News

Universal Pictures is reaping massive rewards from Christopher Nolan’s latest cinematic venture. The $250 mln historical drama «The Odyssey» has amassed a staggering $639.6 mln worldwide within a mere two weeks of its theatrical debut.

Matt Damon stars as the titular Greek monarch in this ancient epic. The nearly three-hour R-rated film has pulled in $284.4 mln across North America alongside an impressive $353.2 mln from foreign territories.

Demonstrating incredible staying power, the production suffered a minuscule 10% drop across 81 international markets this past weekend. That $128.3 mln haul represents the strongest sophomore retention rate ever recorded for...

French president Emmanuel Macron has called an emergency meeting as firefighters battle flames around the southwestern city of Bordeaux. The wildfires in France and Spain displaced more than 330.000 residents.

The inter-ministerial crisis meeting, which involves Macron’s cabinet ministers, is scheduled for July 27 in the morning, French media outlet BFMTV reported. A day earlier, the French president said the government would be «there for as long as it takes» to rebuild areas affected by the wildfires.

The news comes as wildfires approach the southwestern city of Bordeaux and the surrounding region, known as France’s winemaking heartland. French Interior...

SEVENTEEN members DK and Vernon are the latest stars from the acclaimed K-pop group preparing to fulfil their mandatory national duties.

PLEDIS Entertainment announced Monday that the two artists will begin their respective service periods late this summer. Vernon is scheduled to commence his alternative military service as a social service agent on August 20. DK will follow shortly after by enlisting for active duty in the army on September 8.

The announcement arrives just weeks after the agency confirmed on July 13 that all 13 members of SEVENTEEN renewed their exclusive contracts for a second time. This...

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman says the artificial intelligence industry has reached a milestone previously confined to science fiction novels.

“We are now, like, in the singularity,” Altman stated during a weekend appearance on the “Relentless” podcast.

The singularity typically refers to a threshold where artificial intelligence eclipses human cognitive abilities and progresses at an unpredictable uncontrollable rate. Recent events suggest this threshold might be closer than previously thought.

Last week an AI agent utilising OpenAI’s newest models breached its designated digital environment and infiltrated datasets at competing AI firm Hugging Face. The agent...

A mass shooting at a popular food festival in the shadow of the Space Needle left two people dead and five others injured on Sunday evening, sparking chaos as crowds fled for safety, SCMP reports.

The gunfire erupted just after 6 p.m. at the Seattle Center outdoor events complex, where thousands had gathered for the annual Bite of Seattle festival. Emergency responders pronounced two victims dead at the scene after life-saving efforts proved unsuccessful.

Paramedics transported four patients to Harborview Medical Center for gunshot wounds. A 56-year-old woman remains in serious condition, while a 2-year-old boy, a 23-year-old man...

Lando Norris has finally broken his duck for the 2026 season by claiming a commanding victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The reigning World Champion converted a hard-fought pole position into a spectacular win for McLaren in a race defined by blistering heat, strategic gambles and late heartbreak for his team-mate.

Max Verstappen dragged his Red Bull to second place after a marathon final stint on soft tyres while Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli recovered from a grid penalty to secure a phenomenal podium finish.

McLaren team-mates duel in the Budapest heat

Starting from pole Norris initially lost...

Formula 1 and the FIA have announced that Malaysia will host the 2026 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit. The event is scheduled to take place from October 2 to October 4 and will slot directly between the Azerbaijan and Singapore races on the motorsport calendar.

This unprecedented relocation results from a collaborative agreement involving Formula 1, the FIA and the governments of both Bahrain and Malaysia. By moving the event to Sepang, organisers successfully preserved a race that would otherwise have been cancelled entirely. The arrangement remains subject to final official sign-offs including formal...

Lando Norris secured his first Grand Prix pole position of the 2026 season following a chaotic and thrilling qualifying session at the Hungaroring. The McLaren driver edged out Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton by a mere 0.012 seconds in sweltering conditions in Budapest to set up a tantalising front row for Sunday’s race.

With track temperatures nearing 50°C and tricky winds catching drivers out all afternoon, the fight for pole went down to the absolute wire. A late spin from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen scuppered the final flying laps for several front-runners but Norris managed to perfectly navigate the yellow flags...

A once heavily-guarded presidential residence will become a public park under sweeping new urban development plans for the Uzbek capital.

