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Confirmed: Barcelona starting line up to face Valencia

Barcelona are looking for their fourth consecutive victory this season as they take on Valencia at the Mestalla this afternoon.Ahead of this clash, Barcelona have unveiled their starting eleven that w...

Sep 6 • 9:20 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Early Scale: EU's MDR delay shifts medtech timelines to 2028

EU extends MDR deadline to 2028. Medtech must prioritize digital commissioning. AI adoption universal but ROI low; CMOs face surprise AI bills.

Sep 6 • 6:00 AM EDT • Business • marketscale.com

Iran Urges BRICS to Prosecute War Criminals

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Judiciary chief called on BRICS members to condemn violations of Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and use universal jurisdiction to pursue those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during two wars of aggression against Iran.

Sep 5 • 7:21 AM EDT • Politics • tasnimnews.ir

Barcelona midfielder eyeing special milestone against Valencia

Rodri’s inclusion into Hansi Flick’s plans has been measured and cautious, for the manager is aware of the player’s fitness struggles and recent injury history.When fit, there is no doubt that t...

Sep 5 • 5:05 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Barcelona’s new captain hierarchy confirmed with one surprise addition

Barcelona have finalised their captaincy structure for the 2026/27 season, with Lamine Yamal making a major leap into the leadership group despite being only 19.According to Mundo Deportivo, Hansi Fli...

Sep 5 • 2:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Fierce Battle For Kids’ Eyeballs...Plus Two “Devils” Face Off

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) During the week of this report, Spider-Man: Brand New Day hit theaters and went on to become one of the biggest films of all time. So, you know what that means! It’s time for a poll! Recently, Project Hail Mary came to Prime Video and became a top five film for them, but didn’t smash streaming records, a feat I cautiously thought it could accomplish. Can Spider-Man 4 do better? To set the stakes, some of the biggest films of all time do just okay on streaming. Wicked, Top Gun: Maverick, and Barbie come to mind... But unlike those films, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a Sony film which means it’s headed to Netflix, the world’s largest streamer. Now, per friend of the newsletter and my go-to Netflix expert, Kasey Moore of What’s on Netflix, Sony films usually appear on Netflix 120 days after they premiere, which means Spidey 4 would land on Netflix on, checks notes, 28-November, one of the two biggest streaming weekends of the year! But Sony occasionally delays its biggest hits for a bit longer, to give them more time to make money on PVOD, so Spider-Man: Brand New Day might not swing onto Netflix until late December or even February 2027. Loading... Okay, on to this week’s issue. Since The Super Mario Galaxy Movie made its way to Peacock, I’m looking at the true workhorse of streaming viewership: kids films. And the surprising film that bested most Netflix animated movies. All that, plus Hulu has a new show that might be a hit (for them…?), two “Devils” square off on streaming, Zendaya tries to find some streaming magic, Netflix’s I Will Find You continues to do well, House of the Dragon tries to break into the season three top ten, some big NBC sports and summer programs, what friendly neighborhood Spider-Man character actually generates the most viewership on streaming, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of July 27th to August 2nd, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - As The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Hits Peacock, How Have Kids Films Fared in 2026? Like Mario hopping on a Koopa, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie landed on Peacock on 30-July. (Yeah, I kinda forced that Mario reference.) How did it do? Great, just like the first film. It got 13.0 million hours on its opening, and that’s good enough to take second place among Peacock films on the Nielsen charts all time: As I mention all the time, Peacock just isn’t the world’s biggest streamer—in fact, nowhere close—so its films struggle to put up numbers like Netflix (or even Prime Video and Disney+). So this is a solid debut for that streamer. And as we saw last time, The Super Mario Bros. Movie had a HUGE second life on Netflix when it moved streamers. This chart doesn’t even show how long the first Mario lasted on Netflix: a whopping, KPop-esque 31 weeks. For NBCUniversal, though, the big win was the second Mario movie grossing $429 million in America and over $1 billion globally. But yeah, to add a very strong streaming performance only makes its success even greater. Illumination pretty clearly has another hit franchise on their hands. This is a good time, though, to check in on kids films so far in 2026. We’ve had a few big, big titles, a rare Netflix success, and some disappointments. Let’s start with the top animated films since November of 2025, over their first four weeks on the charts, along with a few of the “best all time” animated films: (As a reminder, if a film doesn’t make the Nielsen top ten lists, I don’t have data for it, so it gets a “zero” in terms of viewership. Now, it had some viewership, but I don’t know what it is, so it gets a zero.) I added a few titles to get an idea of what the best of the best looks like in terms of animation. And you can see, through four weeks, Zootopia 2 can now claim “one of the biggest streaming films of all time” titles. GOAT too did surprisingly well, besting Netflix’s biggest films (Swapped and In Your Dreams) through four weeks. When I’ve talked about how films can have varying performances on streaming compared to their box office, this is what I mean. Goat just managed to gross even $103 million at the box office—so it’s popular, but just barely—but did very well on streaming. Of course, what set Encanto and KPop Demon Hunters apart from the rest was their absolutely insane longevity. Here are the kids film charts through eight weeks to show that: And really KPop Demon Hunters just kept going, and no 2025 or 2026 kids films have had that sort of longevity. I can’t wait to see the sequel in theaters. Film - Two Devils and a Drama As I wrote last week, in the past, theatrical-first film flops weren’t eligible for “Miss of the Week” or “Miss of the Year” honors/dishonors, but since so many more films go to theaters first these days, I’ve made them eligible now! But it’s complicated. You see, this is a Streaming Ratings Report, emphasis on streaming, which makes analyzing this week’s two biggest streaming misses—The Drama on HBO Max (A24’s dramedy starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson) and Prime Video’s The Devil Mouth (a killer shark movie starring young attractive people)—somewhat tricky. The Drama isn’t eligible for Luminate, but The Devil’s Mouth only had 1.5 million hours in its first week: The Devil’s Mouth notched 5.2 million hours according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, The Drama missed the charts entirely. Not great! But Prime Video is a much bigger streamer than HBO Max. That said, HBO Max titles are on Prime Video, but I think Prime Video prioritizes their original/exclusive titles, which helps boost their viewership. Complicating this further, The Drama made $48 million in the US—while A24 sells foreign distribution; the $57 million of overseas grosses helps A24 sell overseas rights for money in the future—off of a $28 million budget (which seems low for Zendaya and Pattinson, so they might have backend). The Devil’s Mouth, though, had zero dollars at the box office. The other stats for The Devil’s Mouth are bleak, and by “bleak”, I mean horrendous: a 4.7 on 15K reviews on IMDb (yikes) and a 46 on Metacritic (double yikes). The Drama, though buzzy online, only has a solid (but far from elite) 7.1 IMDb score on 121K reviews and a 59 on Metacritic (which is far, far lower than I’d have guessed). So which film is the “Miss of the Week”? I’m giving it to The Devil’s Mouth for one simple reason: it’s a horror film. And almost all horror films, even poorly reviewed horror films, should get a shot in theaters to at least try to recoup some of their budgets. The Drama made money at the box office and The Devil’s Mouth didn’t. It’s just like the situation last issue with Obsession and Masters of the Universe. Sure, Obsession didn’t pop on the streaming charts, but at least it already made it money at the box office. And as we’ve been seeing for years now and we’ll see all fall, theatrical films just do better on streaming. After all, the big “devil” winner this week was actually The Devil Wears Prada 2 with 14.8 million hours according to Nielsen. That’s right, The Devil Wears Prada 2—one of the box office success stories of May—came to streaming and parlayed its $220 million box office into 14.8 million Nielsen hours. Disney also put out a datecdote that it had 15.2 million “views” globally in five days, but again we don’t have a lot of great context for what that means. Here’s how it stacks up to other Hulu films, since I’m categorizing this mainly as a Hulu title (though it was also on Disney+): Share Quick Notes on Film We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Whether Hulu has a new hit show on its hands... The top first and third seasons of all time and which shows are climbing those charts… What version of Spidey is the most popular... What sport and TV show are performing better on NBC than the NBA... All the flops, bombs and misses... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, wow, things stay so busy. One of streaming’s biggest shows of all time, Ted Lasso, returns along with new YA-ish shows from Hulu (The Shards, from Ryan Murphy) and Prime Video (Sterling Point). The Challenge moves to Paramount+, plus My Life with the Walter Boys returns to Netflix and Futurama returns to Hulu. And Netflix has a new horror film, The Last House. Lots to talk about! All month, things stay busy. We’re talking Reacher on Prime Video! Outer Banks and Tires on Netflix! Lanterns on HBO Max! UFC 330 on Paramount+ and the MLB Field of Dreams game on Netflix. And a ton of smaller films come to streaming. Long term, the VMAs are back on 27-Sep! I feel like I haven’t heard much about this show in past years, but I’m seeing more news coverage and buzz for this show than in past years. I’m curious to see how it does.

