newsnation

Reuters : Baidu receives a license to test its Apollo Go robotaxi service in Hong Kong, Baidu's first known permit for autonomous vehicle testing outside mainland China   —  China's Baidu (9888.HK) has received a licence to test autonomous vehicles with its Apollo Go robotaxi service in Hong Kong …

Mariella Moon / Engadget : Bluesky now requires parody or fan accounts to label themselves as such after a researcher found 44% of its 100 most-followed accounts have a doppelganger   —  Parody and fan accounts will have to clearly label their profiles.  —  Bluesky has updated its impersonation policy to be …

Financial Times : OpenAI says it plans to build data centers in parts of the US Midwest and Southwest; sources: OpenAI is spending $5B+ a year and is “not close to breaking even”   —  ChatGPT-maker aims for big boost from new AI products, Apple partnership and infrastructure investment

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned several threats, mostly focused on lawmakers from Connecticut, targeting members of his caucus, just days after numerous threats were made against President-elect Trump's cabinet selections. Jeffries, D-N.Y., confirmed in a statement Friday that several Democrats were targeted with threats ranging from pipe bombs in their mailboxes to "swatting" — or filing a false police report on another person's behalf that often results in a SWAT team being dispatched. All of the threatening messages were signed "MAGA," Jeffries said, adding law enforcement found no ordnance at any of the targeted lawmakers' homes. "America is a democracy. Threats of violence against elected officials are unacceptable, unconscionable and have no place in a civilized society. All perpetrators of political violence directed at any party must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," he said. TOP DEM: ‘UNDOCUMENTED IMMI...

Josh Rubin / Toronto.com : Major Canadian news organizations, including Torstar, Postmedia, and CBC, sue OpenAI, alleging breach of copyright and terms of use   —  A broad coalition of Canada's major news organizations, including the Toronto Star, Metroland Media, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press and CBC …

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer : Report: Russia arrested notorious cybercriminal Mikhail Matveev for developing malware and running hacking groups; US DOJ filed charges against him in 2023   —  Russian citizen and notorious ransomware affiliate Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev (also known as Wazawaka, Uhodiransomwar, m1x …

A powerful New York State Democrat made waves when she suggested the Empire State "think outside the box" like President-elect Trump is with his mass-deportation plans and potentially secede to Canada, or at least battle the feds if they try to strip federal funding from the state. New York Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger suggested to Politico that if Trump follows through with a reported threat to slash federal funding from "sanctuary" jurisdictions, Albany could return fire against Washington for holding back some or all of the more than $360 billion it annually sends to the Treasury. "We’re talking a lot of money. We’re talking money we couldn’t possibly replace unless we started sending the feds a lot less money," the state Senate Finance Committee chairwoman told Politico, noting the feds similarly fund billions in New York Medicaid subsidies. Krueger was also asked about a recent comment about joining America's neighbor to the north now tha...

President Biden on Thanksgiving said he was thankful that the transition of power to a second Trump administration has gone smoothly, while urging the incoming commander-in-chief to "rethink" threats to impose steep tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods.  "I hope that [President-elect Trump] rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do," Biden told reporters Thursday on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was spending the holiday with family. "We're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Oceans and two allies — Mexico and Canada. The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships. I think that we got them in a good place." Earlier this week, Trump vowed to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada in an effort to get both nations to do more to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs into the U.S. Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo on Wednesday, and both a...

Mathieu Pollet / Politico : In a risk assessment submitted to the EU in September 2023, X defended its new approach to content policing and “mission to promote open conversation”   —  The Elon Musk-owned social media platform touts its moderation efforts in a risk assessment submitted to the Commission.

Four Connecticut House Democrats say their homes have been targeted by bomb threats on Thanksgiving Day.  Each of the threats against Reps. Jim Himes, Jahana Hayes, Joe Courtney, and John Larson were determined to be unfounded and come after nearly a dozen of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees were targeted with similar warnings on Tuesday night.  "This morning, I was notified of a bomb threat targeting my home where I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family," Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. "Thankfully, after a swift and thorough response from the United States Capitol Police, the Greenwich Police Department, and the Stamford Police Department, no evidence of a bomb was found."  "There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility," he added.  TRUMP CABINET NOMINEES, APPOINTEES ...