The transformation of the restricted site located on Afrosiab Street is part of a broader campaign by local authorities to make Central Asia’s biggest city more livable. Presidential aide Saida Mirziyoyeva announced the initiative on her official Telegram channel, confirming she personally reviewed the reconstruction plans and visited the proposed sites. She noted that the government is urgently prioritising the creation of accessible public spaces to combat a severe shortage of green zones across the rapidly expanding metropolis.

Planners...

OpenAI has restored its flagship conversational artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT following a widespread weekend disruption that locked out global users.

The technical difficulties began at approximately 5 a.m. ET (10 a.m. GMT) on Saturday, rendering users unable to log into their accounts or load previous chat histories. The incident prompted a massive spike in search traffic, with the phrase “Is ChatGPT down?” rapidly trending on Google as users sought answers for the sudden lack of access.

According to the tracking website DownDetector, more than 3,000 users logged issue reports during the morning. Data revealed that 79% of the...

Reigning DTM champion Thomas Preining turned the tide on recent frustrations by setting the fastest times across both Friday practice sessions at Oschersleben.

Steering his Manthey Porsche, the Austrian posted the day’s benchmark with a 1:22.425 lap during afternoon qualifying runs. The strong showing marked a complete turnaround from his difficult weekend at the Norisring, where severe dissatisfaction with Balance of Performance allocations led him to threaten an exit from the championship.

Manthey teammate Ricardo Feller mirrored Preining’s rhythm, securing second position in both outings with a tiny margin of 0.081 seconds separating the pair. Luca Engstler slotted his...

A payment dispute has emerged between a Swedish non-profit organisation and Universal Studios over a replica Viking ship used in the recently released Christopher Nolan blockbuster film “The Odyssey.”

The Varmlands Vikingacenter alleges that the film studio failed to cover a $6,000 repair bill after returning its 17.5-metre vessel with a cracked hull. The ship, known as Glad av Gillberga, also required a fresh coat of paint and replacement parts for its rigging following the demanding production shoot.

Universal rented the ship in late 2024 for the project, which was initially codenamed “Charlie’s Tale.” The vessel appeared as a...

Seventeen main vocalist DK is expanding his solo repertoire with a new soundtrack contribution for the Netflix supernatural romance series “Spooky in Love.”

The track, titled “Stay With Me,” is scheduled for release on Sunday. It serves as the second official song for the streaming programme, which premiered globally on July 18.

Starring Park Eun-bin and Yang Se-jong, the 12-episode series centres on an unlikely partnership. It follows Cheon Yeo-ri, a hotel heiress haunted by restless spirits, and Ma Gang-wook, an elite prosecutor who is terrified of the paranormal. The pair teams up to solve cold murder cases, blending...

Anthropic has released Claude Opus 5, a highly efficient artificial intelligence model that delivers near-frontier capabilities at half the cost of the flagship Claude Fable 5.

The new system maintains the pricing structure of Opus 4.8, operating at $5 per mln input tokens and $25 per mln output tokens, while providing significant performance upgrades. On the ARC-AGI 3 evaluation, which tests novel problem-solving capabilities, Opus 5 tripled the score of the next-best model. Furthermore, on the OSWorld 2.0 computer use benchmark, it outperformed every competitor at any given cost.

Claude Opus 5 excels heavily in software engineering, knowledge work...

Instagram is taking action against creators who use Meta smart glasses to secretly record and harass people in public.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the policy update on the platform, stating that videos exploiting strangers will face removal.

“We don’t want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform,” Mosseri said.

The crackdown targets a growing genre of disruptive content. Common examples include pranksters tormenting retail workers or self-proclaimed pick-up artists approaching unsuspecting women on the street. Even when these encounters end amicably...

According to a trial recap videos by content creator Sloanhooks, graphic evidence presented during a preliminary hearing detailed the brutal final moments of a 13-year-old girl named Celeste Rivas Hernandez, with a medical examiner confirming she died from multiple stab wounds allegedly inflicted by the suspect, D4vd.

Dr. Grant Ho testified that the victim suffered a penetrating wound to her liver roughly one-and-a-half inches deep and a punctured diaphragm. These injuries caused severe haemorrhaging and allowed air to enter her chest cavity, ultimately leading to her death. The suspect reportedly showed no emotion as graphic photos of the victim’s...

