newsnation

U.S. forces carried out a lethal strike Saturday on a narcotics vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization in the Eastern Pacific, killing three suspected narco-terrorists in international waters, according to U.S. Southern Command. The strike brings the total number of suspected narco-terrorists killed to 82, with three survivors, in an ongoing U.S. campaign targeting drug-smuggling vessels tied to designated terrorist groups. In a post on X, U.S. Southern Command said intelligence confirmed the vessel hit in Thursday’s strike was smuggling narcotics along a known trafficking route. The command described the strike as a "lethal kinetic operation" conducted in international waters as part of a broader effort to disrupt transnational criminal networks. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced the official launch of Operation Southern Spear, a new mission targeting narco-terror networks across Latin America. US MILITARY KILLS 2 SUSPECTED NARCO-TERRO...

Nikkei Asia : Tokyo-based Sakana AI becomes Japan's most valuable unicorn at a ~$2.6B valuation, following a ~$130M raise from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and US VC firms   —  TOKYO — Artificial intelligence company Sakana AI has completed a funding round that pushed its value to approximately 400 billion yen …

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal : A look at Flighty, a flight-tracking app that often beats airline updates; downloads went up 3x when the FAA cut air traffic during the US government shutdown   —  There's a product that makes flying less miserable—and it has never been so valuable  —  It all goes back to an airport Chili's.

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica : Some experts question Anthropic's claims of cyberattack breakthroughs using its tools, noting that white-hat hackers report modest gains from AI-aided hacking   —  Researchers from Anthropic said they recently observed the “first reported AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign” …

Indiana Senate Republicans are refusing to return for a December redistricting session sought by President Donald Trump — a decision first reported Friday by the Indiana Capital Chronicle and one that marks a notable break from Trump’s political operation as states prepare for the 2026 midterms. Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said in a written statement that there were not enough votes within the GOP caucus to reopen Indiana’s congressional map, according to the Chronicle. Lawmakers had been expected to reconvene Dec. 1 for what would have been an unusual mid-decade attempt to redraw all nine congressional districts. "Over the last several months, Senate Republicans have given very serious and thoughtful consideration to the concept of redrawing our state’s congressional maps," Bray said, according to the Chronicle. "There are not enough votes to move that idea forward." Gov. Mike Braun had called for lawmakers to meet in November to take up redistricting...

Dean W. Ball / Hyperdimensional : The current AI strategies of China and the US are complementary, as unlike the US, China isn't “AGI-pilled” yet, focusing on embodied AI and open source models   —  Thoughts on US-China Competition  —  The United States and China are often said to be in a “race” with one another with respect to artificial intelligence.