Sep 4 • 3:16 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Sony's PlayStation disc plant is losing 10 percent of its volume in 2028, not 90

Sony’s PlayStation disc plant is losing 10 percent of its volume in 2028, not 90 Sony won’t license disc pressing to anyone else, Microsoft does, and a former PlayStation boss thinks that’s the whole problem. When Sony DADC chief Dietmar Tanzer spoke with an Austrian broadcaster in July about PlayStation disc production at the Thalgau plant, a number of press outlets misunderstood the report, writing that production would fall to a tenth of current levels. It won’t. Sony DADC confirmed to Game this week that the figure is a 10 percent decline, not a decline to 10 percent. “To clarify and avoid any misleading information: in that statement Dietmar anticipated an overall product volume decline by 10 percent, not a decline down to 10 percent,” a spokesperson with Sony DADC told Game. That figure covers 2028. Tanzer didn’t put a number on the years after, and the spokesperson declined to comment further. What we do know is that on July 1, PlayStation announced that physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028 and that the transition has no impact on games that have already released in disc format or will be releasing in disc format prior to that month. “So, there will be reorders going to the market after January 2028,” the Sony DADC spokesperson said. “For details around that I would ask you to liaise with the PR team from PlayStation, as we can’t speak or comment on their behalf.” PlayStation officials did not respond to questions about reorders or other disc-related matters. But I did recently speak with Shawn Layden, Game Industry Strategic Advisor and former chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios, who called a future without physical PlayStation discs “depressing, but solvable.” then added, “I think.” The chief hurdle to third-party manufacturing of collector’s editions or any other version of a PlayStation game disc is that Sony owns the proprietary process to press those discs, Layden said. “And unless they decide or determine a way to license that to some of these bespoke disc manufacturers, there’s no way to make it happen,” he said. Layden was careful to add that he understands the concept but doesn’t have “line of sight on the particulars.” “Depressing but solvable, I think.” — Shawn Layden Microsoft already licenses replication to outside plants. Xbox discs are pressed by manufacturers Microsoft certifies as Authorized Replicators, a term defined in its publisher agreements, with the approved list set at the company’s sole discretion and Microsoft retaining the right to halt manufacture. The structure is still in place today: publishers select an Authorized Replicator in Partner Center and submit a bill of materials created with a Microsoft representative. Sony, by contrast, presses PlayStation discs through Sony DADC, its own manufacturing subsidiary. No one I spoke with said they were in discussions with Sony about doing that, and PlayStation hasn’t responded to questions about whether it would be open to a licensing deal. There is an obvious reason Sony might not want to. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed it out on the day of the announcement: it’s a platform-led decision, he wrote, designed to cut costs, eliminate the resale market, and drive all revenue through the PlayStation Store. The math is not subtle. On a $70 third-party game sold through the PlayStation Store, Sony keeps $21. Sold at retail, Ahmad says, it earns about half that. Licensing disc replication to an outside manufacturer might not be worth it. And even if it were, it seems unlikely that such a deal would come from boutique companies like iam8bit, which sells collector’s editions of video games. “We would absolutely love to find a way forward to continue making physical PlayStation games,” said Jon Gibson, co-owner and co-creative director of the company. “We are big believers in giving humans the option to truly own media. If we can play a role in helping make that a reality for the future of PlayStation games, count iam8bit in!” If it were to happen, it would most likely be with a company like Conectiv Supply Chain Solutions, a Memphis-based manufacturer of optical discs and vinyl records that also runs third-party logistics, fulfillment and distribution for packaged media. The company, which was formed in 2025 when Los Angeles private equity firm Variant Equity Advisors purchased Vantiva’s Supply Chain Solutions division, traces its lineage back to Technicolor. When it sold the division, Vantiva described the business as having served video game creators for more than 25 years. Conectiv is also buying, not shrinking. Last month it acquired SDS, the distributor for Universal and Warner Bros. home entertainment, consolidating those studios’ packaged-media pipeline from pressing plant to retail shelf. I reached out to Conectiv and its CEO, but haven’t heard back. Layden pointed to music and books in our discussion about the ongoing value of physical media. “No one ever saw the comeback of cassette tape,” he said. “And vinyl didn’t so much come back. The flame went down, the fire’s dying, but the ember was always there, and it just kind of came back. Much like the book business. We thought we’d all be on Kindles right now. “I believe that physical media is crucial and important. One of the things that makes us gamers, one of the core game mechanics, going back to the beginning of time, is collecting stuff. “Did you get all the diamonds in Crash Bandicoot? Did you get all the stars in Mario? And we like to collect our games. And we have a game shelf. And we put all our boxes up there. And if you’re super hardcore, when you buy a game, you buy two copies, right? One stays in the shrink wrap, and you play the other one. What happens to that important cultural part of the gaming world? You know, we buy the steelbook and the three-disc Final Fantasy set and the figurine and, you know, you can’t download any of that. “What happens to that?” And Layden believes it shouldn’t have been a revenue question for PlayStation. “This was a core thing to the experience of our most devoted fans,” he said. “Yeah, it’s fan service. Why would we take that away? Well, we can’t afford to. It’s already 120 bucks, you know, limited edition special purchase onyx box version of whatever, and those sell at a higher rate than the box selling at $69.99 does. So yeah, the market has said they will continue to buy them. You’re just saying you just don’t want to make them anymore.” Layden said he was recently talking with someone about these sorts of business decisions and how they’re made. Too often, he said, it’s all about the financials and nothing else. “OK, we can do this and save this much money, or we can invest this to look at that outcome, or we can do this and have this happen over there, or move this team to Sri Lanka,” he said. “But each one of those, someone also has to have a ledger there saying, ‘OK, what is the brand impact from that move?’ “Iif you can’t resell it, do you really own it?” — Shawn Layden “If we do that, dollars and cents work out. I get it. That’s just math. But what’s the brand impact? Are people going to say, ‘Good move, you guys?’ Or are they going to say, ‘We hate you guys. Quit doing that.’ And sometimes they say, ‘We hate you.’ Then you take a note and say, OK, how much of that can we live with? How much ‘we hate you’ is OK. And when does it go over the line? “I see a lot of companies making decisions which, objectively speaking, I don’t know what the dollar end of that was for you, Mr. Company, but your brand value just dropped 30 percent. So I hope it was worth it.” Of course, shifting to a digital-only model for games raises other issues beyond simply wanting to collect. The biggest is ownership. Layden pointed out that once you go to a streaming-only or download-only model, it’s just a digital footprint on a hard drive. “What does ownership mean anymore?” he said. “It’s a genuine question. Well, in fact, it’s not even a question anymore. It’s like you are shifting the model from ownership to accessibility. “And what’s always been true, which people forget, is you’ve never been able to sell your iTunes library. And you can’t sell your PlayStation download library. So if you can’t resell it, do you really own it?” The touching tribute found in the credits for Star Wars Zero Company. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Interview and Hands-On with a Minoan Masterpiece Star Wars Zero Company hands-on: Attack Astromechs, permadeath, and delightfully fatal Rube Goldberg tactics Control Resonant opens up as you get stronger — and as characters start trusting you