Aisha S Gani / Bloomberg : Memo: Revolut tells ex-staff who were at the startup for 2+ years and held $100K+ in vested stock that they can join a secondary share sale at a $45B valuation   —  - Ex-workers will be able to cash in at $45 billion valuation  — Secondary share sale began this summer with current employees

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is faced with a crowded field of candidates vying to fill Vice President-elect JD Vance's seat in the Senate, but a new poll shows some candidates are going into the battle with an advantage. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose leads fellow candidates in a hypothetical GOP primary for Vance's seat conducted by WPA Intelligence. LaRose' closest competitor is Lieutenant Gov. Jon Husted, who was favored by 10% of respondents compared to LaRose's 17%. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, another contender for the seat, received 9% support. Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, is in the midst of aggressively pitching himself for Vance's role, but he received just 2% support in the poll. Attorney Mehek Cooke, a Republican attorney who served as a surrogate for the Trump campaign in 2024, received 1% support in the poll.  VANCE IN 'CATBIRD SEAT' FOR 2028 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION, BUT THESE REPUBLICANS MAY ALSO RUN A large numb...

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : Meta appears to be developing a Threads feature inspired by Bluesky's “starter packs”, with profiles “handpicked by people on Threads” for users to follow   —  Hoping to quell some of the momentum behind social network Bluesky, a competitor to X and Meta's Threads …

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. , blasted anyone within the Defense Department working to safeguard certain norms or policies that they expect the incoming Trump administration to target.  "It appears that partisans and obstructionists inside the Department of Defense are laying groundwork to defy or circumvent President Trump’s plans for both military and civil-service reform," Cotton wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in reference to reports of such strategizing among DOD employees.  "These actions undermine civilian control of the military and our constitutional structure of government." Earlier this month, it was reported that there were "informal discussions" occurring among Pentagon officials on what the department would do if Trump ordered the military for a domestic purpose or if he fired a significant number of employees, per CNN .  One anonymous defense official was quoted in the report saying, "Troops are compelled by law to d...

Mia Sato / The Verge : A lawsuit between two Amazon influencers over allegations of copyright infringement shows the challenges of defining originality and ownership in content   —  One Amazon influencer makes a living posting content from her beige home.  But after she noticed another account hocking the same minimal aesthetic …

Special Counsel Jack Smith is asking a judge to drop all charges against President-elect Donald Trump stemming from Smith's investigation into the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach, Fox News Digital has learned. Judge Tanya Chutkan will need to approve the request before the case is dismissed. After Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election earlier this month, Smith signaled he would begin winding down the case against Trump. The filing went live on the Department of Justice docket on Monday afternoon. Smith had already filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C. – a widely expected move, but one that stopped short of dropping the case against Trump completely. Smith had said his team planned to give an updated report on the official status of the case against Trump on Dec. 2. NEW YORK JUDGE GRANTS TRUMP REQUEST TO FILE MOTION TO DISMISS CHARGES, CANCELS SENTENCING INDEFINITELY Trump pleaded not guilty to a...

Katie Roof / Bloomberg : Austin-based anti-ransomware startup Halcyon raised $100M at a $1B valuation led by Evolution Equity Partners, bringing its total funding to date to $190M   —  - Texas-based security unicorn is backed by Bain, Evolution  — Halcyon is raising $100 million in funding from investors

The first openly transgender politician elected to the U.S. House , Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, claimed Sunday that the GOP’s focus on transgender issues is an "attempt to distract" voters. "I think we are all united that attempts to attack a vulnerable community are not only mean spirited, but really an attempt to misdirect. Because every single time we hear the incoming administration or Republicans in Congress talk about any vulnerable group in this country, we have to be clear that it is an attempt to distract," McBride, who was elected to represent Delaware earlier this month, said Sunday morning on CBS’ "Face the Nation."  "It is an attempt to distract from what they are actually doing. Every single time, every single time we hear them say the word ‘trans,’ ​​look what they're doing with their right hand. Look at what they're doing to pick the pocket of American workers, to fleece seniors by privatizing Social Security and Me...

Steven Overly / Politico : Q&A with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on what happens to the CHIPS program under the Trump administration, the future of AI safety, and more   —  With a massive legacy program hanging in the balance, the Commerce secretary wants to get billions in microchip money out the door in the next two months.