Indholdsfortegnelse for December 26, 2025 / January 2, 2026 i The Week Magazine

The White House traditionally has a lovely Nativity scene as part of its seasonal decor. Made in Italy of painted terra-cotta and carved wood, the 18th-century Neapolitan crèche shows angels hovering over Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, with the barn animals and three wise men juxtaposed with scenes of life in Naples. It was donated by the wife of a wealthy industrialist and first displayed during the Kennedy administration. Since then it has been a focus of the White House holiday setup. This year, though, the entire East Wing—the usual entry point for visitors who want to see the Christmas decorations—is lying in rubble, so far fewer items from the historical collection are on display. Only a few pieces of the Nativity scene have been put up. That’s just as…

■ A Florida middle school went into lockdown after its AI threat-detection system mistook a student’s clarinet for a gun. After calling off the “Code Red,” Melissa Laudani, principal of Lawton Chiles Middle School, emailed parents to explain that the student had been “aiming” the clarinet as if it were a rifle. “While there was no threat,” wrote Laudani, “I’d like to ask you to speak with your student about the dangers of pretending to have a weapon.” ■ A New York lawyer is suing the IRS for the right to list her dog as a “dependent” for tax purposes. Amanda Reynolds says Finnegan, 8, a golden retriever, relies on her for food, shelter, and health care, with annual expenses exceeding $5,000. “Finnegan is like a daughter,” Reynolds said, “and…

Snohomish, Wash. Deadly floods: At least one person died in Washington state this week as unrelenting storms caused rivers to overflow and levees to break. Up to 100,000 people were under evacuation orders, while first responders rescued over 600 people in 10 counties. The record flooding led to mudslides, power outages, and washed-out highways. In King County, the White River broke through a line of barriers set in place in 2009 that were meant to be temporary. More rain and flooding was expected, and officials worried about the viability of additional levees nearing the end of their lifespan. A 33-year-old man died after driving into a flooded area around Snohomish, northeast of Seattle. His car was submerged in about 6 feet of water. Other people were “pulled off the roof…

Paul Anka was never shy about his musical ambitions, said Jim Farber in The Guardian (U.K.). Growing up in Ottawa, where his parents ran a successful restaurant, he’d make famous visitors to the family eatery listen to him sing. “I was always a ballsy kid,” says Anka, 84. While visiting an uncle in California at 14, he convinced a local label to cut a song he wrote. The track bombed, but Anka was undeterred. A year later, he lobbied his parents to let him go to New York City, where he smooth-talked execs at the new label ABC-Paramount to sign him. His first single for them, “Diana,” was just “a stupid little song about a girl who wouldn’t even look at me.” But it won legions of swooning fans. “I…

Allysia Finley The Wall Street Journal Is the Trump administration signaling that “MAHA actually stands for ‘Make America High Again?’” asked Allysia Finley. It sure looks that way. President Trump has indicated he will order federal officials to reclassify marijuana, now a Schedule I drug, as a Schedule III drug, which would put it in the same class as Tylenol with codeine, anabolic steroids, and other less harmful drugs with medicinal applications. The reclassification could make it easier to ship cannabis across state lines and obtain the drug with a prescription in every state. But a growing mountain of evidence shows that weed’s easy availability in two dozen states has made young people “sicker and dumber.” The psychoactive compound THC binds to brain receptors, and regular users show marked deterioration…

Editorial The Asahi Shimbun Have we learned nothing from the Fukushima disaster? asked The Asahi Shimbun. Japan rightly shut down all 54 nuclear reactors after the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered a triple meltdown at Fukushima. Since then, we have slowly brought several reactors back online with strong safeguards, although the company that operated the Fukushima plant, TEPCO, was not supposed to ever go back to nuclear power—it was allowed to stay in operation only to compensate the victims. Yet despite “lingering distrust toward TEPCO,” Niigata Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi has said he will let the company reopen two reactors in his prefecture. Hanazumi had initially claimed he would listen to public feedback on the topic, but the public is firmly opposed. Some 60% of local residents said they…

■ In states that allow online gambling, bankruptcy rates rose by 28% and debt collection amounts by 8% roughly two years after legalization, according to one study. Another study found a 75% spike in calls to gambling helplines and a 20% jump in sales of mass-market alcohol brands after legalization. Axios ■ The U.S. Mint has unveiled new coin designs to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, including a Pilgrim couple staring into the distance and profiles of presidents George Washington, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected all designs recommended by a bipartisan advisory committee, including images that honored the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, and the civil rights movement. CNBC.com ■ The Securities and Exchange Commission has stopped or slowed action on more than 60% of cryptocurrency…