Sep 4 • 7:57 AM EDT • Technology • game.substack.com

Opponent watch: Valencia’s injury crisis deepens ahead of Barcelona visit

FC Barcelona will lock horns with Valencia this Sunday in a Matchday 4 fixture of the 2026/27 La Liga season.The Blaugrana will visit Mestalla having already won each of their three games this season ...

Sep 4 • 6:10 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

'The Odyssey' continues IMAX run throughout September

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus in 'The Odyssey.' (Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)

Sep 4 • 6:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • kmaland.com

Barcelona’s financial fair play situation explained after huge summer spending

Barcelona have emerged from one of their busiest transfer windows with almost the same Financial Fair Play margin they had when the summer began.According to SPORT, despite spending €182.5 million o...

Sep 3 • 3:05 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Christine Flowers: Love, politics and Dolly Parton

Opinion: Being a good person does not mean you are universally beloved.

Sep 3 • 12:00 AM EDT • Politics • dailyfreeman.com

Experts redefine heart attack to improve care for women, get clinicians on the same page

Representatives from ACC, AHA, ESC and WHF worked together to update the universal definition of myocardial infarction. This includes a new classification system that separates events into three categories: primary MI, secondary MI and procedure-related MI.

Sep 2 • 5:11 PM EDT • Business • cardiovascularbusiness.com

Owen Thiele, Este Haim Join Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit

Leadership from WPP Media, NBCUniversal Entertainment, Netflix, Amazon, Paramount, Hallmark, and more are scheduled to speak.

Sep 2 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • variety.com

'Toy Story 5' Continues Reign Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 2

Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 remained No. 1 on the Official Film Chart, the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart through, through Sept. 2. The rest of the top four remains unchanged this week, with Focus Features’ supernatural horror film Obsession holding at No. 2 in its ninth week on the chart, and Universal’s animated adventure … Continue reading "‘Toy Story 5’ Continues Reign Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 2"

Sep 2 • 9:40 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

'Toy Story 5' Continues Reign Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 2

Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 remained No. 1 on the Official Film Chart, the weekly U.Sk. home entertainment sales chart through, through Sept. 2. The rest of the Top 4 remains unchanged this week, with Focus Features’ supernatural horror Obsession holding at No. 2 in its ninth week on the chart, and Universal’s animated adventure Minions … Continue reading "‘Toy Story 5’ Continues Reign Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 2"

Sep 2 • 9:40 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

Apple tells Mac App Store developers they can now drop Intel support

Apple started informing developers today that universal macOS apps on the Mac App Store that require macOS 13 or later...

Sep 1 • 8:50 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

Mac App Store Apps Can Now Drop Support for Intel Macs

Apple today informed developers that universal Mac App Store apps that require macOS 13 or later can remove support for Intel-based Mac computers. We're reaching out to let you know that universal macOS apps on the Mac App Store that require macOS 13 or later can now remove support for Intel-based Mac computers. By removing support for Intel-based Mac computers, you can simplify your development and optimize your download and on-device size.

Sep 1 • 7:50 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

WATCH: Trump says 'Medicare for All' doesn't work

The president was asked about Democratic candidates who want to use Medicare to provide universal access to health care — and he said his approach to have confidential drug pricing deals was superior.

Aug 31 • 5:15 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Pennsylvania senator prepares for push to bring single-payer healthcare to the state

Sen. Nikil Saval, representing the commonwealth’s first district in Philadelphia, circulated a letter to colleagues last week announcing his plan to introduce legislation to bring universal healthcare coverage to every resident of the state.

Aug 30 • 11:04 PM EDT • Health • healthexec.com

From 'Sinners' to 'Stranger Things': Your guide to Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights

Your guide to Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 2026: What to see, where to scream and how to survive.

Aug 30 • 9:32 AM EDT • Entertainment • floridatoday.com

Pennsylvania lawmaker to propose bill establishing universal healthcare within the state

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — State Rep. Nikil Saval (D-Philadelphia) plans to introduce legislation that would establish a universal single-payer health care system in Pennsylvania. In a memo circulate…

Aug 28 • 11:16 PM EDT • Health • abc27.com

Sports Is a Universal Language, With Some Help From AI Translations

Today’s guest columnist is Ben Reynolds, CEO of Spalk.TV. As the World Cup showed us, sport is the language of the world. The numbers tell the story. Sixty-three million Americans watched the 2026 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain. While 62% of these fans watched the English-language broadcast on Fox, 38%—over 24 million …

Aug 27 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Investing in Pandemic Preparedness for Resilient and Sustainable Health Systems

Pandemic preparedness and resilient health systems are inseparable. This message featured prominently during Symposium 5, “Resilient Health Systems for Future Well-being”, at the Public Health Summit held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 22 to 24 July. The WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO) participated in the symposium, contributing to discussions on how countries can prepare for future health emergencies while sustaining essential health services, contributing to health security, and advancing universal health coverage.Photo: Public Health Summit, where the main theme was 100 years of organised community health services in Sri Lanka. The summit was supported by the WHO Country Office for Sri Lanka. The SEARO presentation at the symposium, titled “Pandemic Preparedness for Resilient Health Systems”, highlighted how lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing global health initiatives are shaping stronger, more resilient health systems capable of protecting populations during future crises.Photo : WHO South-East Asia Regional Office’s Health Emergencies Programme highlighted that pandemic preparedness strengthens resilient health systems, advances health security, reinforces primary health care, and supports progress towards universal health coverage.

Aug 26 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • who.int

The Science Behind Why Cats Come Running to "Pspsps"

Okay, so maybe it's not phonetically correct but that whispery "pspsps" we all make to call our feline companions over is actually considered to be a universal language among cats. And guess what? Tha...

