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US   POLITICS  
Indiana Senate rejects GOP-drawn congressional map in a major rebuke of Trump
- INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Senate voted against a new Republican-drawn congressional map Thursday, rejecting a bid led by President Donald Trump aimed at boosting the party in next year's midterm elections. The vote was a rare and stunning instance of elected Republicans rebuking Trump, who had pressured Indiana lawmakers for months to pass new district lines. The GOP leaders of Indiana's Senate had long ...

Source: news.yahoo.com
US   MARKETS  
Mortgage Rates Tick Up but Remain Near 2025 Lows
- As we head into 2026, mortgage rates are expected to remain in line with today's rates, which, while not the sharp decline some buyers may have been hoping for, are enough to see modest home price growth in the new year, economists predict.  The latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), released by Freddie Mac Thursday, aligns with recent forecasts, this week showing the 30-year fixed-rate ...

Source: rismedia.com
BUSINESS   TECHNOLOGY  
OpenAI nabs $1B investment from Disney as part of character licensing deal
- OpenAI Group PBC has secured a $1 billion investment from The Walt Disney Co. as part of a deal that will also see it license key intellectual property from the entertainment giant. The companies announced the partnership today. According to OpenAI, Disney is receiving warrants that will enable it to purchase an unspecified amount of additional equity further down the line. It didn't disclose the valuation at which ...

Source: siliconangle.com
US   POLITICS  
Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody after court order
- Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia has been released from U.S. immigration custody following a federal court order directing his immediate release, according to his attorney and newly filed court records. The ruling was issued on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who found that immigration authorities lacked legal authority to continue holding Abrego Garcia. Officials did not immediately release the exact time ...

Source: bnonews.com
US   POLITICS  
Doomed Health Votes Double as Political Weapons for Democrats
- The Senate will vote on dueling health care bills Thursday to stave off a spike in insurance premiums next year — a likely futile exercise that almost guarantees pain for Obamacare enrollees in January, and a political cudgel for Democrats in November. Senate Democrats are bringing to the floor legislation to extend enhancements to Affordable Care Act premium subsidies for another three years — a ...

Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
US  
XSPARKS.ai Launches to Redefine Enterprise AI Implementation and Operations
- , a next-generation AI consulting and solutions firm, announced its official launch, introducing a research-backed, operations-focused approach to enterprise AI implementation. Established to help organizations cut through the noise, identify where AI truly adds value, and deploy systems that work in harmony with their existing business architecture, Xspark.ai's methodology is rooted in research and refined by ...

Source: aithority.com
WORLD   POLITICS  
Kristi Noem Testifies DHS Hasn't Deported Veterans Before Kicked-Out War Hero Calls into Hearing
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was challenged during a hearing today about her department's controversial deportation practices. Noem, 54, testified before the House on Thursday, Dec. 11, about national security threats, where she was questioned by a representative about the deportation of military veterans by the Trump administration. "Madame Secretary, how many United States military veterans have you ...

Source: people.com
Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore taken into custody after firing
- Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The University of Michigan on Wednesday fired head football coach Sherrone Moore for "an inappropriate relationship with a staff member," and hours later he was booked into a jail near the college's campus in Ann Arbor . Moore compiled a 17-8 record for two seasons after serving as offensive coordinator when the Wolverines won the national title in January 2024. Four hours after the school ...

Source: upi.com
SCIENCE  
Neanderthals Were Starting Fires 400,000 Years Ago and Probably Taught Homo Sapiens Too
- Turns out the ability to use fire might have started long before our species, with Neanderthal ancestors. The old cliché goes like this: humans mastered fire, and with it, we conquered the world. But a plot twist is emerging from the sediment of history. What if it wasn't Homo sapiens who figured this out first? What if it was the Neanderthals, or their ancestors? According to groundbreaking findings from ...

Source: zmescience.com
US   POLITICS  
Grand jury again declines to indict Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges
- New York attorney general dodges indictment for second time in a week as Trump's justice department seeks retribution A federal grand jury has declined to indict Letitia James , the New York attorney general, on mortgage fraud charges for the second time in a week, according to a person familiar with the matter, in an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department as the president has sought retribution against ...

Source: theguardian.com
WORLD  
Border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia intensify with airstrikes and artillery attacks
- SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Cambodia said Thailand launched more airstrikes Thursday, as heavy fighting flared along the two countries' border and both sides accused the other of violating their sovereignty along the contested border region. The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish Sunday that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five ...

