Movies may soon get more boring

VOX - Oct 6, 2026

An activist protests the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery in Hollywood on September 22, 2026. | Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here. The Trumpy tech billionaire Larry Ellison has wrapped his tentacles around the US branch of TikTok, an entire Hawaiian island — and now, officially, a very large share of the world’s news and entertainment production.  On Tuesday, the media behemoth Paramount — which is headed by Ellison’s son — completed its $110 billion mega-merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, in a controversial and hard-fought deal backed by the elder Ellison.  The merger combines a sprawling collection of brands, including HBO, CBS, and Paramount Pictures under one rebranded umbrella. It also concentrates much of the US film and television business in the hands of just five companies. Unions, theater owners, media watchdogs, and several state attorneys general were accordingly concerned: Combining two major competitors in any industry inherently concentrates power over what gets made, what consumers pay, and what workers earn.  Critics of this deal argued that, in the media industry, the fallout could be particularly intense. In addition to layoffs,...

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'Against all odds': Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike awake after failed execution
Oct 7, 2026
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Christa Pike, a death row inmate in Tennessee, is recovering at a hospital following a failed execution attempt. Her lawyers reported that she is awake and speaking after being unconscious for several days. Doctors say the extent of her recovery remains uncertain, and she might face a long rehabilitation process. Legal questions arise about whether Tennessee can execute her again after the failed lethal injection.

US death row inmate Christa Pike awake and speaking after failed execution, lawyers say
Oct 7, 2026
US death row inmate Christa Pike awake and speaking after failed execution, lawyers say

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Ludwig Shares MrBeast Request: streamer says YouTuber sought honest video feedback; jokes off paid promo
Oct 7, 2026
Ludwig Shares MrBeast Request: streamer says YouTuber sought honest video feedback; jokes off paid promo

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Cornell brings in ex-Justice official to review school's handling of sex assault claims
Oct 7, 2026
Cornell brings in ex-Justice official to review school's handling of sex assault claims

ITHACA, N.Y. — A former high-ranking Department of Justice official will look at how Cornell handles sexual misconduct complaints, university trustees announced Tuesday as they tried to address an outpouring of anger over allegations of a 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house. Sally Yates, who was a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, will spearhead the review, the trustees said in an announcement. The assessment is to include how the Ivy League university investigates reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment, what support students get, how the disciplinary process works, campus police responses and oversight of fraternities, sororities and other student organizations. The announcement comes after days of outrage and demonstrations over Cornell’s response to a complaint from a woman known publicly only as Jane Doe, who told campus police in November 2024 that she had been sexually assaulted by multiple Chi Phi fraternity brothers the month before after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs. No criminal charges have been filed. The Chi Phi chapter at C

The world has nearly burned through its oil stockpile buffer, executives say
Oct 7, 2026
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French riot police fire tear gas as more than 250,000 rally nationwide for school funding
Oct 7, 2026
French riot police fire tear gas as more than 250,000 rally nationwide for school funding

PARIS — Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and elsewhere in France on Tuesday as more than a quarter of a million people rallied nationwide to support school pupils demanding more education funding, according to government figures. The protests increased pressure on the administration of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron. As pupils again blockaded high schools, large crowds waving flags and placards gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown into a nationwide movement — the latest of many that have marked Macron’s nearly decade-long tenure. “We need to listen to them,” said Léa Monimart, a demonstrator in the northern city of Lille. “They are 17 years old; they are not completely clueless, and they know what they are talking about. It’s important to show that there are adults who support them.” The Interior Ministry estimated that 256,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, whe

Californians blast Trump remark that Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles, San Diego
Oct 7, 2026
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LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump suggested to a crowd of his supporters in Nebraska that Iran could "take out" a major U.S. city like Los Angeles or San Diego, drawing a swift rebuke from California's Democratic leaders and some fellow Republicans. Trump, speaking at a political rally in the state's farm belt on Monday, discussed American wartime economic sacrifices and said he was determined to "see a tremendous victory, because it verifies all the things we did." "And again, remember, with the war, it's just artificial, it's a little bit high, it's a small price to pay," he told the crowd in Grand Island, Nebraska, apparently referring to rising prices of fuel, fertilizer and other products attributed to energy market disruptions from the war. "It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, for keeping our country safe. They could take out a city. Let 'em take out Los Angeles, let 'em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it's going to be over with very soon," he said. "It's essentially almost over with," Trump went on. "But it's going to end very soon

