Author: Press Room

Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard could harm competition by letting Microsoft restrict Activision’s video games to proprietary platforms such as Xbox, UK officials said Wednesday, in the latest challenge to the tech giant’s blockbuster acquisition. The UK’s competition regulator said the proposed deal, which would make Microsoft (MSFT) the world’s third-largest video game publisher, could hurt tens of millions of gamers in the country by leading to higher prices or fewer choices. The provisional finding by the UK Competition and Markets Authority is another sign of growing opposition to the deal by antitrust regulators worldwide. In December, the…

“Hats are radical,” milliner to the stars Philip Treacy once said. “Only people that wear hats understand that.” The British actor Florence Pugh can now count herself among their number, having swept into the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards wearing a deep red peplum gown from Robert Wun’s spring couture collection, complete with a matching wide-brimmed hat and trailing veil. Though Pugh is a playful dresser, this was a surprisingly bold choice for one of the more low-key dates on the awards season calendar. And while it’s not the Wun accessory we would have chosen for the star (that honor…

OpenSea has a security and fraud problem and if one account holder on the NFT marketplace is right, it is negligent in protecting its customers and guilty of extortion.As prominent NFT creator, collector and venture capitalist Kevin Rose would no doubt attest, theft in the NFT space is a serious problem. He lost a part of his personal collection valued at $1.1 million in a recent phishing attack, although that was nothing to do with OpenSea.Robert Acres, as we detail below, also fell victim to an NFT phishing attack. Not as high-profile a user of OpenSea as Rose, Acres had…

Breakfast at Taco Bell has been saved — and the chain has Pete Davidson to thank. Sales of Taco Bell’s breakfast burritos and egg-stuffed quesadillas jumped 9% in the fourth quarter of last year, executives at its parent company Yum Brands said in an earnings call Wednesday, attributing the growth to the comedian’s appearance in its ads. Overall, that helped bolster Taco Bell’s US sales, which jumped 14%, beating analyst expectations. In October, Taco Bell hired the former “Saturday Night Live” star to spearhead a new ad campaign for its breakfast menu. The cheeky ads show Davidson apologizing for the…

The first stamps featuring King Charles III were unveiled on Wednesday by the Royal Mail, the British postal service. The King is captured in profile, his head bare, looking to the left. The standard first-class stamp will feature the portrait on a plain purple background. “Delighted that the Royal Mail will be using my effigy of King Charles for their definitive stamps,” designer Martin Jennings tweeted, adding that the portrait was first created for the new coins featuring the monarch. The stamps will go on general sale from April 4. “The guidance we were given was not to try to…

A study of more than half a million young adults found that depression is linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and poor cardiovascular health.People who reported regularly being depressed had a significantly higher risk of heart issues.Depression is known to lead to unhealthy behaviors that may affect one’s heart, and having heart problems can lead to depression, a problematic cycle.A study of over half a million people aged 18 to 49 finds a strong association between depression and cardiovascular disease and poor cardiovascular health.Study participants who reported having 1 to 13 days of poor mental health in the…

Systemic review and meta-analysis have found that individuals with prediabetes could lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 15% by supplementing with vitamin D. However, the reduction of risk with vitamin D was not as great as the reduction achieved by making intensive lifestyle modifications, another study showed.Other researchers caution that individuals should weigh the benefits and risks of taking vitamin D supplements with their doctors. Individuals with prediabetes have blood sugar levels higher than what is considered healthy but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. It is a common condition — about 1…

Companies around the world are racing to provide help to the victims of the devastating earthquake straddling Turkey and Syria, by donating food, medicines, services and cash. Amazon (AMZN) has prepared donations of relief items, including food, baby food, blankets, tents and medicines, with the first shipments departing from its warehouse in Istanbul Wednesday, the US retail giant said Monday. The supplies are heading to the affected regions of Turkey. “This immediate delivery is just the beginning of Amazon’s response,” Abe Diaz, head of Amazon’s disaster relief program, said in a statement. Diaz noted that the company would work to…

The ultimate connection! Fate seemingly brought together the characters on A Million Little Things — and off camera, the cast is also a tight-knit group. “I love these people and this show and I can’t wait for you all to see the beautiful final season we’re working on right now,” Allison Miller, who plays Maggie Bloom, wrote via Instagram in January 2023 while promoting the show. “What a gift this work has been. Thank you. #amillionlittlethings.” The ABC series, which premiered in 2018, follows the lives of three friends and their respective partners, who are bonded through their connection to…

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD can present itself in many ways, but for a young London woman who just turned 18, her compulsions have to do with harming herself or her family. “I’d wake up in the morning and I’d be fine. Then the next second, my brain would be telling me I need to go buy razors or something bad is going to happen to my family, or I need to swallow something, or I need to go to a place like the railroad tracks and sit there for a certain amount of hours until I complete that OCD…