Source: apnews.com
Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as its person of the year for 2025
- The "Architects of AI" were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence "roared into view" with no turning back. "For delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the possible, the Architects of AI are TIME's 2025 Person of the Year," Time said in a social media ...

Source: apnews.com
US   HEALTH  
Measles Outbreaks Accelerate as U.S. Inches Closer to a Disease Tipping Point
- South Carolina is the epicenter of what state officials call an "accelerating" measles outbreak. Hundreds of people are in quarantine, and the outbreak has sickened at least 111 individuals, most of whom—105—were not vaccinated against the disease. The rash of cases is merely the latest in a string of measles outbreaks across the U.S. this year. Each of these outbreaks has brought the country ever ...

Source: scientificamerican.com
WORLD   POLITICS  
Zelensky says revised US plan still calls for Ukraine to leave disputed Donbas region
- KYIV -- President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that a compromise peace plan backed by the United States still called for Ukraine to withdraw from the eastern Donbas region, a concession that Zelensky said his country would not make. Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Zelensky made clear that territorial questions remained a major unresolved issue, a day after Ukrainian and European leaders sent to the United States ...

Source: bostonglobe.com
Iceland joins 4 other countries in boycotting Eurovision over Israel's participation
- Bjork supported the boycott move ( JTA ) — The public broadcaster of Iceland announced on Wednesday that it will not participate in this year's Eurovision Song Contest after Israel's participation was confirmed by the European Broadcasting Union last week. The decision drew support from prominent Icelandic artists, including the singer Björk and the former Eurovision representative Paul Oscar, as well as ...

Source: forward.com
POLITICS  
The States Leading the Way on Regulating AI
- Artificial intelligence is rushing into our lives at a breakneck pace. And the AI mavens know it: In the merging language of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill, they like to describe our present state of affairs as a "race." There are reports that the technology can now execute large-scale cyberattacks , that it can engineer bioweapons . AI chatbots are melting our brains while AI video generators churn out deepfake ...

Source: newrepublic.com
US   MEDICINE  
COVID Vaccines Slashed Kids' ER Visits by 76 Percent, Study Finds
- The COVID vaccines reduced the risk of emergency room or urgent care visits by 76 percent in children aged nine months through four years and by 56 percent in those aged five through 17 compared with children who didn't receive a vaccine, according to a study in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly report. The findings, published in the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report , ...

Source: scientificamerican.com
Killer whales and dolphins are 'being friends' to hunt salmon together
- White-sided dolphins seem to help killer whales "scout" and catch Chinook salmon near Vancouver Island, then eat the leftovers Killer whales and dolphins have been working together to hunt salmon in the northern Pacific Ocean, an unexpected finding that further reveals the complex social lives of marine mammals. Video cameras and sensors attached to nine killer whales – also known as orcas – showed four ...

Source: newscientist.com
MEDICINE  
Sperm donor with hidden cancer gene fathers nearly 200 kids, families blindsided
- You can now listen to Fox News articles! A sperm donor whose samples helped conceive nearly 200 children across Europe unknowingly carried a cancer-causing genetic mutation — a hidden risk now tied to multiple childhood illnesses and early deaths. An investigation led by the BBC and many other public service broadcasters revealed that the donations were made to Denmark's European Sperm Bank (ESB). Those ...

Source: foxnews.com
Trump Unveils $1 million 'Gold Card' Immigration Visas
- Home » » WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration has begun accepting applications for his immigration " Trump Gold Card". The visa program offers legal status and a pathway to U.S. citizenship to foreign recipients. Individual applicants will pay $1 million, while corporations are set to pay twice the amount per foreign-born employee. The president has been ...

Source: floridianpress.com
OpenAI launches GPT-5.2 with cutting-edge math capabilities
- OpenAI Group PBC today launched GPT-5.2, its newest and most capable large language model. The LLM is available in three versions: Instant, Thinking and Pro. OpenAI says that the latter two editions provide record-setting performance across many mathematical tasks. The company claims that GPT-5.2 also outperforms rivals in other areas.  OpenAI tested the mid-range Thinking version of the model using ...

Source: siliconangle.com
Nascar settles antitrust lawsuit with Michael Jordan–backed team after bruising trial
- Nascar reached a confidential settlement agreement on Thursday with Front Row Motorsports and Michael Jordan's 23XI racing in a federal courtroom in Charlotte. The two race teams filed an antitrust lawsuit against the motorsports organization in 2024, alleging monopolist practices and accusing Nascar of using anti-competitive tactics to pressure teams into compliance. The settlement came one day after the ...

