 5 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, "In the Name of the Mother," stages Ser Duncan 'Dunk' the Tall's Trial of Seven against Aerion, but the sequence unfolds on an unusually foggy day that makes much of the action hard to follow.