Ukraine says S. Korea exports eased Russia fuel crisis caused by drone strikes
Oct 7, 2026
Ukraine says S. Korea exports eased Russia fuel crisis caused by drone strikes

LONDON/SEOUL —Russia imported more than 176,000 tons of petroleum products from South Korean ports in July and August, easing the impact of a fuel crisis caused by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, Ukraine's top sanctions official said on Tuesday. The supplies from South Korea made up 31 percent of Russian fuel imports in August, according to the official, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, citing what he said were reports that tankers, including ones under Western sanctions, were used for the deliveries. "These shipments began precisely when Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries were reducing processing volumes and creating a fuel shortage within Russia," Vlasiuk, presidential commissioner for Ukrainian sanctions policy, wrote on Facebook. His comments come amid a diplomatic row between Seoul and Kyiv that erupted last month when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, a step that Seoul says was meant to stay secret. Ukraine has used long-range drones to attack Russian oil refineries and depots this year in what

Ukraine fires nearly 900 drones at Russia as Kyiv braces for expected huge aerial attack
Oct 7, 2026
Ukraine fires nearly 900 drones at Russia as Kyiv braces for expected huge aerial attack

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian air defenses intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight over multiple regions of the country, as well as the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Sea of Azov, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Tuesday. Unconfirmed media reports said a major fuel depot in the Moscow region was on fire after the attack that killed two people. Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range drones and, increasingly, missiles have allowed Kyiv to hit Russian soil during the more than 4 ½ years since Moscow’s forces launched a full-scale invasion. It has hit targets as far east as the Urals and Siberia. The bigger Russian military’s air superiority during the war has made aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine routine. Ukrainian officials are now bracing for what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday is an upcoming “massive” aerial attack by Russia. “Today, we received updated intelligence on Russia’s preparations for a massive strike. We are preparing countermeasures,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “We set deadlines for a significant part of the ta

Wall Street rallies toward an all-time high
Oct 7, 2026
Wall Street rallies toward an all-time high

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What do we know about plague institute lab worker's death in Russia?
Oct 7, 2026
What do we know about plague institute lab worker's death in Russia?

MOSCOW/LONDON — A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia fell ill and died in undisclosed circumstances on October 2, prompting authorities to quarantine about 200 people and causing public health fears on social media. Here's what we know about the case, which officials have not linked to her work or plague, and about the disease she studied. What happened? Russian media named the victim as Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. The authorities said she died of an unknown type of pneumonia but that as a precaution they quarantined everyone who had come into contact with her. Unconfirmed reports of how she fell ill have circulated on social media. One version said she had dropped a test tube containing live bacteria at work, a theory rejected by Russia's health watchdog. Another said she became sick after travelling to Thailand. A third said she fell ill after going to an area near the border with Mongolia. There is no evidence in the public domain to support any of those theories. Did

Trump orders firing squad for gunman who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas
Oct 7, 2026
Trump orders firing squad for gunman who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has ordered the use of a firing squad to execute the former U.S. Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in a 2009 shooting spree the gunman later described as retaliation for U.S. wars in the Muslim world, the Pentagon said on Monday. Putting former U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan to death by Army firing squad was approved by Trump at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on X. Parnell noted that Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" — God is greatest in Arabic — during the attack, which killed 12 unarmed active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman, and wounded 32 others. The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution, Parnell said, adding, "Judgment day for Hasan has finally come." Death by firing squad was one of several forms of capital punishment the Trump administration recently added to permissible forms of execution for the gravest of federal crimes, along with electrocution and gas asphyxiation. The number of federal execution options was expanded in

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