Source: theguardian.com
Washington state braces for dangerous flooding as thousands could face evacuation orders
- Residents began packing up and fleeing rising rivers in western Washington state Wednesday as a new wave of heavy rain swept into a region still reeling from a storm that triggered rescues and road closures a day earlier. In the Pacific Northwest, an atmospheric river was swelling rivers toward record levels, with major flooding expected in some areas including the Skagit River, a major agricultural valley north of ...

Source: cbsnews.com
DIGITAL   TECHNOLOGY  
Free Photoshop in ChatGPT: How to edit photos with AI, no experience necessary
- Adobe has launched free Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat apps inside ChatGPT. Here's how they work. Follow ZDNET:  Add us as a preferred source  on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways The three apps: Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat.  Adobe Photoshop is such a powerful image editing tool  that it can be intimidating to use, even for the simplest of edits, like blurring a background. Now, a new ...

Source: zdnet.com
DIGITAL   MARKETS  
Oracle shares plummet over 12% in premarket, dragging down AI stocks
- Oracle shares sank on Wednesday after revenue earnings missed analyst expectations. The database software maker extended losses on Thursday. Other AI-related names fell alongside it. In this article Oracle  shares plummeted over 12% in premarket trading on Thursday, extending yesterday's losses after the firm reported disappointing results. The cloud computing and database software maker reported ...

Source: cnbc.com
MEDICINE  
Lilly's next-gen obesity drug delivers major weight loss in Phase 3 trial, but with many discontinuations
- Eli Lilly's next-generation obesity drug led to what appears to be the most weight loss seen so far in a late-stage trial, but rates of side effects were high and many participants discontinued the treatment, including people who felt they were losing too much weight. In a 68-week Phase 3 study of patients with obesity and knee osteoarthritis, those who took the highest dose and stayed on the drug, called ...

Source: statnews.com
New AI Browsers Promise Multistep Automated Workflows | PYMNTS.com
- The age-old desire to automate online work is driving a new arms race in Silicon Valley: the agentic browser. With today's (Dec. 11) launch of Opera's Neon artificial intelligence (AI) browser, available for $20 a month, the field of competitors is expanding, promising an AI assistant that can browse, click, and reason on a user's behalf. These new tools, like Neon's ability to analyze videos, draft text, and ...

Source: pymnts.com
US  
Trump's education department just axed Biden's student loan plan
- Trump's Education Dept. Just Axed Biden's Student Loan Plan One in six adults in the country has federal student loan debt. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. The Department of Education announced Tuesday that it reached a settlement agreement with the state of Missouri to end former President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program.  The Saving on a Valuable ...

Source: motherjones.com
Hunger Games: Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson to return
- Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are reportedly set to return to the Hunger Games in next year's highly anticipated prequel. The pair last starred together in Mockingjay - Part 2, the climactic installment of the original film series. US magazines The Hollywood Reporter and reported that Lawrence, 35, returns as Katniss Everdeen while Hutcherson, 33, will reprise his role of Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games: ...

Source: bbc.com
POLITICS  
FACT FOCUS: Trump blames Biden for the agricultural trade deficit. It's not that simple
- As President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion farm aid package this week to help U.S. farmers hurt by tariffs, he placed responsibility for the U.S. agricultural trade deficit on former President Joe Biden. But in casting blame elsewhere, he is ignoring other factors, including his own role. Currently, farmers — especially those that produce soybeans and sorghum — have had a hard time selling their ...

Source: apnews.com
POLITICS  
Trump to set up militarized zone along US-Mexico border in California
- The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it plans to create a militarized zone along the U.S.-Mexico border in California to support border security operations for three years, the latest in a controversial series of moves aimed at securing the border amid the government's immigration crackdown. that the agency plans to transfer about 760 acres of public land in San Diego and Imperial counties to the ...

Source: bradenton.com
US   POLITICS  
Bipartisan, bicameral bill looks to help the government hire more AI talent
- The proposal follows the exodus of hundreds of thousands government employees — including AI and tech talent — under the Trump administration's push to shrink the government workforce. A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday meant to modernize how the government hires technical talent, especially those specializing in artificial intelligence. The AI Talent Act ...

