In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Disney becomes only studio to top $2B at the 2024 domestic box office, including three of the top five grossing films (More) | Academy Awards release shortlist of top contenders in 10 categories (More)

> UK court rules police can seize $3.4M from social media influencer Andrew Tate amid dispute over alleged unpaid taxes on $26.5M in revenue from Tate's businesses (More)

> Milwaukee Bucks top Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 to win the second annual NBA Cup, the NBA's new mid-season tournament; Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo named tournament MVP (More)


Science & Technology
> OpenAI launches free phone service (1-800-CHATGPT), allowing anyone in the US to call and talk to its ChatGPT chatbot for up to 15 minutes at no cost (More)

> Popular 2020 paper suggesting the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine could treat COVID-19 retracted more than four years after publishing; work is the second most-cited paper ever to be withdrawn (More)

> Lithocholic acid, a type of bile acid produced in the liver, has been found to have anti-aging effects similar to caloric restriction (More)


Business & Markets
> Grubhub to pay $25M to settle Federal Trade Commission lawsuit over allegedly misleading customers about delivery costs and drivers about their earnings (More)

> Merck signs $2B licensing deal to develop weight loss pill with Chinese drugmaker Hansoh Pharma in bid to compete with other obesity drugs on the market (More)

> Cloud AI startup Vultr raises $333M, with chip giant AMD and hedge fund LuminArx Capital Management leading the round; Vultr now valued at $3.5B (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> House Ethics Committee votes in secret to release report on its investigation into ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R, FL-1); release expected in the coming days (More) | Senate passes $895B defense bill raising pay for Congress members and junior enlisted service members, cutting transgender care for children of service members (More)

> President-elect Donald Trump selects former Senate candidate and NFL star Herschel Walker as US ambassador to the Bahamas (More)

> Russia says it has detained a 29-year-old Uzbek man in relation to the killing of Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's biological and chemical weapons defense program (More) | See previous write-up (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS