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  • Blackpink’s Lisa Announces Las Vegas Residency, ‘Viva La Lisa’ (EXCLUSIVE)

    Blackpink’s Lisa Announces Las Vegas Residency, ‘Viva La Lisa’ (EXCLUSIVE)

    Blackpink’s Lisa has announced her first Las Vegas residency, “Viva La Lisa,” coming to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace for two weekends: Nov. 13 and 14 and Nov. 27 and 28.

    The announcement makes Lisa the first K-Pop artist to stage a Las Vegas residency. 

    To participate in the presale beginning Wednesday, April 22 at 10 a.m. PT, fans can sign up from Wednesday, April 1 at 10 a.m. PT through Sunday, April 19 at 10 p.m. PT. For artist presales on Ticketmaster, no code is needed – access is tied to the user’s account.

    The artist presale runs Wednesday, April 22 from 10 a.m. PT through 10 p.m. PT. The general on sale begins Thursday, April 23 at 10 a.m. PT at ticketmaster.com.

    The residency follows the release of Lisa’s debut solo album, “Alter Ego,” last year, as well as a Blackpink tour last year and a new EP, “Deadline,” released last month.

    Lisa, who starred in the hit HBO series “Black Lotus,” is also the subject of a documentary announced last year. According to the announcement, the film follows one year in the life of the singer-actor, in which she and the other members of Blackpink focused on their solo projects. The doc is directed by filmmaker Sue Kim, who helmed A24’s award-winning documentary, “The Last of the Sea Women.”

    VIVA LA LISA DATES:

    Friday, November 13 – The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

    Saturday, November 14- The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

    Friday, November 27- The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

    Saturday, November 28 – The Colosseum at Caesars Palace

  • Project Hail Mary is already Amazon MGM’s highest-grossing film ever

    It’s safe to say that Project Hail Mary is a success. The movie has taken in over $300 million globally, making it the best showing for Amazon MGM yet, Variety reports. Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion in 2022.

    Creed III previously held the record for Amazon MGM, having grossed $276 million. Notably, the achievement for Amazon MGM is just versus its own markers, rather than against other production companies. But it’s certainly notable given streamers aren’t known for focusing on theatrical releases.

    With that said, Amazon MGM has pivoted recently, announcing last April that it planned to release 14 films in theaters this year. These titles include Is God Is (May 15), Masters of the Universe (June 5), and Verity (October 2).

    Project Hail Mary is based on a 2021 novel by Andy Weir, author of The Martian. It follows Ryan Gosling as high school teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up on a spacecraft with no idea who he is or why he’s there. It has garnered mostly positive reviews and a 95 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

  • Rate hike bets are building for the Fed – and now the Bank of Japan too

    Rate hike bets are building for the Fed – and now the Bank of Japan too

    Prospects of interest rate rises are no longer just the U.S. story. Traders are now betting the Bank of Japan (BoJ) could tighten too as the resource-scarce nation faces inflation risks from the ongoing Iran war.

    Traders see a roughly 69% chance of the BoJ raising its benchmark borrowing cost at the April 28 meeting, according to data tracked by Bloomberg. Action in options tied to U.S. interest rates shows traders expect the Fed to raise borrowing costs in the coming weeks.

    BoJ’s policy meeting summary released Monday showed one member calling for a bigger rate hike in response to the conflict in the Middle East and its inflationary impact on Japanese society. Comments also noted that any move would factor in incoming economic data and anecdotal signals from the market.

    The Fed’s tightening is a well-known headwind for risk assets, including bitcoin. The Bank of Japan can be just as impactful. Years of ultra-low rates encouraged traders to borrow in yen and invest in higher-yielding markets (the so-called carry trade), keeping borrowing costs suppressed globally and greasing rallies in risk assets.

    So, a shift toward tighter policy in Tokyo could reverse these flows, sending ripples across markets and potentially deepening the crypto bear market. The BoJ has already raised its interest rate to 0.75% from -0.1% over the past two years while simultaneously ending its massive asset purchase program. Yet, rates in Japan remain significantly lower than the 3.5% seen in the U.S.

    The bank, therefore, has plenty of room to hike if the Iran crisis worsens, potentially driving higher energy prices and imported inflation in Japan and other oil-dependent countries.

    Easier said than done

    Hiking rates, however, will be a challenging task given Japan’s strained fiscal situation. The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio stands at a staggering 240%, meaning higher rates could sharply increase borrowing costs and strain government finances.

