A now a look at the stories making headlines today.
Michael Douglas fends off sexual harassment claim
The veteran actor says The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline’s competitor, is pursuing a story about him in which a former employee claims Douglas masturbated in front of her, used improper language in her company, and prevented her from getting other work in the entertainment industry.
Trump urged not to scrap Iran nuclear deal
President Donald Trump’s top national security advisers are encouraging him to comply with the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and renew temporary waivers for US sanctions against Iran ahead of Friday’s key legal deadline, US officials told CNN.
Thieves take millions in jewels from Paris’ Ritz Hotel
Three suspects were arrested at the scene late Wednesday; two others escaped with the goods, French police told CNN. No injuries were reported. Edouard Margain posted on social media a photo he took from his office.
By 2040, Islam could be the second-largest religion in the US
However, that’s not the whole story. The Pew Research Center combined studies they conducted in 2007, 2011 and 2017 with yearly data from the US Census (which does not track religious affiliation) to put together a portrait of the future of Muslims in America.
After Serena Williams gave birth, ‘Everything went bad’
However, the days and weeks following the September birth of daughter Alexis Olympia was difficult, according to a recent Vogue magazine interview with the tennis champion. When contractions began, baby Olympia’s heartrate plunged. An emergency cesarean section was performed, and Williams’ delivered her first child.
This Sea Turtle Population Is Almost All Female, Thanks To Climate Change
One population of green sea turtles in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is nearly entirely female thanks to climate change, according to a new scientific paper published this week. Unlike most other animal species whose sex is determined during the fertilization period, a green sea turtle’s sex is influenced by the temperature surrounding the developing egg.
Paris Thieves Steal More Than $5 Million In Jewels From Ritz Hotel
Two thieves are on the run from police after a major jewelry theft in Paris on Wednesday. A group of five hatchet-wielding robbers smashed the windows of Paris’ Ritz Hotel and stole the jewelry about 6:30 p.m. local time, according to Agence France-Presse.
Ricky Martin Says He And Jwan Yosef Have Gotten Married
Ricky Martin and fiancé Jwan Yosef have tied the knot. Speaking to E! News at the Tuesday premiere of ” The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story ” in Los Angeles, the actor-singer said he’s officially “a husband,” but remained mum on specifics of the nuptials.
Outrage Erupts Over Report That Mark Wahlberg Made Over 1000 Times More Than Michelle Williams
Celebrities are rushing to Michelle Williams’ defense following a report that she was paid over 100 times less than Mark Wahlberg to reshoot scenes of “All The Money In The World.” Sources told USA Today that Wahlberg earned $1.5 million for the reshoot while Williams only received an $80 per diem that amounted to less than $1,000.
Ryan Murphy Defends ‘American Crime Story’ Against Versace Family’s Claims, And Family Fires Back
The debate over the authenticity of ” The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” intensified Wednesday with dueling statements from the show’s executive producer, Ryan Murphy, and the Versace fashion house. The second season of the FX true crime anthology series explores the murder of fashion designer Versace (played by Édgar Ramírez) by serial killer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss).
YouTube Finally Punishes Logan Paul For Wildly Insensitive Suicide Video
YouTube is punishing its star vlogger Logan Paul five days after he posted, and later deleted, a disturbing video that featured the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan’s Aokigahara forest. YouTube on Wednesday announced that it will drop Paul’s YouTube channels, which have a combined subscriber count of more than 20 million, from its Google Preferred program, gaming news site Polygon reported.
What will President Trump’s medical reveal?
Donald Trump will have his first presidential medical on Friday – so what should he expect? When President Trump sits down at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, he will have good news and bad for his doctor. Firstly, the good. He doesn’t drink, and never has.
YouTube punishes star over Japan video
YouTube has cut business ties with a star of the video-sharing website after he posted a video which showed the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan. Logan Paul’s channels were removed from YouTube’s Google Preferred programme, where brands sell ads on the top 5% of the platform’s content creators.
California rescuer saves ‘muddy doll’ baby
A rescue worker has tearfully described the toddler he pulled from debris following devastating mudslides in Southern California as a “muddy doll”. Berkeley Johnson said the two-year-old girl was taken to hospital and suffered an injury to her hip.
‘Miracle’ pastor’s church shut down
Botswana has shut down the church of a controversial Malawian self-styled prophet, who claimed to walk on air. The government confirmed the closure of Shepherd Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering Church (ECG) in Gaborone, reportedly due to concerns over so-called “miracle money”.
Cheating and manipulation: Confessions of a gaslighter
Greg, a Canadian lawyer, is 28 but he’s already had 11 serious relationships. He says each of those relationships ended with infidelity, on his part, and severe self-doubt on the part of the women. He is a self-confessed “gaslighter”. “Looking back it’s clear that I was gaslighting the women and slowly making them second-guess their version of reality,” he says.
Unlike Apple, this phone maker put a fingerprint sensor under a touchscreen
With the move to edge-to-edge screens and narrower bezels, there’s just no room to put a fingerprint sensor on the front of a phone anymore. Phone makers have moved their fingerprint sensors to the side or back, or removed them entirely. But things don’t have to be this way.
This smart credit card has a cellphone antenna inside
Your credit card is about to get a lot smarter. Dynamics Inc. and Sprint announced at CES 2018 a reprogrammable payment card that can be used for a bunch of different accounts: debit, credit, loyalty, and any other transaction that uses a magnetic strip.
The cryptocurrency craze is causing a shortage that gamers aren’t going to like
High-end graphics processing units (GPUs) were already expensive. But now that they’re being used to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, costs are getting ridiculous. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (1080 Ti for short) is one of the best GPUs on the market right now for PC gaming, but the units are becoming harder to find as retailers can’t keep up with the increased demand brought on by cryptocurrency miners.
7 new spider species get their names from ‘Game of Thrones’ and other hits
Varys from Game of Thrones. Shelob from Lord of the Rings. And, of course, Charlotte. They can all be found in caves in Pará, a state in northern Brazil. There, scientists discovered seven new species – and named them all after spiders in pop culture. No, none of them eat hobbits, or befriend curious piglets.
Even Lupita Nyong’o can’t get her hands on ‘Black Panther’ tickets
If you were unable to get Black Panther tickets for opening night because of the pre-sale records, find solace in the fact that you are not alone. Lupita Nyong’o, who happens to actually be in the film, didn’t either.
India’s only openly gay prince is building an LGBTQ center at his palace
Every once in a while, design (and humanitarian) miracles do happen. In India this week, for example, the country’s only openly gay prince, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, announced that he would be opening an LGBTQ center on the grounds of his ancestral palace.
Bitcoin conference stops accepting bitcoin for tickets, oh the irony
The irony of a conference dedicated to all things cryptocurrency that’s unable to accept bitcoin payments for conference tickets is glaring. On the North American Bitcoin Conference ticketing page – where last minute tickets are $1,000 USD for the Jan. 18-19 event in Miami – an explanation for the “no cryptocurrency” policy cites “network congestion and manual processing.”