JANUARY Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, capping an astonishing political comeback. Speaking to a dais packed with tech billionaires, with members of Congress relegated to general seating, Trump pledges that his second term will see the dawn of an American “golden age.” He signs a blizzard of executive orders: withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization; terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across government; and establishing a Department of Government Efficiency headed by Tesla CEO and Trump campaign megadonor Elon Musk. The president pardons nearly 1,600 Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot defendants—including MAGA supporters who attacked police with flagpoles and bear spray. Across the nation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raid the homes and workplaces of suspected undocumented immigrants,…

■ Did ChatGPT incite a murder? OpenAI is being sued by the family of a Connecticut woman killed by her son, “who had been engaging in delusion-filled conversations with ChatGPT,” said Julie Jargon in The Wall Street Journal. “It appears to be the first documented killing involving a troubled person” allegedly incited by AI. Police say that Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, had been corresponding with the chatbot for months about how he believed a “shadowy group” was watching him, and that his 83-year-old mother “was part of the conspiracy.” Soelberg posted screenshots of the chats on social media, and ChatGPT’s responses seemingly “affirmed that his mother had betrayed him.” The wrongful death complaint alleges that ChatGPT “never grounded Soelberg in reality,” even when “he asked whether he was crazy.” ■ Sanctioned…

‘Abracadabra’ Lady Gaga “There’s a lot of magic on ‘Abracadabra,’” said Kory Grow in Rolling Stone. “An immediate hit and 2025’s most inescapable earworm anthem,” it’s “a perfect Lady Gaga pop song,” a goth-at-heart club banger that nods to early hits such as “Bad Romance” while feeling fully of this moment. Just listen to the way the synthesizers “fade in and out like a slow-strobing disco light on a foggy dance floor.” And then there’s Gaga’s command: “Feel the beat under your feet; the floor’s on fire!” ‘The Subway’ Chappell Roan The vivid imagery in this “dream-pop stunner” of a ballad is “a big reason why it’s so relatably, palpably devastating,” said Jason Lamphier in Entertainment Weekly. “That and Roan’s voice.” The song finds the singer mourning a lover she…

1x Neo Home Robot It’s here—a humanoid robot that can perform simple household chores. But be patient, because deliveries ostensibly begin in 2026, and Neo will have to be operated by a remote technician before it learns to handle tasks autonomously. $20,000, 1x.tech Source: The Wall Street Journal Prada Robot Keychain Charm If you’re not ready for a functioning robot, this handbag charm can be consolation. It will also look better on a $20,000 Birkin than a $20 Labubu. $775, prada.com Source: The Hollywood Reporter Gondola Co. Venetian Gondola Thanks to an importer in San Diego, we all can now have gondolas of our own, built new in Venice with ornamental brass horses on the gunwale. $125,000, gondolacompany.com Source: NYMag.com Hyperboot by Nike x Hyperice “Arguably the wellness-tech launch of…

■ The U.S. trade deficit shrank to $52.8 billion in September, reaching its lowest level since the mid-pandemic month of June 2020, according to the Commerce Department. Imports grew just 0.6% from August to $342.1 billion, while exports rose 3% in the month, to $289.3 billion. The New York Times ■ Pay TV operators, including cable companies, satellite companies, and virtual multichannel video programming distributors like YouTube TV and Fubo, added 303,000 net subscribers in the third quarter, according to research analyst MoffettNathanson. It’s the first time the number of people paying to watch cable channels has grown since 2017. Ars Technica ■ The final sets of pennies made by the U.S. Mint before the government ended the cent’s production sold for $16.76 million at an auction last week. The…

“Some retailers woo shoppers with exclusive experiences,” said Suzanne Kapner in The Wall Street Journal. “Others give them early access to sales or collections.” But the department store Kohl’s has created a “cult”-like following through its Kohl’s Cash loyalty program, in which shoppers earn $10 for every $50 spent on qualifying purchases. Kohl’s Cash is “just as good as real money” as long as shoppers use it on specified dates. But there are few other restrictions, and “die-hard shoppers have turned stacking the coupons into a sport.” The competitive drive to earn deeper discounts appeals to Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, who has earned more than $300 million over his NFL career, but recently showed off a necklace that “looks like a Kohl’s Cash coupon.” Lisa Sass, a 34-year-old communications…