    Economists have said that Japan is caught between a rock and a hard place. If it hikes rates and allows government bond yields to rise, it could put Japan’s debt sustainability at risk. If it keeps rates low, the yen will likely depreciate significantly, adding to inflation concerns.

    Strains are already evident in the FX market. The Japanese yen continues to weaken and is currently just around 160 per U.S. dollar, its weakest level since mid-2024. The JPY has depreciated by 54% since 2021.

  • Bitcoin Exchange Binance Announces Listing of Numerous New Altcoin Trading Pairs! Here Are the Details

    Bitcoin Exchange Binance Announces Listing of Numerous New Altcoin Trading Pairs! Here Are the Details

    Cryptocurrency exchange Binance continues to expand its spot market trading options. According to the latest announcement from the exchange, a number of new trading pairs will become available on the platform on March 31, 2026, at 4:00 PM.

    The announcement stated that the trading pairs Aptos (APT/U), Ethena (ENA/U), Fetch.ai (FET/U), $NIGHT ($NIGHT/U), $TRUMP ($TRUMP/U and $TRUMP/USD1), and Worldcoin ($WLD/U) will be listed. This step will allow users to trade in a wider range of assets.

    Binance also announced that it will simultaneously launch its spot algorithmic trading bot services for these newly listed trading pairs. This will allow users to create automated trading strategies and take advantage of market opportunities more effectively.

    Experts say that adding new trading pairs can increase the trading volume of the related assets and raise price volatility in the short term. In particular, the support of popular projects like $TRUMP and $WLD with these new pairs is considered among the developments that could increase investor interest.

    On the other hand, Binance’s move aims to strengthen liquidity on the platform and improve the user experience. With increasing competition in the cryptocurrency market, the variety of products and services offered by exchanges is also observed to be rapidly expanding.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • Police encounter with ‘determined beaver’ caught on camera

    Police encounter with ‘determined beaver’ caught on camera

    Odd News // 1 month ago

    Maryland man stops for lunch, wins $50,000 lottery prize

    Feb. 27 (UPI) — A Maryland man made a stop for lunch during his break for lunch and ended up winning a $50,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket.

  • Russell Brand Rape Trial Start in London Pushed Back to October

    Russell Brand Rape Trial Start in London Pushed Back to October

    The start of a London trial over allegations of rape and sexual assault against disgraced comedian and actor Russell Brand has been pushed back from mid-June to October.

    The 50-year-old is accused of three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault, and one allegation of indecent assault, with six women alleging crimes dating from 1999 to 2009. Brand has denied all the charges.

    Last month, he appeared at Southwark Crown Court in central London to enter a not guilty plea to two more alleged incidents with two separate women in the British capital in 2009. The first charges against Brand were brought in April 2025 with alleged offenses against four women.

    His trial was so far set to start on June 16 at Southwark Crown Court. During a hearing on Monday, Justice Joel Bennathan unveiled a delay of the start of the trial, saying it would now kick off on Oct. 12, Sky News reported. Brand was not present in the court for Monday’s hearing, but was represented by his lawyer.

    At the hearing, the judge officially brought together the two sets of charges against Brand into one trial case. Sky News also highlighted that the trial is now scheduled to last longer. Instead of the original plan for up to five weeks, it is now expected to last for around two months.

    The police began investigating Brand in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations, which followed reporting by Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times. One of the women told Dispatches that Brand entered a relationship with her when he was 31 and she was 16. Their relationship lasted three months, she had said, and Brand had been “emotionally abusive and controlling.” Another claimed that Brand raped her in 2012 in his L.A. home, according to the Sunday Times.

  • Global Streaming Subscription Revenue Tripled In Five Years, Poised to Top $200 Billion by 2030

    Global Streaming Subscription Revenue Tripled In Five Years, Poised to Top $200 Billion by 2030

    Global streaming subscription revenue surpassed $150 billion for the first time in 2025, according to a new survey from Ampere Analysis, which highlighted that as “a major milestone” for the subscription market. And streaming subscription revenue will hit $202 billion by 2030, up 29 percent, “as streamers shift focus from subscriber growth to price increases and ad-supported tiers,” the research firm predicted on Monday.

    “While international expansion remains an important driver of the market, platforms are increasingly focusing on monetization through price increases and the rollout of ad-supported tiers, particularly in mature markets,” Ampere emphasized in its latest report. “As ad-free subscriber numbers stabilize, hybrid subscription and advertising models are playing an increasingly important role in revenue growth.”

    Global streaming subscription revenue jumped 14 percent in 2025 to reach a total of $157.1 billion. That amounts to a tripling over the past five years from $50 billion in 2020. “The international expansion of global streaming services, the rollout of ad-supported tiers, and consistent price increases across major platforms have contributed to the increase,” Ampere noted.