Aug 26 • 4:56 PM EDT • Science • yahoo.com

Senator Cabrera statement on proposed health insurance hikes

SEN. JORGE CABRERA STATEMENT ON TODAY'S INSURANCE DEPT. PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED HEALTH INSURANCE RATE INCREASES FOR 220,000 CONNECTICUT RESIDENTS "The debate we should be having around health insurance in Connecticut is not whether rates are going up 12% or 14% or 16%, but when are we going to enact universal health care for all. That's the debate. Health care…

Aug 26 • 2:27 PM EDT • Health • senatedems.ct.gov

Other Ways of Knowing: Ethno Epistemic Challenges to the Universality of Science

From toe rings for a healthy pregnancy to a president who scrapped AIDS drugs for a dream-given herbal cure, this essay confronts a growing academic movement claiming spirits, astrology, and ancestral visions rival science—and what’s at stake for medicine, education, and truth.

Aug 26 • 2:11 PM EDT • Science • skeptic.com

Her Breast MRI Was Approved, But That Didn’t Mean Her Insurance Would Pay

Stephanie Halver’s doctor recommended she get a breast MRI, partly because of her family’s cancer history. Her insurer approved the scan, but unlike mammograms, breast MRIs aren’t universally covered as zero-cost preventive care.

Aug 26 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • kffhealthnews.org

Her health insurer approved a breast MRI. She still owed $1,200.

Unlike mammograms, breast MRIs aren’t universally covered as zero-cost preventive care.

Aug 26 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • washingtonpost.com

The key points from Joan Laporta’s crucial meeting with Barcelona’s sports committee

Barcelona are heading into the final week of the transfer window with a clear message emerging from the club’s sporting leadership: Julian Alvarez remains the target, and there is little interest in...

Aug 26 • 3:40 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Stability AI latest funding backed by entertainment industry biggest names

We've closed our Series B, bringing total funding to $232M under new leadership. This round welcomes entertainment titans Electronic Arts, Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and more.

Aug 25 • 10:59 AM EDT • Entertainment • stability.ai

John Oliver Riotously Rants At ‘Universally Annoying Problem’

Aug 24 • 10:25 AM EDT • Technology • yahoo.com

John Oliver Riotously Rants At ‘Universally Annoying Problem’

The “Last Week Tonight” host took quite the shot at Taco Bell.

Aug 24 • 10:25 AM EDT • Entertainment • huffpost.com

John Oliver Riotously Rants At ‘Universally Annoying Problem’

The “Last Week Tonight” host took quite the shot at Taco Bell.

Aug 24 • 10:25 AM EDT • Technology • huffpost.com

Angry And Distracted: What Viral Politics Is Costing Democracy

Writing in 1989, Francis Fukuyama argued that the world was reaching “the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final…

Aug 23 • 4:00 PM EDT • Politics • theowp.org

New Universal roller coaster sends thrills and noise into nearby neighborhood

They say the noise coming from the new ride is disturbing and disruptive

Aug 23 • 2:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • spectrumnews1.com

California nearly achieved universal healthcare. Now, millions are losing coverage

California's uninsured rate could nearly double by 2030, with the sharpest losses hitting Black, Asian and Latino residents in Southern California.

Aug 21 • 3:10 PM EDT • Health • latimes.com

Florida school board races see less partisan politics this year

Experts said they're seeing a shift away from culture war issues and more of a focus on universal concerns in education.

Aug 20 • 5:05 AM EDT • Politics • wusf.org

US might look to Swiss for affordable universal health care

A local congressional candidate proposes a Swiss-inspired health care model to lower costs and improve access.

Aug 20 • 5:03 AM EDT • Health • jacksonville.com

'Michael' Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19

Lionsgate/Universal’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael continues its Official Film Chart run, spending a fifth non-consecutive week atop the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart through Aug. 19. Also making a return at No. 2 in its 10th week on the chart was Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling as science teacher who … Continue reading "‘Michael’ Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19"

Aug 19 • 10:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

'Michael' Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19

Lionsgate/Universal’s Michael Jackson music biopic Michael continues its Official Film Chart run, spending a fifth non-consecutive week atop the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart through Aug. 19. Also making a return at No. 2 in its 10th week on the chart is Amazon MGM Studios’Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling as science teacher who … Continue reading "‘Michael’ Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19"

Aug 19 • 10:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

Patrick Patrick Launches to Bring “Wild, Wild West” Thinking to Entertainment Marketing

Little Black Book, Former NBCUniversal marketing lead Kevin Harrington tells LBB’s Addison Capper why his new agency is borrowing from the strategic rigour of consumer brands, with Netflix, Universal Pictures and AMC already on board

Aug 19 • 9:57 AM EDT • Entertainment • lbbonline.com

Universal Health Services buys Talkspace for $835M

Pennsylvania-based UHS expands into the virtual behavioral health space with the acquisition, though Talkspace will keep its branding and current CEO.

Aug 18 • 7:29 AM EDT • Health • healthexec.com

Italy’s Universal Health Care and the Role of Solidarity

Universal healthcare relies on collective financing and shared responsibility, while rising costs and competing interests put pressure on systems built on these principles.

Aug 16 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • medscape.com

You Can Use Your Old Android Phone As A Universal Remote - Here's How

Looking for a way to control your devices without buying an expensive new remote control? You may be able to use an old Android phone instead.

Aug 16 • 6:17 AM EDT • Technology • bgr.com

Hansi Flick identifies five alternatives to solve Barcelona’s striker absence

Barcelona find themselves in an unusual position heading into the new season.Following the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres, Hansi Flick currently has no natural senior centre-forwar...

Aug 15 • 9:40 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Google’s Gemini 3.7 Flash targets coding and agents with a 50% introductory price cut

Google's own results do not show 3.7 Flash universally displacing higher-priced competitors. They instead suggest a model that has become substantially more competitive in coding and agent workloads while occupying a lower price tier.

Aug 13 • 2:02 PM EDT • Technology • venturebeat.com

Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects

A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it

Aug 13 • 1:00 PM EDT • Health • ysph.yale.edu

Asia-Pacific parliamentarians urge bolder action for universal health coverage, climate resilience and responsible AI