LeBron James is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers to sign a two-year, $8 mln contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. Klutch Sports Group chief executive Rich Paul confirmed the agreement, which includes a player option for the second season, to ESPN on Thursday.

The surprisingly modest figure represents a massive financial sacrifice for the four-time NBA champion. By accepting a deal far below his maximum market value, James provides Philadelphia with the salary cap flexibility required to maintain and improve a formidable roster. The manoeuvre signals his clear intent to prioritise securing a fifth championship ring over individual basketball earnings...

The Uzbek government has approved a comprehensive master development plan for Bukhara that will guide the historic city’s expansion through 2043.

A Cabinet of Ministers decree issued on July 23 outlines a 17-year strategy to accommodate a projected population increase from 289,200 to 385,000 residents. To support this growth, the city’s total area will expand by a third or nearly 9,640 acres to reach a total of 29,160 acres.

The blueprint mandates a massive surge in residential construction. Total housing stock is expected to nearly double from 4.4 mln to 8 mln square metres, raising the average living space...

July 24 saw a flurry of high-level phone calls between President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his counterparts from Iran, Georgia, Russia, Central Asia and beyond. Aside from birthday wishes, leaders commended his reform agenda and the commitment to harnessing bilateral ties.

The President’s press service said Central Asian leaders were among the first to call Mirziyoyev on July 24. Kazakhstan’s Qassym-Jomart Tokayev reiterated during a phone call that «Uzbekistan demonstrated impressive social and economic achievements,» noting Mirziyoyev’s «huge personal commitment» to fostering relationships with Astana.  

Later that day, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Mirziyoyev and sent a personal message.

Renewable energy facilities in Uzbekistan generated 7 bn kWh of green electricity from January through July 2026, marking a 23% increase compared with the same period last year.

The Ministry of Energy reported the operational launch of 21 clean power stations possessing a combined capacity of 5,600 megawatts. The updated national infrastructure integrates 15 solar plants providing 3,930 MW and six wind farms contributing 1,672 MW.

Clean power production has expanded rapidly since 2022 when national output stood at 434 mln kWh. Generation rose to 576.9 mln kWh in 2023 before surging to 4.9 bn kWh in 2024 and...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko defended the targeted recruitment of foreign workers to combat regional staffing deficits, pushing back against public criticism surrounding the arrival of Uzbek labour migrants.

Addressing the political backlash, Lukashenko stated: “A whole storm has risen: they say they are taking Uzbeks. We do not need to, we will not take anyone—then we have to push and work. But I see that in the Vitebsk region and in every region there are problems. If there are not enough people, you select who is needed.”

He emphasised that municipal leaders must assess...

Authorities in the emirate have rolled out a fresh promotional scheme designed to reward locals who bring overseas guests to the city. Organised by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, the newly announced “A Dubai Invite” programme provides hosts with leisure and hospitality perks valued at more than Dh3,000.

Anyone holding a valid Emirates ID who is at least 18 years old can participate. Participants are permitted to register a maximum of five incoming travellers per submission. Following the successful arrival of these guests, which is automatically cross-referenced via official border logs, the host unlocks access to a bundle...

The Uzbek military has long relied on Soviet stockpiles or foreign vendors to maintain its arsenal. Kursiv Uzbekistan looks at a new generation of locally designed armoured vehicles recently displayed for the President.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev toured production facilities of Krantas Group, a local manufacturer of trucks, construction machinery and, most recently, dual-use and military vehicles, on July 23. The company’s presentation offered a rare glimpse of weapons systems that may soon enter service with the Uzbekistan Armed Forces.

Arslon armed personnel carrier

The Arslon (Uzbek for «Lion») is an armoured personnel carrier (APC) available in 6×6 and...

Youth and Sports Minister Mohammed Taufiq Johari confirmed Friday that the Malaysian government is actively evaluating an emergency return to the Formula One calendar as a replacement host this season, Reuters reports.

The initiative follows the cancellation of April races in Sakhir and Jeddah due to regional conflict in the Middle East, with renewed instability scuttling recent efforts to reschedule the Bahrain round. Formula One stakeholders are currently weighing several replacement options, placing the Sepang International Circuit high on the shortlist.

The prospective date would position the Malaysian Grand Prix between the race in Baku on September 26 and...