    Including advertising revenue, streaming services generated $177 billion in revenue worldwide in 2025, Ampere said, putting ad revenue at around $20 billion. The share of total revenue of subscription streamers from ad tiers has risen “rapidly” over the past five years, up from less than 5 percent in 2020 to 28 percent in 2025, the Ampere research highlighted.

    “As adoption of ad tiers grows and platforms expand their ad loads, advertising is expected to become an increasingly important revenue stream, adding a further $42 billion in annual revenue by 2030,” the company estimated.

    The U.S. remained the largest driver of the streaming sector last year, accounting for 50 percent of global streaming subscription revenue in 2025, according to the research firm. “Netflix is the largest contributor in the U.S. market, with revenues up by 14 percent in 2025 following an across-the-board price increase at the start of the year,” Ampere explained. “In more crowded markets such as North America and Western Europe, the next phase of expansion is increasingly driven by ad-tier subscriptions.”

    Concluded Lauren Liversedge, senior analyst at Ampere: “As the streaming market matures, the emphasis is no longer on pure subscriber growth but on extracting greater value from existing audiences. Price optimization and the rise of ad-supported tiers are driving revenue growth, particularly in the most competitive markets.”

  • Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Dumps Meta, Nvidia and Bitcoin ETF Shares in Major Tech Sell-Off

    Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Dumps Meta, Nvidia and Bitcoin ETF Shares in Major Tech Sell-Off

    In brief

    • Ark Invest parted with nearly $41 million in META and $26 million in NVDA shares on Thursday.
    • Cathie Wood’s firm also dumped around $11 million worth of shares in its Bitcoin ETF.
    • The sales come amid a sustained market downturn as uncertainty in Iran shakes stocks and crypto.

    Ark Invest, the investment firm of notable tech investor Cathie Wood, shed millions of dollars’ worth of shares of major tech stocks on Thursday, significantly trimming positions in Nvidia and Meta while also diminishing its exposure to Bitcoin via its own Bitcoin ETF. 

    The firm’s Thursday activity saw it part with nearly $41 million worth of Meta (META) and more than $26 million in Nvidia (NVDA), both of which have fallen further since the opening bell on Friday, dropping 2.98% and 1.55%, respectively. 

    The prominent tech stocks have fared much worse over the last month, with META dropping more than 17% over that time to change hands around $531. The bulk of those losses—around 10%—have come in the last week as the social media platform lost a pair of social media addiction lawsuits that said it failed to protect young users. 

    Nvidia has held up better, but still dipped around 5% in the last month as uncertainty surrounds the conflict in Iran. The firm was also hit with a class action lawsuit over alleged crypto mining revenue gaps. 

    The actively managed ARK ETFs also saw considerable decreases in other popular tech stocks, like Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which it sold around $2.5 million and $7.5 million worth of, respectively. The pair have not been spared in Friday trading, dropping 1% and 2.27% since trading began.

    Beyond the tech stocks, Ark Invest also divested from some crypto exposure on Thursday. The firm shed around $11 million worth of shares in its spot Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) and about $6.5 million in shares of crypto exchange Bullish. It also dumped nearly $5 million worth of Bitcoin proponent Jack Dorsey’s firm, Block (XYZ), which has a number of Bitcoin-centric products.

    Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, has now fallen around 4.8% in the last 24 hours to change hands around $66,020, briefly touching its lowest price since March 2 below $66,000. Meanwhile, Bullish has fallen nearly 3.5% in the last 24 hours, and is now down nearly 44% in the last six months of trading as the entire crypto market slides. 

    Wood has been outspokenly optimistic about the future of Bitcoin, providing ambitious price forecasts—like $1.2 million per coin by 2030. But after Thursday’s sales, the firm only holds around $100 million in ARKB, enough to make it the 35th largest holding among actively managed ARK ETFs out of 96 total positions, according to data from Cathie’s Ark. 

    Earlier this year, Wood said that she was not concerned about a bubble in AI, instead pointing to precious metals and the run in gold as the real bubble. As of Friday, gold was down around 20% from its yearly high, recently changing hands around $4,483 per ounce.

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  • China Box Office: ‘Project Hail Mary’ Overtakes ‘Hoppers’ to Claim Top Spot

    China Box Office: ‘Project Hail Mary’ Overtakes ‘Hoppers’ to Claim Top Spot

    Columbia Pictures’ science-fiction epic “Project Hail Mary” climbed to the number one position at the China box office during the March 27–29 weekend, earning RMB53.3 million ($7.5 million) in its second frame, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

    The film has now reached a cumulative total of $18.3 million.