Founded in 2018, the Dallas-based nonprofit Elephant Havens Wildlife Foundation (elephanthavens.org) built and maintains Botswana’s first elephant orphanage. Baby African elephants abandoned from natural or man-made causes cannot survive alone. Elephant Havens’ orphans are raised and weaned by human handlers, then mature together in a 1,000-acre enclosure before being released as a wild herd. Staff members currently care for 32 baby elephants, living with them on the grounds to provide veterinary care and companionship. Elephant Havens also educates local communities about elephant behavior and works with farmers on solutions to keep elephants from trampling crops and harming livestock, which can be a source of human-elephant conflict. Each rescued elephant has a detailed online profile, and donors receive adoption certificates and regular updates as the calves grow up. Each charity we…

Javier Blas Bloomberg Don’t say it too loud, but the Suez Canal is slowly returning to normal, said Javier Blas. The critical waterway, which handles “about 15% of global trade,” has “been effectively closed since November 2023.” That’s when the Houthi rebels “started attacking commercial vessels in the southern mouth of the Red Sea.” The threat of further attacks “forced shipping companies to take the long route around the southern tip of Africa, adding 10 days of sailing time from Asia to Europe and millions of dollars in extra costs.” Officially, shipping companies say the canal route is still closed. But Houthi attacks have decreased since the U.S. brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in late September, and there is cautious optimism that the chaos in the…

What happened The gunman who killed two students and wounded nine at Brown University remained at large as The Week went to press this week, after authorities released a man the FBI initially flagged as a person of interest. Armed with a handgun, the masked perpetrator entered a lecture hall during a weekend review for an economics final and fired at least 40 rounds, killing Ella Cook, 19, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18. The assailant escaped before some 400 law enforcement officers swarmed the campus; he was seen in a few surveillance-footage images walking briskly away. The school was in mourning. Mia Tretta, 21, one of two Brown students who had already survived school shootings, said, “Once it happens to you, you assume it will never happen again. Obviously that…

Pivots, after reports that former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, now in exile in Moscow, is “brushing up on his ophthalmology again.” A London-trained doctor, Assad has “a passion” for tending to eyes, said a friend. “He obviously doesn’t need the money.” Fat cats, after San Francisco–based Okava Pharmaceuticals announced a pilot study of a GLP-1 weight-loss drug for felines. “I think this is going to be the next big thing,” said Dr. Ernie Ward of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. Active seniors, after Philip Rivers, 44, emerged after five years of retirement to play quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. A father of 10 and also a grandfather, Rivers led the Colts to a 16-15 fourth-quarter lead before the Seattle Seahawks won the game on a last-minute field goal. Despite…

London Trump sues BBC: President Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC this week, accusing the British national broadcaster of editing a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021, to make it appear as though he told supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol. The BBC pushed out two top executives last month after an internal review concluded its Panorama TV program had unfairly spliced two clips—one of Trump urging people to the Capitol, the other telling them to “fight like hell”—that occurred 54 minutes apart. The lawsuit, filed in Miami after the deadline expired in the U.K., is Trump’s latest demand for massive payouts from media outlets he says are biased against him. The network apologized but said there was no “basis for a defamation claim.” Paris…

For years, Kate Winslet has campaigned for women to embrace their natural looks, said Jonathan Dean in The Sunday Times (U.K.). “But I feel like no one cares anymore,” says the actress. “No one’s listening because they’ve become obsessed with chasing an idea of perfection to get more likes on Instagram.” Winslet, 50, says she winces when she sees women—whether on the red carpet or in her local café—who’ve had anti-aging treatments injected into their faces, making them all look the same. “It’s terrifying. I think, ‘No, not you! Why?’ If a person’s self-esteem is so bound up in how they look, it’s frightening.” Yet Winslet says that what really upsets her is not “all the f---ing actresses” but rather the world outside Hollywood, the “people who save up for…

