It’s official: The Barbie movie will not be screened in Vietnam, after the country's National Film Evaluation Council decided to ban the upcoming film, according to the Associated Press. Vietnamese screen censors made the decision based on the apparent showcasing of Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, otherwise known as the nine-dash-line, a sensitive subject of conflict for Vietnam and China. The film — directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie — is premiering worldwide (including in Egypt) on 21 July.

EU regulations mean Threads won’t roll out in EU markets this week: Meta’s upcomingsocial media platform, Threads — which is widely expected to rival Twitter — will not be available across the EU when it launches tomorrow, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The company still needs to figure out “how data sharing between the new platform and its Instagram app will be regulated” under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which regulates competition between large online platforms, according to the business information service. Meta is expected to allow Instagram users to transfer their username and followers to Threads, which raises regulatory concerns about data sharing.

Streaming killed the video star: Major studios like Warner Bros Discovery — which lost half of its value since its debut as a combined company in 2022 — are cutting costs by reducing content and killing shows that are not achieving desired views. Save for Netflix, the major studios have seen exponential losses since 2020, with USD 20 bn in combined losses, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Profitability over growth: While the shift away from cable has been advantageous to viewers, it has dug deep into entertainment mammoths’ pockets. This, coupled with the fact that the market is oversaturated, Hollywood writers being on strike, and the fact that ads are less lucrative than they used to be, spells trouble for household names such as Paramount Global, Comcast, and Disney+, the WSJ says. As a result, companies are struggling to increase bottom lines rather than expand their base of viewers, the article notes.

Space travel messes with your immune system: Space travel can have a negative impact on the immune system, according to a studyconducted on 14 astronauts who spent 4.5-6.5 months aboard the international space station. The study revealed that the activity of genes in white blood cells, known as leukocytes, quickly decreased when they reached space and then returned to normal levels shortly after returning to earth. The researchers believe that the decrease in gene expression is due to the microgravity environment of space. Although it remains unclear exactly how microgravity affects the immune system, researchers believe that it may be related to changes in the way that cells communicate with each other.

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