Source: nextgov.com
US  
Open AI, Microsoft sued over ChatGPT's alleged role in murder-suicide
- The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death, alleging that the artificial intelligence chatbot intensified her son's "paranoid delusions" and helped direct them at his mother before he died by suicide. Police said Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, a former tech industry worker, fatally beat and strangled his mother, Suzanne Adams, and ...

Source: aol.com
WORLD  
Trump administration claims that spending $140 million on jets for deportations will save money
- In its latest splurge, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will spend nearly $140 million on six Boeing 737 planes to deport immigrants. The new DHS planes are intended to cut costs "by allowing ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to operate more effectively," Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told The Washington Post . The planes will be purchased with funding granted by the One ...

Source: reason.com
US   POLITICS  
Judge blocks Trump administration from deploying California National Guard members in Los Angeles
- Washington — A federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles and directed it to return control of the Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The decision Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is the second in which he has ruled against the Trump administration in its efforts to federalize the California National Guard, ...

Source: cbsnews.com
POLITICS  
Venezuelan opposition leader Machado appears in public in Norway after Nobel ceremony
- OSLO, Norway — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado appeared in public for the first time in 11 months early Thursday morning, when she waved to supporters at a hotel in Norway's capital hours after her daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. Machado had been in hiding since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela's ...

Source: nbcnews.com
BUSINESS   SCIENCE  
NASA just lost contact with a Mars orbiter, and will soon lose another one
- If NASA is serious about exploring Mars, it's past time to send new missions. NASA has lost contact with one its three spacecraft orbiting Mars, the agency announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, a second Mars orbiter is perilously close to running out of fuel, and the third mission is running well past its warranty. Ground teams last heard from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on Saturday, ...

Source: arstechnica.com
MEDICINE  
Med school enrollment is at a new high
- writer and reports on health care, new research, and public policy, with a particular interest in mental health, gender-affirming care, and LGBTQ+ patient communities. You can reach Theresa on Signal at theresagaff.97. Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT's free newsletter Morning Rounds.  Sign up here . Good morning. It's so cold in Boston. Send tips for insulation, warming, and ...

Source: statnews.com
US   POLITICS  
Federal judge orders unsealing of more Epstein files in New York
- Washington — A federal judge in New York has granted a request from the Justice Department to unseal more files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a brief four-page ruling on Wednesday, Judge Richard Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the unsealing of grand jury materials as well as investigative records, documents and communications from the ...

Source: cbsnews.com
POLITICS  
Exclusive-US threatens new ICC sanctions unless court pledges not to prosecute Trump
- By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration wants the International Criminal Court to amend its founding document to ensure it does not investigate the Republican president and his top officials, a Trump administration official said, threatening new U.S. sanctions on the court if it did not. If the court does not act on this U.S. demand and two ​others - dropping ...

Source: aol.com
US   POLITICS  
Trump calls media reports on his health 'seditious, perhaps even treasonous'
- Outburst is sparked by reports as the 79-year-old US president's health and appearance come under greater scrutiny Reading Time: 2 minutes US President Donald Trump has blasted media reports questioning his state of health as "seditious, perhaps even treasonous", sparking pushback on Wednesday by one of the major outlets behind the stories. In a long, late-night social media post, the oldest elected president in US ...

Source: scmp.com
US  
DeSantis proposes $117 billion budget recommendations
- TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A month out from the start of the regular legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced his final budget priorities. One of the items includes enough funds, if needed, to offset lost funds for counties if voters choose to eliminate non-school related property taxes. "I've put in the budget enough money to completely, 100%, reimburse any homestead property tax reduction for those ...

Source: wfla.com
POLITICS  
US plans to ask visitors to share 5 years of social media history to enter
- Visitors who are eligible to enter the United States without a visa may soon be required to provide the Department of Homeland Security with significantly more personal information, including details about their social media activity, email accounts and family background. According to a notice published on Wednesday  in the Federal Register, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is proposing to collect up to ...

Source: aljazeera.com
BUSINESS  
Amazon to invest $35B in India by 2030 with focus on AI, logistics
- Amazon.com Inc. today announced plans to invest $35 billion in India through the end of the decade. Executives detailed the initiative at the sixth edition of a business event the company holds annually in New Delhi. According to Amazon, the investment will support "all its businesses." That suggests some of the funds could go toward growing Amazon Web Services Inc.'s local presence. AWS inaugurated its first cloud ...

Source: siliconangle.com