Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🍿 Paramount settles WBD antitrust suit
• ✈️ Flight delays at major airports
• 💞 Finding love with your Costco card

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.12-minute read (1,096 words).

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“Don't try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff.”

–Betty White (1922-2021)

Hollywood’s latest blockbuster crossover is one major step closer to debuting in theaters.

Paramount officially reached a settlement yesterday with a coalition of 12 state attorneys general who sued to block its $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, removing one of the biggest remaining obstacles to the massive media merger.

Previously on Paramount v. AGs

In July, the states filed an antitrust lawsuit arguing that the Paramount-WBD merger would concentrate too much power over film and TV production under one roof, potentially reducing competition and driving up prices.

Paramount argued the opposite, saying the two companies combined would create a stronger competitor to entertainment giants like Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and YouTube.

Under the settlement’s terms, Paramount won’t have to immediately sell off any cable channels or major assets. Instead, the company agreed to several concessions, including independent editorial boards for CNN and CBS, spending $1.5 billion on California film production over five years, and releasing 30+ movies in theaters annually.

• Falling short of that movie target carries a $30 million penalty for each missing film, and would force Paramount to divest its stake in Miramax—meaning Mission: Impossible 19 may someday become a matter of fiscal responsibility.
• The media giant is also required to negotiate cable distribution for WBD and Paramount separately, or be forced to divest a group of cable channels.

Investors liked what they saw. Warner Bros. Discovery shares jumped ~10% following news of the settlement yesterday, while Paramount rose ~9%.

Looking ahead…Paramount has already cleared its deal with regulators in 69 jurisdictions, including the US Justice Department. But there’s still one major loose end: the Writers Guild of America has separately sued to block the merger, arguing it would reduce jobs and suppress writers’ pay.

Paramount and Warner Bros. previously agreed not to close their merger while that lawsuit remains unresolved, or until June 1, 2027.

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New research shows dogs can distinguish between several different human facial expressions, providing new evidence for something pet owners have long suspected: They’re pretty good at reading the room.

Put on a happy face

In a newly published study, researchers showed eight dogs photos of strangers with happy facial expressions, while scanning their brains for data.

• They found that dogs process faces much like humans do, focusing on eyes, noses, and mouths for clues as to emotion.
• They also discovered that human faces activated the dogs’ temporal cortex and caudate nucleus, two regions of the brain associated with higher cognitive and reward processing.

Scientists then expanded their experiment, showing a group of 12 dogs various photos of humans displaying happiness, anger, fear, and sadness while scanning their brains.

The areas associated with cognitive and reward processing responded only to happy human faces, suggesting that dogs’ brains process positive human expressions differently from negative ones.

A further whole-brain analysis revealed distinct patterns of activity when dogs viewed angry, fearful, and sad faces, implying their brains were categorizing each emotion differently rather than simply sorting human expressions into “good” and “bad” buckets.

Bottom line: "Humans are really good at picking up small details on the face, and so are dogs," study author Raúl Hernández-Pérez told BBC.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 US stocks close up across the board, as oil prices fall for fourth straight trading session and Meta’s impressive new Muse AI agent boosts AI stocks. (S&P: +1.5% | Dow: +0.7% | Nasdaq: +2.3%)
• ✈️ Hundreds of flights across major airports in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and New Jersey were delayed yesterday after construction workers cut a cable needed for air traffic control.
• 📲 iPhone owners can now submit a claim in Apple’s $250 million settlement for failing to deliver an AI-upgraded Siri; Americans who bought an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or any 16 model between June 10, 2024–March 29, 2025 can get ~$25/device.

SPORTS, MEDIA, & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams did not suffer a severe hamstring injury despite being carted off the field last Sunday, and hasn’t been ruled out of next Monday’s game against the Eagles.
• 📺 Taylor Frankie Paul is stepping away from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives after starring in first five seasons; Paul was set to star in The Bachelorette earlier this year, but ABC pulled the season days ahead of its premiere in response to a video of Paul attacking the father of one of her children.
• 🙏 Presley Gerber, the 27-year-old model and son of supermodel Cindy Crawford, died of a suspected overdose.

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SCIENCE, SPACE, & EMERGING TECH

• 🦴 Calcium and vitamin D supplementation in older adults does little to prevent fractures or reduce the risk of falling, per new systematic review and meta-analysis.
• 🚑 Solar-powered ambulance with 444-mile range is being tested in remote Kenyan communities; it carries an ultrasound, X-ray equipment, defibrillator, and vaccine refrigerator.
• 😴 More time in REM sleep linked to a lower risk of 83 diseases, including Alzheimer’s, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation, per new large study.

US, WORLD, & POLITICS

• 🚨 Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan man, was shot and wounded by an ICE officer while making a DoorDash delivery in Austin, TX, on Sunday; Perez’s attorney says he entered the US seeking asylum through a parole program, while DHS says he had a final removal order.
• 📺 Three news orgs whose reporters were banned by the White House last week—CNN, MS NOW, and Politico—sue President Trump and three top advisers over the move; major TV networks also agree to suspend a rotation of broadcast journalists who cover Trump in response to CNN’s ban.
• 🇷🇺 Pro-Putin ruling United Russia party wins record 355 out of 450 seats in Russia’s parliament, while anti-war Yabloko party wins tiny foothold in regional parliament; it marks Russia’s first national election since invading Ukraine in early 2022.

☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from the 18th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, which drew nearly 4,000 entries from 66 countries. The overall winner is ‘The Quiet Predator’ by Ali Alobaidly (top left), showing a stream of dark cosmic clouds known as the Shark Nebula.

🤔 Did you know? The movie Cast Away halted its production for an entire year so that star Tom Hanks could lose ~50 lbs and grow out his hair and beard. During that time, director Robert Zemeckis and other crew members filmed suspense thriller What Lies Beneath, starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

📰 Worth a read: The surprising new way to find friends and true love: your Costco card.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Gym bros are going to Pilates—and leaving shaking like a Chihuahua
• What your hairline can reveal about your health
• All roads lead to…Constantinople?

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Yesterday we covered how President Trump barred three major news organizations—CNN, MS NOW, and Politico—from White House grounds over what he characterized as “fake news” and persistently negative coverage of his administration.

❓ Our question to you: Do you think the White House should be allowed to revoke press access for news organizations based on their coverage?

• Yes: 14%
• No: 79%
• Unsure/other: 7%

Read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 822 votes and 107 longform responses.

❓ Trivia: What’s the only bird that can fly backwards?

🍯 True or false?...Honey never expires

(keep scrolling for the answer)

❤️ A decade after becoming homeless, Rhys Wynne-Jones’ life changed when a video of him playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” on a church piano went viral, eventually helping him find a permanent home.

Now, he’s using the talent that helped him through his darkest years to raise $50,000+ for homeless charities and other good causes.

❓ Trivia: Hummingbird

🍯 T/F: True

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