Parliamentarians representing 16 countries from across the Asia-Pacific region concluded the Ninth Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarian Forum on Global Health (APPFGH) today, reaffirming their key role in advancing universal health coverage (UHC) amid the risks and opportunities posed by AI and climate change. In adopting the Phnom Penh Communiqué, parliamentarians urged fellow legislators regionwide to strengthen sustainable financing for UHC to widen access to health for all, including the most vulnerable populations; promote responsible governance of AI amid ethical concerns over this fast-evolving technology; and build climate-resilient health systems to anticipate and respond to mounting pressures ranging from rising sea levels in coastal areas to air pollution and other environmental degradation.The National Assembly of Cambodia, with support from Cambodia’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO), hosted the Forum in Phnom Penh from 11 to 13 August 2026 – the first time the Forum has convened in a Mekong country.Parliamentarians urge action to close gaps in accessIn the Communiqué, parliamentarians recognized that at-risk and marginalized groups are the ones most severely affected by gaps in access to health services. These groups include people living in poverty, women and children, persons with disabilities, older people, migrants, refugees, and those in rural, remote or island communities. The Communiqué urges fellow parliamentarians and policy-makers to advocate for laws and policies that support sustainable financing to protect people from financial hardship, with a focus on primary health care, prevention and equity. "The Communiqué is a call to action. It sets out ambitious, concrete measures that deliver meaningful impact on the ground. We are all accountable for advancing universal health coverage and translating our commitments into tangible results. Cambodia is fully committed to advancing UHC, including the promotion of ‘healthy people, prosperous country’ campaign,” said Samdech Maha Rathsapheathika Thipadei Khuon Sudary, President of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia.His Excellency Professor Chheang Ra, Minister of Health of the Kingdom of Cambodia, highlighted the need for collaboration beyond the health sector. “Universal health coverage cannot be achieved by the Ministry of Health alone. It requires support, particularly from parliamentarians, across political, legislative, financial, social protection, education, infrastructure, and environmental domains. While each country follows its own path, one factor is universally critical for success: strong governance and leadership. We all believe in this principle, and in our respective political roles, we remain committed to strengthening these key success factors to ensure that no one is left behind.”Promoting responsible AI adoption Parliamentarians acknowledged that, while AI has already demonstrated its ability to improve access to health services and support delivery, careful and ethical governance is necessary to safeguard quality, safety, privacy and public trust. This underscores the importance of parliamentarians in promoting legal and regulatory frameworks addressing liability, records ownership and data governance, while embracing innovation that protects ethical practice.“Without strong governance, safeguards for privacy and data security, sustainable financing, and attention to those most at risk of exclusion, new technologies may widen existing gaps instead of closing them. This is why parliamentarians matter. We pass laws. We approve budgets. We scrutinize government action. We represent communities. We can ask whether health services are reaching rural, remote, ageing, poor, and marginalized populations. We can ask whether innovation is being guided by equity, evidence, and ethics,” said Hon. Man Hee Lee, President of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarian Forum on Global Health.Building climate-resilient health systemsParliamentarians also reiterated that the climate crisis is a direct threat to people’s health and to achieving UHC more broadly, deepening the same gaps in access already faced by at-risk and marginalized communities. They recognized the need for WHO Member States to ensure sufficient national appropriations and oversight, and for parliamentarians to raise awareness in their constituencies and mobilize local action in building climate-resilient and sustainable health systems.“Universal health coverage, climate change and AI cannot be addressed in isolation. The same communities struggling to access health services today are often the ones most exposed to climate shocks, and most in need of the opportunities AI can offer if this technology is governed responsibly,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “Having served previously in this Forum myself as a parliamentarian from Tonga, I recognize how the Phnom Penh Communiqué reflects the shared resolve of legislators across the Asia-Pacific region: the laws parliamentarians pass and the budgets they approve help ensure this progress reaches the people who need it most.”As the Forum drew to a close, delegates reflected on what they would carry back to their own parliaments and constituencies.“I wish to share three points here worth carrying home from Phnom Penh: we need to invest in primary health care as the foundation of coverage; we need to remove the barriers that keep people from care, whether financial, geographic or social; and we need to build systems that are inclusive by design, protecting those most at risk of being left behind,” added Hon. Ouch Borith, First Vice-President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia.###Notes for editors:The Asia-Pacific Parliamentarian Forum on Global Health (APPFGH) is a platform for parliamentarians to exchange ideas, build political will, strengthen capacity and foster collaboration towards sustainable health action. This was the ninth meeting of the APPFGH, with the theme “Universal Health Coverage in the era of Climate Change and Artificial Intelligence”. Target 3.8 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls on countries to achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health services, and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. In the Western Pacific, UHC service coverage index (SDG 3.8.1) rose from 63 in 2000 to 81 in 2023 (figures include Indonesia), and roughly one in four people in the Western Pacific have experienced financial hardship (SDG 3.8.2). Progress towards UHC in the Asia-Pacific region remains uneven, with hundreds of millions of people still lacking access to essential health services or facing financial hardship due to health-related expenses. Strengthening the role of parliaments – through legislation, financing and oversight – is central to closing this gap and accelerating progress towards UHC across the region.Parliamentarians participating in APPFGH in Cambodia this week include: Hon. Pehin Dato Adanan YUSOF, Brunei Darussalam; Hon. Rosmawatty ABDUL MUMIN, Brunei Darussalam; Hon. LORK Kheng, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. YOS Phanita, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. KHOUN Khundy, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. HENG Halim, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. KHOENG Noupheap, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. SENG Nhak, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. LY Sukry, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. NHOEURN Raden, Kingdom of Cambodia; Hon. Dr Ratu Atonio LALABALAVU, Republic of Fiji; Hon. Vijay NATH, Republic of Fiji; Hon. Man Hee LEE, Republic of Korea; Hon. Dr Jiho CHA, Republic of Korea; Hon. Jonghun BAEK, Republic of Korea; Hon. Youngsuk SEO, Republic of Korea; Hon. Dr Phayvanh KEOPASEUTH, Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Hon. Suhaizan Bin KAIAT, Malaysia; Hon. Dr Perpetua KONMAN, Federated States of Micronesia; Hon. Ganmaa DAVAASAMBUU, Mongolia; Hon. Charmaine SCOTTY, Republic of Naoero; Hon. Vincent Ambance KUMURA, Papua New Guinea; Hon. Dr Edwin CRUZADO, Republic of the Philippines; Hon. AUUAPAAU Mulipola Aloitafua Mulipola, Samoa; Hon. ASIATA TAVUI Tafu Salevao, Samoa; Hon. Dr Alani Petelo TANGITAU, Tonga; Hon. Paul PAOLO, Republic of Vanuatu; Hon. Franklyn Ezra WILLIAM, Republic of Vanuatu.For more information, contact: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific: wprocom@who.int National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia (International Relations Department): ir.nacambodia@gmail.com

Aug 12 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • who.int

$5K fee to fund universal child care leads businesses to sue Prince George's County

A lawsuit filed by a group of Prince George’s County business owners challenges a newly adopted county charge intended to help fund an ambitious child care init

Aug 12 • 4:08 PM EDT • Business • wjla.com

Rodri Chooses Barcelona as €60m City Deal Edges Closer

Barcelona are expected to pay around €60 million to Manchester City to sign Rodri, according to Diario AS, as reported by Barca Universal. The report also states that the Spain international is set ...

Aug 12 • 12:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Barcelona defender’s agent visits club facilities amid growing Arsenal interest

With the transfer window entering its final stages Jules Kounde’s future at FC Barcelona is starting to become uncertain. Now, According to Jijantes (h/t SPORT), Jonathan Kebe, the French defender��...

Aug 12 • 11:55 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Neighbors complain about noise from Universal’s ‘Fast & Furious’ ride

Universal Studios Hollywood plans new sound barriers around its “Fast & Furious” coaster after neighbors complained about screaming during ride testing.

Aug 12 • 10:58 AM EDT • Entertainment • scrippsnews.com

Excel Entertainment and Universal Music’s sub-label Excel Music is here

In January, the Universal Music Group announced that it had acquired a 30% stake in Excel Entertainment, the Indian production house behind such hit Bollywood movies and soundtracks as Dil […]

Aug 12 • 6:20 AM EDT • Entertainment • musically.com

Bitget Expands CFD Business with Institutional-Grade Liquidity Solutions

VICTORIA, Seychelles, Aug. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitget, the world's largest Universal Exchange (UEX), has expanded its CFD business with...

