News & Events

Las Vegas’ first Super Bowl will be a christening of the city’s new status as a pro sports destination. When officials agreed to help pay for Allegiant Stadium, the new home of the Raiders, they expected a benefit of 450,000 visitors a year. The reality has been nearly double. The arrival of the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 alone is expected to bring 330,000 fans.  Why We Wrote This A story focused on The Super Bowl is the latest indication of Las Vegas’ transformation into a pro sports hub. Aside from an economic boon, what has it done for the community? For a city built on gambling and renewed through constant evolution, professional sports is the next big thing. As America’s attitude toward betting changes, the city is finally taking a prominent place in the pro sports landscape. It wasn’t tha...

ROME — Buried in ash after Mount Vesuvius’ cataclysmic eruption in 79 A.D., hundreds of papyrus scrolls have kept their secrets hidden for centuries. But archeologists have now been able to decipher some of the ancient text with the help of artificial intelligence.Discovered in the ruins of a villa thought to have been owned by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the Herculaneum papyri are a collection of around 1,000 scrolls that were carbonized during the eruption, along with thousands of other relics.Found by a farmworker in the 18th century, they are named after the place where they were buried, Herculaneum — an ancient Roman town to the south of Pompeii that was also destroyed by the blast.Previous attempts to unlock their secrets have failed because most...

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a statue of Kobe Bryant on Thursday, honoring their late superstar with a 19-foot bronze likeness outside their downtown arena.The 4,000-pound statue depicts Bryant in his white No. 8 jersey with his right index finger raised as he walked off the court following his 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors in January 2006.Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, said during the dedication ceremony that the statue is the first of three that will be created to honor the five-time NBA champion and top scorer in Lakers history. Another statue will feature Bryant in his No. 24 jersey, which he wore for the second half of his career, while a third will depict Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, who died with him and seven others in a helicopter crash in January...

Tucker Carlson on Thursday released his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which found the two discussing the war in Ukraine, NATO expansion and Russia's relationship with the United States.The interview—recorded on Tuesday and first released exclusively online via the Tucker Carlson Network—runs for over two hours, during which Putin also shared his thoughts on topics such as AI (international regulations may someday be needed) and on the next president of the U.S.After a somewhat contentious start, which saw Putin ask his interviewer if they were "having a talk show or a serious conversation," the two men had a broad-ranging talk and even later laughed about Putin's "talk show" remark.Below are some of the key highlights from the interview. Tucker Carlson, left, is shown s...

Russian President Vladimir Putin heaped praise on billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk during an interview he granted to pundit Tucker Carlson that was posted online Thursday.“I think there’s no stopping Elon Musk,” Putin told Carlson after the pundit asked him about the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence. “He will do as he sees fit. Nevertheless, you’ll need to find some common ground with him. Search for ways to persuade him. I think he’s a smart person. I truly believe he is. So you’ll need to reach an agreement with him because this process needs to be formalized and subjected to certain rules.”Musk has sparked controversy in recent months over his retooling of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and his embrace of antisemitic and other unproven theories.Musk, who owns se...