Mona Charen The Bulwark “The things that are being done by our government to our fellow human beings are monstrous,” said Mona Charen. When its mass deportation program began, the Trump administration told the public that it would target “the worst of the worst—rapists, savages, monsters.” But new reports by human rights advocates say that to fill their quotas, ICE and Border Patrol agents have arrested hundreds of pregnant, nursing, and postpartum women. These women are “grabbed from their cars or workplaces by masked agents, hustled into buses or cars, and whisked to overcrowded centers,” where they are denied medical care and even water. Some sleep on concrete floors. In one Louisiana facility, “at least 14 pregnant women were visible.” Detained mothers have seen their milk dry up due to…

“Billionaires control the cable channels, social media platforms, newspapers, movie studios, and essentially everything else that we consume. The sheer scale of this wealth, which beggars even the riches of the Gilded Age, has induced a kind of class sociopathy. Why can’t they see how badly they’re coming off? For the first time, [polls find that] a majority of Americans believe billionaires are a threat to democracy. A remarkable 71% believe there should be a wealth tax. A realignment may be underway. A revolt against self-dealing elites may be the only cause compelling enough to bring us together.” Michael Hirschorn in The New York Times…

Thiago Stivaletti Folha de Sao Paulo Soap operas have been Brazil’s guilty pleasure for generations, and they’re not going to “die anytime soon,” said Thiago Stivaletti. The genre keeps reinventing itself, from the dramas of the radio age to the telenovelas of prime-time TV, and 2025 brought brand-new innovations. This was the year that Brazilians “fully embraced Turkish soaps” like Mother, the tale of a teacher who absconds with an abused student to raise her as her own, and Dolunay, which centers on an aspiring restaurateur who becomes a private chef. And we saw new formats: In the era of streaming, “long-running sagas” have been bumped aside for limited series, like HBO Max’s Fatal Beauty. The “addictive story” of a daughter seeking revenge over her mother’s unjust treatment ended after…

Editorial Swiss Radio and Television Yodeling is still as much a part of life in the Alps as cheese and cowbells, said Swiss Radio and Television. Herders have used the uniquely Swiss singing style, with its jumps from normal pitch to falsetto and back, for more than 500 years to call to livestock and to one another over mountain chasms, and now it has finally been officially recognized by UNESCO as part of humanity’s cultural heritage. Yodelers say they hope the newfound publicity will “counteract the opinion that yodeling is something old-fashioned.” The truth is, “there are no problems finding new talent” on Zurich’s vibrant yodeling scene. The Swiss Yodeling Association has over 20,000 members, and there are hundreds more independent clubs in the villages. Of course, there are some…

President Trump suffered a “highly public defeat” last week as Indiana’s Senate denied his demands to redraw the state’s congressional maps, said Mitch Smith in The New York Times. In a 31 to 19 vote, 21 of the 40 Republicans joined Democrats in killing a ruthlessly partisan plan to enable the GOP to eliminate two safe Democratic districts and sweep the state’s nine U.S. House seats. Indiana’s Senate leaders originally declined to debate the redistricting plan, because these maps are usually redrawn once a decade, not in the middle of one. But Trump is pushing extreme gerrymandering in several states to keep Republican control of the U.S. House in the midterms, and his “pressure campaign” forced the GOP to allow a vote. When more than half the Republican legislators said…

1 A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Knopf, $29) Megha Majumdar’s slim sophomore novel “manages superbly to be many things,” said Claude Peck in The Minnesota Star Tribune. In a near-future Kolkata where food is scarce and a climate shift is making the heat unbearable, a young mother is preparing to escape in a week with her father and her 2-year-old when a desperate thief named Boomba inadvertently steals the trio’s visas and passports. But Ma isn’t the type to give up, and as she scrambles to salvage her family getaway scheme with the days counting down, Majumdar exhibits “the eye and ear of a poet” and “the fierce morality of a Joseph Conrad.” A Guardian and a Thief plays out in “a week of wild swerves, both…

Hegseth preparing a radical restructuring of military Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning a massive overhaul of the U.S. military’s command structure, The Washington Post reported this week. In what would constitute the biggest reform to the military’s upper ranks in decades, officials are preparing to place U.S. Central Command—which oversees the Middle East and Central Asia—U.S. European Command, and U.S. Africa Command under a new organization called U.S. International Command. The two headquarters overseeing military operations in the Western Hemisphere would also be merged into a single U.S. Americas Command. The proposal aligns with Hegseth’s pledge to cut the number of four-star generals, and the administration’s goal of moving resources away from Europe and the Middle East. The Pentagon, said the Post, “has shared little to no details” of…