Aug 11 • 12:08 PM EDT • Business • markets.businessinsider.com

Barcelona-linked Premier League defender chooses to join Atletico Madrid

Cristian Romero has made a decision on his future The Argentine centre-back had interest from several clubs, most notably Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Arsenal, but according to reports ...

Aug 11 • 3:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Someone Made a Terrific Deal in the Peacock/YouTube Premium Partnership…But Who?

(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) I hope everyone around the world suffering from record heat waves is doing okay. The temperature is already up in Southern California, but obviously not nearly as bad as parts of Europe. With a super El Nińo coming this year, I worry it will get even worse. Yes, we know what’s causing this heat—it’s the carbon, duh—but we really aren’t making enough progress. I’m not “environmental strategy guy”, but if I were, I’d have some ideas of what I’d try. Honestly, for years I’ve been intrigued by the work of the folks at MEER—whose plan, super simply, is to put up mirrors to reflect heat (while continuing the important work of decarbonization)—but I’m frustrated this idea hasn’t made more progress. (Other geo-engineering groups seem to get better press.) With heat like this—cancelling events, hurting economies and, most importantly, killing people—it seems like the time to push solutions! The “mirrors on the ground” solution has barely been tried.1 While entertainment companies may not “feel the heat”, lots of outdoors/experiential industries—concerts, theme parks and so on—will. Even movie theaters could benefit, since mirrors could help lower AC costs, which I imagine is not an insignificant expense, especially in the hotter areas of the country. So I do think the entertainment industry should prioritize this issue. Anyways, let’s get back into the entertainment strategy. I was about to write, “Hey, this week we don’t have any mergers and entertainment news to dive into,” but that’s not really true, since we had more updates on Paramount-Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. But the big story of the week involves a streamer and a Big Tech platform bundling their respective streamers. So I’ll write about the updates on Paramount buying Warner Bros., Versant making some moves, and a whole lot more. But we start with a surprising deal: Peacock licensing their content to YouTube Premium. Let’s dive in! Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Peacock’s Pricey Premium Partnership The story of the week is Comcast’s2 NBC-Universal’s Peacock making a deal with Google’s YouTube’s YouTube Premium subscription product to embed their content. And I’ll say this up front: Someone made a terrific deal. The question is who. And I’ll be honest: I don’t know. Let me explain why, including why this deal exists, the pros and cons for each side, the biggest unknown, and what that says about the streaming wars. Customers Love Bundles (But YouTube Has Its Own Issues) We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Why customers love bundles… But why I’m worried about YouTube’s integration... How Peacock is trading scale for control… And the reason they likely made this deal... The odd budget math for this deal... Whether or not I think the Paramount-Skydance/WBD deal is more likely after the latest settlement... Versant making moves and why that’s good for Hollywood… Another distributor going out of business… ...and a whole lot more! ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.

Aug 10 • 3:37 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

PHOTOS: Metro Health offers back-to-school vaccines for Immunization Awareness Month

WOAI NBC News Channel 4 San Antonio provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, investigations, and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for San Antonio and nearby towns and communities in South Central Texas, including Windcrest, Uvalde, Universal City, Somerset, Seguin, Schertz, San Marcos, Sabinal, Poth, Poteet, Pleasanton, Pearsall, New Braunfels, Live Oak, Kerrville, Hondo, Helotes, Goliad, Fredericksburg, Floresville, Eagle Pass, Devine, Del Rio, Cuero, Crystal City, Converse, Cibolo, Castroville, Carrizo Springs, Boerne, Bandera.

Aug 9 • 5:28 PM EDT • Health • news4sanantonio.com

California nearly achieved universal healthcare. Now, millions are losing coverage

Facing budget shortfalls and new federal restrictions, state leaders have begun rolling back the coverage system they built.

Aug 9 • 4:00 PM EDT • Health • timesofsandiego.com

Oregon universal health care board punts single-payer report over funding uncertainty

A state board in charge of developing a universal health plan for all Oregonians will delay the release of its final report to lawmakers, citing uncertainty over how to pay for it. The Universal Health Plan Governance Board voted unanimously Thursday morning to extend its deadline to Dec. 1 for its report that will describe […]

Aug 6 • 7:59 PM EDT • Health • oregoncapitalchronicle.com

Measles exposure reported at Universal Studios Hollywood

Health officials in Los Angeles County said a person infected with measles visited Universal Studios Hollywood and potentially exposed others to the virus.

Aug 6 • 1:41 PM EDT • Health • abc7ny.com

Coco Gauff addresses transgender athlete debate with powerful statement

Coco Gauff, the No. 4-ranked women’s singles player in the world, is also universally regarded as one of the most authentic, outspoken athletes in the world. She just showed why yet again. Fewer than three minutes into her post-match press conference at the National Bank Open in Toronto, Gauff was asked about the WTA’s newly…

Aug 6 • 10:30 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Watch: Democratic Senator Proposes a Fix for American Healthcare — Covering All Kids

Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey wants to offer universal healthcare until age 26. He sat down with KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to answer the question: “How Would You Fix It?”

Aug 6 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • kffhealthnews.org

Universal's 'Disclosure Day' Rises to No. 1 on U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 5

Universal’s Disclosure Day moved up to No. 1 on the Official Film Chart, the U.K.’s weekly home entertainment sales chart, rising two spots in its second week on the chart. The Steven Spielberg-directed sci-fi drama pushed Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu to No. 4 in its second week on the chart. Lionsgate/Universal’s Michael … Continue reading "Universal’s ‘Disclosure Day’ Rises to No. 1 on U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 5"

Aug 5 • 11:27 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

California nearly achieved universal healthcare. Now, millions are losing coverage

State and federal cuts could push California's uninsured rate to nearly 15% by 2030 — hitting immigrants and low-income families hardest. Watch the new CalMatters documentary.

Aug 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • calmatters.org

Shifting left, Democrats see universal health care, taxing the rich as 'essential,' Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Liberal Democrats now make up a clear majority of their party ​and view universal healthcare, greater abortion access and higher taxes on the rich as essential political positions, underscoring how Democrats have moved ‌leftward in recent years, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Aug 4 • 6:03 AM EDT • Health • reuters.com

Apple Plans iPhone-to-Windows Copy and Paste in EU After Microsoft Request

Apple is working on a new feature that will support cross-device copy and paste between iOS devices and Windows PCs. Microsoft asked for the feature using Apple's EU interoperability request system for developers, which Apple implemented to comply with the Digital Markets Act. Apple began evaluating the request in March, and on June 26, proposed a project plan.

Aug 3 • 7:19 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Newsom and Trump agree on one way to address AI's impact

Gov. Gavin Newsom, President Donald Trump, Sen. Bernie Sanders, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and others are uniting around the idea of “universal basic capital.”

Aug 2 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • sfchronicle.com

These Democratic Voters Are Battling Over What Their Party Stands For

Progressive candidates are gaining momentum in primary battles with voters who are fed up with the status quo and drawn to populist policies like universal healthcare.

Jul 31 • 11:00 PM EDT • Politics • wsj.com

Chris Fleming & Irina Shayk Join Universal Rom-Com ‘The Catch’

EXCLUSIVE: Comedian Chris Fleming (HBO’s Live at the Palace) and Irina Shayk (Hercules) have inked deals to join The Catch, Universal Pictures’ new baseball-themed romantic comedy starring Emma Stone ...