    Disney’s animated adventure “Hoppers” moved to second place in its sophomore weekend, taking in $5 million for a total of $16.3 million.

    Racing-comedy “Pegasus 3” held the third spot, adding $3.4 million to its haul. Produced by PMF Pictures, the film has now reached a cumulative total of $612.3 million since its debut. Directed by Han Han and starring Shen Teng, the third installment in the franchise follows legendary racer Zhang Chi as he leads an underdog team into a grueling international rally.

    Martial arts epic “Blades of the Guardians” followed in fourth place, earning $1.9 million for a cumulative total of $200.1 million. Produced by Peace Film Production and directed by Yuen Woo-ping, the adaptation of the popular manhua follows a wandering mercenary named Dao Ma as he escorts a mysterious fugitive across the treacherous Western Regions toward the capital of Chang’an.

    Rounding out the top five, the comedy-drama “It’s OK” earned $1.7 million in its opening frame. Produced by China Film and directed by Yang Lina, the film stars Wen Qi, Qin Hailu, Bai Ke, and Li Xueqin. The story centers on Xu Ke, a young woman who is preparing for an urgent medical procedure when her plans are disrupted by the sudden arrival of her mother.

    Mainland China’s overall weekend grosses reached $25.3 million, while the 2026 year-to-date revenue stands at $1.67 billion, down 51.3% from the same period in 2025.

  • Korea Box Office: ‘The King’s Warden’ Surpasses 15 Million Admissions to Extend Record

    Korea Box Office: ‘The King’s Warden’ Surpasses 15 Million Admissions to Extend Record

    Historical drama “The King’s Warden” continued its record-breaking trajectory during the weekend of March 27–29, crossing the 15 million admissions milestone at the South Korean box office.

    Already the highest-grossing film of all time in South Korea, the feature added $3.3 million over the weekend to bring its cumulative gross to an unprecedented $99.4 million – just shy of the historic $100 million mark.

    The film, directed by Jang Hang-jun and starring Yoo Hae-jin and Park Ji-hoon, drew 511,901 admissions over the three-day period, bringing its total attendance to 15,615,948. While it has already claimed the crown for absolute revenue (surpassing the $93.7 million held by “Extreme Job”), it is now rapidly closing in on the all-time attendance records. The film currently ranks third in total admissions, now less than 650,000 tickets away from overtaking “Extreme Job” (16.26 million) for the No. 2 spot on the all-time list.

    In second place, Hollywood science-fiction epic “Project Hail Mary” maintained a strong presence, earning $2.9 million from 391,882 admissions. The film has reached a cumulative gross of $8.6 million with total admissions of 1,150,694 since its Mar. 18 debut. The adaptation secured a 37.57% revenue share, continuing to perform well as the primary alternative to the local leader.

    Japanese animated feature “Detective Conan the Movie: The Last Wizard of the Century” debuted in third place, earning $330,899 over the weekend. The plot centers on the heist of a newly discovered Imperial Easter Egg – a priceless Romanov artifact – targeted by the Phantom Thief Kid. As Conan investigates, he uncovers a deeper mystery involving the Russian revolution and a deadly assassin known as Scorpion. The film has grossed $360,912 since its Mar. 27 launch.

    Pixar’s “Hoppers” took fourth place, adding $289,973 to reach a cumulative total of $4.6 million. It was followed by a resurgence for “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle Arc,” which earned $187,608 from 25 screens. The film’s total South Korean gross now stands at $40.8 million.

    Japanese anime “Attack on Titan The Movie : The Last Attack” took sixth place, earning $131,936 for a total of $7 million. French animated adventure “Pets on a Train” (Volez-vous !) debuted in seventh place, earning $57,094. It was followed by the action-thriller “Protector” in eighth place, which grossed $54,214 over the weekend and since its Mar. 25 debut, it has earned $104,344.

    Peter Chan Ho-sun’s 1997 Hong Kong classic “Comrades: Almost A Love Story” re-entered the charts in ninth place following a re-release, earning $51,022 and has a total of $103,081. Rounding out the top 10 was the family musical “The Bath Fairy,” which earned $40,749 over the weekend for a total of $51,186. Based on the bestseller by Baek Hee-na, the film captures a live stage performance of the story about a young girl who meets a magical elderly fairy in an old neighborhood bathhouse.

    The overall market collective gross for the weekend was $7.9 million, a steep drop from last week’s $15.5 million.