disafter.com
Thursday, October 22, 2026
Video Games
Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, with about 400 employees laid off according to Bloomberg. BioWare's own statement said early development on the next Mass Effect game is ending along with the studio. Its last release was Dragon Age: The Veilguard in 2024, and the closure ends one of the most storied names in role-playing games after more than 30 years.
Stock Market
All three major indexes rose on Wednesday. The S&P 500 gained 0.58% to 7,757.17, the Dow added 0.69% to 52,856.09, and the Nasdaq led with a 1.05% climb to 26,702.86. Strong earnings revived enthusiasm for AI hardware, pushing the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up nearly 2%, while telecom stocks fell on fears of a satellite company moving into wireless. The rally was narrow, with new lows on the Nasdaq outnumbering new highs four to one.
Technology
Two critical vulnerabilities in PHP, the language behind a large share of the web, could let attackers take control of affected servers, and had reportedly gone unnoticed for years until security firms using AI tools found them. The Netherlands, Denmark, France and Finland took some government websites down as a precaution, and Canada's sites were temporarily offline too. The PHP Foundation has released a fix, and the US cybersecurity agency CISA is urging everyone running PHP to update now.
World News
Kim Yo-jong, a senior official in North Korea's ruling party and Kim Jong Un's sister, said work to fortify the border will continue and that loudspeakers along it will be ready to operate within days. The warning follows an order from the North's army chief that border troops must act decisively if they feel threatened by South Korean forces, raising the risk of a clash along the heavily armed frontier.
Movies
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value has won the 2026 Nordic Council Film Prize, shared by Trier, co-writer Eskil Vogt and producers Maria Ekerhovd and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar. The jury called the Norwegian drama "an instant classic of Nordic cinema," capping a year in which Norway took every one of the Nordic Council's prizes. The award will be presented in Helsinki on October 27.