Jul 31 • 3:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Exclusive | ‘Science is a universal language’: US materials pioneer defends global ties

Elsa Reichmanis spent decades collaborating with Chinese science teams and says research should remain distinct from tech rivalry.

Jul 30 • 10:00 AM EDT • Science • scmp.com

Council caught off guard as mayor seeks funding from local business owners

WOAI NBC News Channel 4 San Antonio provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, investigations, and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for San Antonio and nearby towns and communities in South Central Texas, including Windcrest, Uvalde, Universal City, Somerset, Seguin, Schertz, San Marcos, Sabinal, Poth, Poteet, Pleasanton, Pearsall, New Braunfels, Live Oak, Kerrville, Hondo, Helotes, Goliad, Fredericksburg, Floresville, Eagle Pass, Devine, Del Rio, Cuero, Crystal City, Converse, Cibolo, Castroville, Carrizo Springs, Boerne, Bandera.

Jul 28 • 7:33 PM EDT • Business • news4sanantonio.com

Google finally lets Find Hub users delete their old devices

Google has quietly rolled out a new feature to Find Hub that lets users delete old or duplicate devices from the app.

Jul 28 • 2:56 PM EDT • Technology • androidauthority.com

Health financing under pressure as civil society calls for urgent action

Ahead of the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly, the WHO Civil Society Commission and partners highlighted the need for sustainable domestic health financing, stronger accountability, health equity, and meaningful civil society and youth engagement to advance universal health coverage amid global funding challenges.

Jul 28 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • who.int

Civil society pushes for action on health financing

WHO Civil Society Commission dialogue highlighted the need to turn health financing commitments into action through stronger accountability, efficient resource use, increased investment in primary health care, and greater civil society and youth engagement to advance equity and universal health coverage ahead of the 79th World Health Assembly.

Jul 28 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • who.int

Deadline approaches for Barcelona’s offer for Julian Alvarez

FC Barcelona’s pursuit of Julian Alvarez has reached a crucial stage after club president Joan Laporta confirmed that the offer made for the Atletico Madrid striker would not remain valid indefinite...

Jul 28 • 7:45 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

NBCUniversal's Peacock to join YouTube Premium

The deal will introduce Peacock into millions of new homes.

Jul 27 • 11:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com

Our expanded partnership with NBCUniversal: Redefining the modern entertainment subscription

YouTube Premium is expanding its partnership with NBCUniversal to give subscribers access to ad-supported Peacock Premium streaming.

Jul 27 • 11:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • blog.youtube

Universal Health Services (UHS) Stock Looks Undervalued As Shares Fell 29% YTD

Universal Health Services stock has slipped around 29.2% year to date, yet the valuation checks still lean toward the shares looking inexpensive on several fronts. This raises a clear question about whether the recent weakness lines up with the fundamentals. The roughly 29.2% decline year to date suggests sentiment has cooled sharply, even though longer term returns are less weak. For a healthcare operator like Universal Health Services, expectations around patient volumes and pricing can...

Jul 26 • 6:07 PM EDT • Health • finance.yahoo.com

Universal Responds to 'The Odyssey' Leaks on Social Media

Following the Christopher Nolan-directed film's release on July 17, pirated films have been circulating across X.

Jul 26 • 2:17 PM EDT • Entertainment • hollywoodreporter.com

Universal Health Services (UHS) Q2 Earnings: What To Expect

Hospital management company Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) will be announcing earnings results this Monday after the bell. Here’s what investors should know.

Jul 25 • 11:57 PM EDT • Health • finance.yahoo.com

How my family spent $8,600 on a 6-day trip to Disney World, Universal

On our family trip to Orlando, we spent the bulk of our money on flights, two hotel rooms, and park tickets. We saved money using crdit card points.

Jul 25 • 7:57 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

Top Horror Movies Streaming This Week

Fans paid tribute to one of horror's greatest actors in thetop horror movies on streaming this week. Sam Neill, the universally beloved actor who starred in several classic scary movies, passed away l...

Jul 23 • 2:38 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Apple Maps is becoming Ford’s new navigation mode for select vehicles

Apple has announced a partnership with Ford to bake Apple Maps into its upcoming Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) Platform for navigation.

Jul 23 • 9:19 AM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

Comcast earnings highlight NBCUniversal strength ahead of planned split

Comcast said earlier this year it would split the cable businesses from the media business, creating two separate publicly traded companies.

Jul 23 • 7:14 AM EDT • Business • cnbc.com

Jayapal, Dingell, CPC Members Host Universal Healthcare Shadow Hearing

Full video of the hearing can be watched HERE. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) today hosted a shadow hearing on Medicare for All, led by Chair Emerita Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06), the lead sponsors of the Medicare for All Act of 2025. During the hearing, CPC Members and witnesses […]

Jul 22 • 3:06 PM EDT • Health • jayapal.house.gov

Halloween Horror Nights drops new scare zone inspired by 'Fortnitemares'

It will debut this fall at Universal Orlando Resort, beginning Aug. 28, and at Universal Studios Hollywood on Sept. 3.

Jul 22 • 1:47 PM EDT • Entertainment • mynews13.com

'The Super Mario Galaxy' Movie Returns Atop U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through July 22

Universal’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie returned atop of the Official Film Chart, the U.K.’s weekly home entertainment sales chart, through July 22. The former chart topper in June, the animated family adventure held off the transactional debut of A24’s box office sleeper hit Backrooms, which debuted at No. 2. The sci-fi horror, which taps into … Continue reading "‘The Super Mario Galaxy’ Movie Returns Atop U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through July 22"

Jul 22 • 9:48 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

From Paper to Action: How Systematic Monitoring Can Help Health Benefits Packages Deliver on Their Promise

Health Benefits Packages (HBPs) can be a strategic tool to advance Universal Health Coverage. But their impact depends not only on the services included, but also on whether people effectively receive those services with adequate quality and financial protection. It also depends on the factors behind implementation gaps. While there is no shortage of guidance for using evidence-informed priority-setting approaches, less attention has been paid to monitoring whether, how, and why HBPs deliver (or not) in the real world. This gap matters, particularly in the context of stagnating progress towards Universal Health Coverage, because it leaves policymakers in the dark: Are HBPs delivering on the promise made to the population? If not, why, and what corrective action can be taken?

Jul 22 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • cgdev.org

Senate Democrat proposes universal health care for children

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) on Tuesday unveiled a proposal for all American children to receive Medicare, a program he’s dubbed MediKids, saying Democrats must bring new ideas to move the conversa…

Jul 21 • 10:39 AM EDT • Health • thehill.com

Radiology Partners names new head of clinical services

The country’s largest imaging group, with over 4,000 radiologists on its payroll, is tapping a former Universal Health Services exec to serve as president of its patient care division.

