YouTube TV Loses Disney Channels as Contract Talks Fail

YouTube TV subscribers have lost access to several Disney channels, including ABC and ESPN, following a breakdown in contract negotiations. The service provider announced on Thursday that Disney had acted on its threat to suspend content during the talks. Other channels affected include the Disney Channel, FX, and National Geographic.

YouTube TV claims that Disney leveraged the blackout to negotiate higher prices, which would benefit Disney’s own streaming services such as Hulu + Live TV and Fubo. In response to the disruption, YouTube TV expressed disappointment and encouraged Disney to work towards a fair agreement. To alleviate subscriber concerns, YouTube TV will issue a $20 credit if Disney content remains unavailable for an extended period.

International Space Station Celebrates 25 Years of Human Presence

Meanwhile, the International Space Station (ISS) is commemorating 25 years of uninterrupted human presence in orbit. Located above Earth, the ISS has hosted nearly 300 individuals, including professional astronauts and occasional space tourists. As it approaches its final five years of operation, NASA is relying on private companies to take over with their own orbiting stations, aiming to broaden access.

Nasa has contracted SpaceX for nearly $1 billion to assist in decommissioning the ISS by early 2031. The station’s first full-time residents, an American and two Russians, opened the hatch in 2000.

Sean Combs Seeks Quick Appeals Court Hearing

In legal news, hip-hop producer Sean “Diddy” Combs is pushing for a swift review of his conviction on prostitution-related charges by a federal appeals court. His legal team filed documents on Wednesday with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting that oral arguments be scheduled for April.

Combs was found guilty in July of transporting his girlfriends and male sex workers across state lines for drug-fueled sexual encounters but was acquitted of more severe charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering, which could have resulted in a life sentence.

Brad Marchand Stepping Away from Panthers for a Cause

In sports, Brad Marchand has stepped away from the Florida Panthers to support a friend whose daughter passed away from cancer. Marchand served as a guest coach for the under-18 March and Mill Co. Hunters in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in place of his friend JP MacCallum. The game, held on Wednesday night, is a fundraiser for the family following the loss of 10-year-old Selah Panacci-MacCallum.

The event includes a raffle for an autographed Marchand jersey. Coach Paul Maurice anticipates Marchand will return for the Panthers’ game against Dallas on Saturday.

Grand Egyptian Museum Set for Grand Opening

In cultural news, the Grand Egyptian Museum is on track to open its doors after two decades of anticipation. Located just outside Cairo, the facility is set to debut on Saturday and aims to showcase ancient Egyptian civilization while boosting tourism, a vital source of foreign revenue for the country.

This $1 billion project will be the largest museum globally dedicated to a single civilization, featuring over 50,000 artifacts. Although construction began in 2005, the project faced numerous delays due to political instability. Officials are hopeful that the museum will revitalize tourism and attract millions of visitors each year.

American Sentiments on Daylight Saving Time

A recent AP-NORC poll highlights that only 12% of U.S. adults favor the current daylight saving time system, which requires clock changes twice a year. The poll indicates that 47% oppose the system, while 40% remain neutral. As the nation prepares to set clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, most Americans prefer to retain that extra hour of daylight in the evening.

Nvidia Makes History as First $5 Trillion Company

In business developments, Nvidia has made headlines as the first company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. Just three months prior, it was the first to surpass the $4 trillion mark. The surge in Nvidia’s stock price, which closed at $207.04 with 24.3 billion shares outstanding, can be attributed to the increasing demand for its chips.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is in South Korea this week for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, attended by leaders from major economies including the United States, China, and Japan.

Search Underway for Escaped Monkeys in Mississippi

Authorities in Mississippi are conducting a search for three monkeys that escaped from a truck involved in an accident on Interstate 59 near Heidelberg. Animal experts from Tulane University assessed the scene and confirmed the escape following the truck’s overturn earlier in the week.

While video footage captured monkeys wandering through the grass near the highway, it remains unclear who owns the animals and their intended destination. Search teams are scouring the surrounding fields for any signs of the escaped primates.

Microsoft Addresses Azure Cloud Service Outage

In tech news, Microsoft has confirmed that users of its Azure cloud service may experience difficulties accessing various applications, including Office 365 and Minecraft, due to problems with its global content delivery network. The company has announced that its teams are actively deploying a fix to resolve the outage.

Unique Exhibition Opens in Düsseldorf

Lastly, an innovative exhibition titled “The Secret Power of Scents” opened Wednesday at the Kunstpalast museum in Düsseldorf, Germany. The exhibit invites visitors to explore the world of fragrances through 81 scents across 37 galleries, merging olfactory experiences with art spanning over 1,000 years of cultural history.

Curator Robert Müller-Grünow states that this is the first exhibition of its kind to integrate scents into a museum on such a large scale, highlighting their significance in various aspects of society including religion, politics, and art, thus offering a unique sensory experience.