Billy Bob Thornton has dyslexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, said John Jurgensen in The Wall Street Journal, which has forced him to develop his own way to learn scripts. “I’ll skim a monologue like a speed reader,” says the actor, 70, “then I go back to look at specific words.” Because of his OCD, he has trouble with sentences that end in a “d” or “th.” Why? “What are the last two letters of ‘death’? What does ‘dead’ end with? It’s hard to not read those letters in your peripheral vision. So I’ll go through the paragraph several times until I can finally zip past that line.” It’s a “protective thing,” he says, going back to his childhood and his “very abusive” father. “He’d get home from work around 4 o’clock.…

■ Pamela Anderson revealed last week that the onscreen chemistry she shared with her Naked Gun co-star, Liam Neeson, was not just an act. Rumors swirled about the pair during a flirty press tour ahead of the film’s release, and Anderson, 58, confirmed to People that they were briefly an item. “Liam and I were romantically involved for a short while,” Anderson said, adding that she spent an “intimate week” with Neeson, 73, at his upstate New York home. She helped tend to “a rosebush overgrown with mint” in his garden, and the Taken star introduced Anderson as the “future Mrs. Neeson” when they dined at a French restaurant. After their week together, “we went our separate ways to work on other films.” Anderson said she hadn’t seen Neeson since…

Amanda Marcotte Salon The battle to inherit and control Charlie Kirk’s followers is tearing MAGA apart, said Amanda Marcotte. Popular far-right podcaster Candace Owens has spent the months since Kirk’s September assassination spreading conspiracy theories about the right-wing activist’s death. She’s implicated everyone from the U.S. military and Israel to people within Kirk’s own organization, Turning Point USA, despite zero evidence the accused murderer had any accomplices. Erika Kirk, Kirk’s widow and TPUSA’s new leader, has pleaded with Owens to stop her campaign. But podcaster Tucker Carlson has sided with Owens, while white nationalist Nick Fuentes attacked Owens in racist and misogynist terms. This “rhetorical slugfest” reveals MAGA’s “biggest weakness.” The online right is filled with hustlers who are “sincere fascists” but are more concerned with their own fame and…

Ioanna Liouta I Avgi Our government keeps bragging about how it has eliminated the budget deficit, said Ioanna Liouta. Good for it. But Greek families are “drowning in growing household debt.” Unpaid bills, even unpaid rent, are no longer exceptions; “they are the new normal for 8 out of 10 poor households.” Greece’s working class now lives “in fear of eviction, foreclosure, and power and water outages.” The rising cost of living is “crushing wages.” We can’t even make ends meet by borrowing, because banks keep jacking up interest rates. I get that the government is proud to be shedding Greece’s image as the basket case in the EU, the member that can’t pay its bills. That’s why it is crowing so loudly about its “success indicators.” Greece just repaid…

President Trump’s relationship with the press “has never been especially healthy,” said Steve Benen in MS.now, but now even writing about his health can get you branded a traitor. Trump, 79, last week blasted The New York Times as “seditious, perhaps even treasonous,” for daring to report that he was showing signs of fatigue and other age-related issues. The Times noted the president’s reduced public schedule, his tendency to nod off in meetings, his supposedly routine but “perfect” recent MRI examination, and the persistent bruising on his hand that he tries to cover up with makeup and bandages. Trump—the oldest person elected to the presidency—responded to that clinical reporting by posting online that no other president “has worked as hard as me!”; that he “ACED” three cognitive tests; and that…

“We are not at war, but we are no longer at peace either.” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, quoted in New Eastern Europe “If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.” Chris Rock, quoted in Inequality “I like work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” Jerome K. Jerome, quoted in The Hindu (India) “Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.” Dave Barry, quoted in Good Housekeeping “For America, our interests are our values, and our values are our interests.” Sen. John McCain, quoted in The Hill “My face has been my misfortune, a mask I…

Pebble’s new smart ring is designed to record your thoughts, said David Pierce in The Verge. Worn on your index finger, the $75 Pebble Index 01 has a microphone that you have to press to activate. There’s no “wake word,” and no possibility of the device listening to conversations that you’d rather remain private. Whatever you record is then sent to the Pebble app and transcribed. “It all happens over Bluetooth, though the ring has about five minutes of local storage” in case your phone is off. “The Index doesn’t even have a charger—its battery should last a couple of years,” so long as you only use it for a few seconds a few times a day. Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky said people should think of the smart ring as…