Jul 21 • 2:29 AM EDT • Business • radiologybusiness.com

UFC Freedom 250 Fails to Knock Out The Ratings

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) If UFC fans wanted one image to say, “Hey, Paramount+ is crushing it with their UFC rights deal,” I could provide that image. Here it is: (Reminder: this is my creation of the Nielsen Top 30, since Nielsen doesn’t combine the lists or include sports. I take all three lists and combine them. Some streaming TV shows probably have higher ratings than many of the films on this list.) Look at that! UFC Freedom 250 is number one! It topped the Nielsen “Top 30” list for shows and films that made the top ten the week of 15-June. So if you’re a UFC fan or supporter of Paramount+, that’s the good news for you this week. This program topped the ratings charts for one week. Everything else is bad news, or at least a huge caveat to that story, which I’ll explain today in the first part of this week’s Streaming Ratings Report—for the weeks of 8-June and 15-June—which is a double issue since I’ve been writing on a bunch of topics recently. UFC Freedom 250 is one of the biggest streaming events of the year, and super relevant to Paramount+’s strategy, so it merited its own article. Let’s dive in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of June 8th to June 21st 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Check Out My Interview on UFC 250 at MMA Draw After you read this article, if you want even more thoughts on UFC and Paramount-Skydance/Paramount+, I did a written interview with MMA Draw. They asked me to answer some questions about UFC Freedom 250, and I was happy to chat with them. Find it here: [ The MMA Draw Newsletter Did Paramount really overpay for the UFC? What the data tells us so far If you know the history of American television, you also know that combat sports is often a leading indicator of the future… Read more a day ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold ](https://www.themmadraw.com/p/did-paramount-really-overpay-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) I never thought I’d need a combat sports newsletter in my life, but the good folks at MMA Draw publish an excellent one on UFC, MMA, pro wrestling, boxing and more, analyzing both the sports themselves and the politics, economics and antitrust issues that impact them. Check the article and their newsletter out! Paramount+ Has Its Best Sporting Event of All Time…But Was It Worth It? Before we look at the UFC Freedom 250 data in particular, let’s talk about what we can’t say. Namely, let’s start with the lack of comparisons. First off, I’d love to put a chart out comparing this fight to past UFC fights on Paramount+…but we don’t have the data. This is the first time we’ve gotten Nielsen data about a Paramount+ UFC fight. As far as I can tell, Paramount provided data for the first fight, but it was a proprietary datecdote (saying it had “an average minute audience” of 5 million “views”) and then, for two fights, we got the linear viewership numbers when they aired on CBS, but no streaming data. Everything else was crickets. We also can’t compare this fight to other fights/combat sports on streaming, in particular the MMA and boxing, because Netflix also didn’t use Nielsen to track those events, opting for TVision and VideoAmp, respectively. (This isn’t Paramount’s fault, but does still suck.) We also can’t compare to UFC’s fights that used to be on ESPN+, since we don’t have any data for that, plus Disney+ didn’t have marquee fights. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples. Can we compare to past Pay-Per-View fights? Absolutely not. The comparisons would absolutely NOT be apples-to-apples. That didn’t stop Paramount+, though, who bragged that their UFC events have reached drastically more people than past PPV fights. Duh. Sorry, but I gotta make this point again. A basic tenet of economics is that the cheaper something becomes, the more people consume or buy it. That’s Econ 101. (Sometimes pundits call things “Econ 101” that are actually like Econ 210 or even PhD-level economics, but no, this is really like first or second class basic economics.) Yet I still see one analytics firm consistently say that more people watch films on streaming than PVOD proves streaming which means that the streaming window is more valuable than the PVOD window. No, it’s not! Same thing here. Pay-Per-View events back in the day could be really, really, really expensive! So whole groups of people pitched in to buy them. That increased the perceived value of, say, the Mike Tyson fight. Or a UFC numbered event. So yes, the fact that Paramount+ makes numbered UFC fights essentially “free” if you’re already a Paramount+ member means consumption will go up. Obviously. Same for Netflix and their boxing matches. They’re talking about fights that used to cost consumers, in some cases, $50 in 1996…which is over $100 in today’s dollars. Over 1.6 million people paid that to watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight! Again, streaming is essentially “free”. Or $10 to $20, depending on what streamer we’re talking about and what tier you’re on. No wonder more people are “watching”. (Plus, Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing also helps these numbers.) UFC Freedom 250 Did Well…But I Have A Lot of Worries So what can we compare the fights to? Well, the good news is Nielsen put out that the fight averaged 7.0 million viewers for UFC Freedom 250, which is a solid number for a fight. We also know the length, at roughly 4 and a half hours. (I saw different run times, but this seems to be the consensus considering it started at 8 pm, had a delay and then finished after midnight on the East Coast. If you assume a shorter run time, then yes, the total hours viewed would go down.) That means I have the two numbers needed to add this to my Nielsen database. And then…I can compare this viewership to the NFL: And, uh, not great. But also within striking distance, mainly because the runtime for this event was so long. I’d also add that this event had viewership equal to a regular season NFL game on streaming, but if anything, it was more comparable to an NFL playoff or Super Bowl-esque event. And you can compare viewership to the top football games on broadcast, cable and streaming, and it’s not impressive at all: We can also compare it to other sports that week, including the NBA Finals and start of the World Cup: Again, not great. The NBA generated roughly four times as many average viewers each game for its NBA Finals. The World Cup has similarly big numbers. Also, that’s just a tiny fraction of the 25 most watched sporting events each week. The NBA, NHL and FIFA World Cup had many, many more games racking up hours. We could also compare this to other streaming programs to get an idea of “is this a good investment?” and here is how it ranks compared to other top Paramount+ programs: The worry here? Well, unlike scripted programming, which has rewatchability, older fights/sporting events have very little library value. Very, very few people are rewatching these fights, especially years from now. Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers. Then, in their quarterly earnings report, they only ended up with 700K subs. Not great! They claimed they dropped lower-value international subscribers, but that’s why I tend to discount subscriber additions when they’re leaked to the press.1 I expect we may see a bump again for UFC Freedom 250, but I’d caution using subscriber growth so soon after these events to judge the success, since new subs with high churn (see Peacock) aren’t great either. Also, analysts often want to attribute all subscriber growth to their favorite/pet show, and that just doesn’t make sense. The biggest caveat for UFC Freedom 250 and Paramount’s very first UFC marquee event is that these could be high watermarks for the sport. UFC Freedom 250 had an incredible amount of earned media coverage compared to most UFC fights. I mean, it had wall-to-wall national news coverage in the lead up to the event. (The first fight also had a lot of promotion from Paramount since it was first.) Other fights could reach this bar—say the Conor McGregor return to the Octagon—but they’ll be fewer and far between. Was This Deal Worth It? All to ask: is this Paramount deal worth it? In this case, I think the UFC Freedom 250 numbers are more distracting than helpful. This fight did well and compares well to other top sporting events. But we know that the first marquee event was at least a third smaller, if Paramount’s own data is to be believed. And it’s likely the other fights are much, much, much smaller. And then you get to the paycheck that Paramount-Skydance paid. FIFA’s World Cup cost about the same for Fox, but clearly generated multiples more total viewership. (Though it’s only every four years.) The NBA is much more expensive, but until the playoffs, they likely didn’t pay for itself. Even still, Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video likely overpaid. So, in that context, the NBA may be an overpay that makes the UFC look not so bad. But two overpays don’t make an underpay, to paraphrase the old cliché about wrongs and rights. And looking at UFC Freedom 250 as the likely ceiling of MMA on Paramount+, Paramount-Skydance likely paid too much. Share 1 I would love regular reports on subscriber additions by programs, but as is, it’s mostly leaked or rumored in haphazard ways.

Jul 20 • 6:48 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com