The Washington Times AI News Desk

Highly mutated ‘cicada’ COVID variant detected in 25 states

A heavily mutated COVID-19 variant is spreading across the United States, and health officials are keeping a close eye on it.

March 27, 2026

Did Ye drop ‘Bully’? Album releases on YouTube after apology

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, released his long-awaited studio album "Bully" in the early hours of Friday on YouTube, marking his 12th studio album and his first solo release since "Donda 2" in 2022.

March 27, 2026

Will recycling laws raise your grocery bill? Businesses say yes — and they’re suing to prove it

Are new recycling laws raising prices? Businesses say yes. Seven blue states have passed Extended Producer Responsibility laws -- and the legal and consumer cost fights are just beginning.

March 27, 2026

Sony hikes PS5 to $600, PS5 Pro to $900 starting April

Sony announced Friday it is raising the prices of its PlayStation 5 consoles, PS5 Pro and PlayStation Portal worldwide, citing continued pressures in the global economic landscape -- the company's second price hike in less than a year.

March 27, 2026

Netflix raises prices on all subscription plans for second time in roughly two years

Netflix is hiking subscription prices across all of its U.S. plans, the second such increase in less than two years, with the changes taking effect immediately for new members and rolling out to existing subscribers in the coming weeks.

March 27, 2026

Spanish woman, 25, receives euthanasia after landmark legal battle with her father

A Barcelona judge on Thursday denied a last-minute bid to block the assisted death of Noelia Castillo Ramos, a 25-year-old Spanish woman who has been paraplegic since 2022 and had fought for nearly two years to exercise her right to die under Spanish law.

March 26, 2026

Chinese national pleads guilty in Florida elder fraud scheme

A Chinese national living in central Florida has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for her role in an elder fraud scheme that targeted retirees across the state, federal prosecutors announced.

March 26, 2026

Five Guys CEO Jerry Murrell hands out $1.5M after promo disaster

Five Guys founder and CEO Jerry Murrell is handing out $1.5 million in bonuses to employees at the chain's U.S. locations -- and his explanation for why is turning heads.

March 26, 2026

Three men charged with smuggling $170M in export-controlled chips to China

Three men have been charged with conspiring to smuggle millions of dollars' worth of export-controlled computer chips to China, federal prosecutors in Atlanta announced.

March 26, 2026

VA official indicted for concealing gifts from contractors on $16B IT project

A senior Veterans Affairs official has been indicted on federal charges alleging he concealed thousands of dollars in gifts from contractors while overseeing one of the largest IT contracts in the federal government.

March 26, 2026

Netflix denies comedian Mark Normand’s claim that execs called Muslims ‘dangerous people’

Netflix is pushing back against stand-up comedian Mark Normand after he claimed on a podcast that the streaming giant's executives pressured him to stop promoting a joke about Muslims on social media.

March 26, 2026

Biden White House pressured social media to silence Americans — Trump DOJ just shut that down

The Trump Justice Department has settled a major censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration. Three federal agencies are now banned for 10 years from pressuring social media companies to suppress Americans' speech.

March 26, 2026

Josh Duhamel: Celebrities who preach politics are making a bad business decision

Josh Duhamel is pushing back against celebrity political grandstanding, and he's framing it as simple common sense.

March 26, 2026

Judge Judy’s son Adam Levy set to star in his own CBS courtroom show

CBS has announced that Mr. Levy, 57, will star in a new courtroom series titled "Adam's Law," set to premiere this fall as part of the network's 2026/2027 programming slate.

March 26, 2026

Netflix’s MLB debut draws fan backlash over scorebug, missed moments and heavy self-promotion

Netflix made its long-awaited entry into Major League Baseball on Wednesday night, streaming the New York Yankees' 7-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park to kick off the 2026 season.

March 26, 2026

Jarvis Butts, convicted killer of Detroit teen Na’Ziyah Harris, dies in prison

Jarvis Butts, the 43-year-old Michigan man convicted of murdering 13-year-old Na'Ziyah Harris and sexually assaulting multiple children, has died in prison just two weeks after being sentenced, authorities confirmed Thursday.

March 26, 2026

Comedian Druski dons whiteface to mock conservative women

Comedian Druski set social media ablaze Wednesday after posting a sketch on X in which he donned full prosthetics to portray a conservative white woman -- a character so closely associated with Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk that even X's own AI chatbot was fooled.

March 26, 2026

Are tampon dispensers being put in Maryland men’s rooms? A look inside HB 941

Maryland lawmakers are debating a bill that would require menstrual hygiene products to be stocked in all public restrooms inside state-owned or state-operated buildings, including men's bathrooms.

March 25, 2026

Expansion may be coming to the NBA. Here’s some of what you may want to know

The NBA is now officially looking at expansion, with Seattle and Las Vegas the two targeted cities.

March 25, 2026

HBO drops first ‘Harry Potter’ trailer, sets Christmas Day premiere

HBO on Wednesday released the first official teaser trailer for its highly anticipated "Harry Potter" television series and announced the show will debut on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2026.

March 25, 2026