Helping the blind to see again Researchers used a wireless retinal implant to restore partial vision to people blinded by macular degeneration. The prosthetic device helped 27 of 32 patients who had geographic atrophy, a form of age-related degeneration that leaves people unable to recognize faces or read. The device works with a small camera mounted on glasses, which converts images into infrared signals projected onto the eye implant. These signals stimulate the surviving retinal neurons, allowing users to perceive blurry, black-and-white images. Training to use the setup takes months, but most patients felt the rewards were worth it, says study leader Frank Holz. “They could function in their daily life.” Treatment for Huntington’s Scientists dramatically slowed the progress of Huntington’s disease for the first time. The hereditary neurodegenerative condition…

1 Rosalía Lux “Mozart would approve,” said Wren Graves in Consequence. With her fourth album, the avant-pop innovator Rosalía has constructed a song sequence that recalls Mozart’s Don Giovanni, giving us a character tempted by earth’s pleasures and destined for a hard judgment day. But while the classically trained Catalan singer is backed here by the London Symphony Orchestra, “her tastes are too omnivorous to stay in one mode for long.” As she argues with God and sings in 14 different languages, she also “pushes the LSO in funky new directions.” The album “renews the idea of the operatic as popular art,” said Carl Wilson in Slate. “A soaring, international, multigenre, polyglot, feminist-spiritualist, orchestral Gesamtkunstwerk,” Rosalía’s big swing makes the music coming out of L.A. and Nashville look “practically parochial,”…

Warner Bros. Discovery urged shareholders this week to reject Paramount’s hostile takeover and throw their support behind Netflix, said Lauren Hirsch and Brooks Barnes in The New York Times. In a letter to shareholders, WBD said David Ellison, Paramount’s chief executive, “consistently misled” the company about whether it had the funding to support its $108 billion bid. Earlier this month, WBD “agreed to sell a large part of its business to Netflix” for $83 billion. Ellison “has refused to surrender,” although he lost a key stakeholder when Jared Kushner’s private-equity firm, Affinity Partners, pulled out. Ford: Carmaker takes $19.5 billion hit on EV pivot Ford Motor revealed this week that it will produce fewer electric vehicles than planned, a major strategy shift that will cost the company $19.5 billion, said…

■ Career ladder collapsing for women “Women are now leaning out of the workplace,” said Jeff Green and Emily Chang in Bloomberg. A stunning study released last week by McKinsey and the advocacy group Lean In found that 69% of entry-level, 82% of mid-career, and 84% of senior female executives reported a desire to move up, compared with 80%, 86%, and 92% of men at those same career points. The “ambition gap” reverses “a decade-long trend” in which women at least matched their male counterparts in their desire for promotions. Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In’s founder, said women have begun to rethink what is “worth chasing in systems that haven’t evolved to support them,” pointing to “waning workplace support and lack of affordable child care.” ■ Boom times for collection firms…

Charles Pulliam-Moore The Verge Disney is about to drag Mickey Mouse into the slop, said Charles Pulliam-Moore. In exchange for a $1 billion stake in OpenAI, “the studio plans to let users of OpenAI’s Sora video generator create clips featuring hundreds of Disney-owned characters,” from Mickey Mouse to Spider-Man to Yoda. “It’s not hard to see where this is going.” At its core, this partnership is about OpenAI scoring some much-needed capital. And Disney, which has quarreled with Google over its use of IP, is throwing its support behind Google’s main rival. But it’s hard to trust that this deal will respect and protect “the art and artists that have made Disney such a powerful company.” Sora is a stunning tool that can “turn a couple of text sentences into…

Stage and screen David Lynch, surrealist filmmaker who merged mainstream and avant-garde in Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and TV’s Twin Peaks, died Jan. 15, age 78. Gene Hackman, chameleon of a performer who showcased his range across dozens of films, including The French Connection and Unforgiven, died Feb. 18, age 95. Richard Chamberlain, The Thorn Birds heartthrob who was known as the king of the miniseries and came out as gay in a moving memoir, died March 29, age 90. Val Kilmer, smoldering actor who brought intensity to Iceman in Top Gun, Jim Morrison in The Doors, and Doc Holliday in Tombstone, died April 1, age 65. Ted Kotcheff, protean director who crafted 17 films over six decades, from First Blood with Sylvester Stallone to Weekend at Bernie’s, died April 10,…