Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> FIFA announces 2026 World Cup winner will win $50M, up $8M from 2022 World Cup prize, but less than half of this year's Club World Cup award (More)
> Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz ends seven-year partnership with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who helped him secure 24 tour-level titles (More)
> Amazon MGM Studios drops the first trailer for Melania Trump documentary, premiering Jan. 30; directed by "Rush Hour" series director Brett Ratner, marking his first film since 2017 sexual misconduct and harassment allegations (More, w/trailer)
Science & Technology
> Google releases Gemini 3 Flash, which more than tripled the benchmark knowledge test score of the previous Flash AI model (More) | ... and enables Gemini web app users to build AI-powered mini apps with Opal software (More)
> Scientists deduce Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has a slushy layer beneath its ice—not an underground ocean as long assumed; finding could help narrow the search for life on Titan (More)
> Paleontologists exploring a cave on the Dominican Republic's island of Hispaniola discover prehistoric bee nests burrowed in bones of other animals; researchers believe the cave holds fossils of several never-before-characterized species (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -1.2%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -1.8%) (More) | Medical supply firm Medline begins trading on Nasdaq after raising around $6.3B in the year's largest initial public offering (More)
> Warner Bros. Discovery board rejects Paramount's roughly $108B hostile takeover bid for its studios and HBO Max, citing equity credibility concerns and preferring Netflix's $72B bid instead (More)
> Oracle shares close down over 5% as Blue Owl Capital reportedly withdraws from funding $10B data center (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> House passes bill to lower healthcare premiums; bill does not extend enhanced, COVID-19-era subsidies, due to expire Dec. 31 (More) | ... and four Republican congressmen join House Democrats to force separate vote on the subsidies (More)
> Dan Bongino announces he will resign as deputy director of the FBI next month (More)
> Nick Reiner makes first court appearance to face first-degree murder charges over alleged killing of his parents, film director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner (More) | Police continue search for suspects in killing of MIT professor Nuno FG Loureiro; attack believed to be unrelated to Brown University shooting (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
