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Jacqueline Sweet / The Spectator World : Analysis of social media posts, AI art, Spaces comments, biographical details, and more suggests Adrian Dittmann is a German fan of Elon Musk living in Fiji   —  An Elon Musk fan in Fiji tricks the world  —  The AI avatar for the Adrian Dittmann X account, left, and Adrian Dittmann appearing …

The week-long state funeral services honoring former President Jimmy Carter, who died at 100 last week, began Saturday morning. The ceremonies will honor Carter’s journey from his hometown of Plains, Georgia, to his esteemed role on the global humanitarian stage and as the 39th American president. On Saturday morning, individuals gathered in downtown Plains to place flowers at the base of Carter's monument. The tribute also featured Habitat for Humanity hard hats adorned with handwritten messages, including one that read, "God bless you, Mr. President," USA Today first reported. His specific cause of death on Dec. 29 was unclear. Carter's death followed the passing of his wife Rosalynn on Nov. 19, 2023. She died at the age of 96 with her family by her side at the Carter home in Plains, just days after she had been admitted to hospice care.  JIMMY CARTER, 39TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DEAD AT 100 Carter was the oldest living president.  Here is the order ...

Kamya Pandey / MEDIANAMA : A look at India's draft DPDP rules, which require platforms to verify the age and identity of a parent when obtaining consent to process data of users under 18   —  The newly released draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, 2025 say that online platforms must check the age …

Bloomberg : Sources: Getty Images is exploring a merger with rival Shutterstock; deliberations are ongoing and Getty could decide not to pursue a deal   —  - Getty weighing how to structure combo with stock-photo rival … Getty has been weighing how to structure a combination that would bring together …

Washington state Democrats appeared to have accidentally emailed their sweeping revenue plans and internal talking points on tax hikes to the entirety of the upper chamber's members in Olympia, Fox News has learned. Property tax hikes and a new double-digit tax on firearms are among proposals Washington state Democrats are considering, according to materials originally disseminated to all members by Washington Senate Deputy Floor Leader Noel Frame, D-Seattle, in late December and later obtained by Fox News Digital.  A document entitled "2025 Revenue Options" and a PowerPoint presentation describing how to talk to constituents in defense of the plan were included in the messages. The document lists proposed figures for an 11% tax on ammunition and firearms , reclassifying storage unit rentals as a retail transaction and a lift on the property tax levy lid for certain Washingtonians. A PowerPoint slide, highlighted by Seattle radio host Jason Rantz, described the ...

Jason Koebler / 404 Media : Meta says the viral AI profiles on Facebook and Instagram were created in 2023 as part of “an early experiment” with AI characters, and it is deleting them   —  Earlier this week, Meta executive Connor Hayes told the Financial Times that the company is going to roll out AI character profiles …

Spending on contracting and supplies is the second-biggest major spending group for the federal government, according to usaspending.gov. More than $1.1 trillion was spent on deals negotiated by the government to hire contractors for work. The category has increased by 19% from five years ago.  "We expect massive cuts of all federal contractors and others who are overbilling the federal government," said DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy on Fox Business’ Sunday Morning Futures. Contracting commercial companies for government goods and services dates back to the late 1700s. Over the years, laws have streamlined the process and helped make contracts more competitive.  "We're on the side of change. We got started by helping the Navy and then the Army get ready for World War Two to move faster, to do things better," Booz Allen Hamilton CEO Horacio Rozanski said. "Now we're the largest player in AI and cyber in the federal government, and we're very pr...

Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk : The T3 Financial Crime Unit says it has frozen $100M of USDT used by illicit actors since the unit was formed in September 2024 by Tron, TRM Labs, and Tether   —  The unit is a joint venture between Tron, TRM Labs and Tether.  —  What to know: … The T3 Financial Crime Unit …

Samantha Cole / 404 Media : Pornhub now blocks users in 17 US states, including almost all of the South, after blocking Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina due to age verification laws   —  As of today, three more states join the list of 17 that can't access Pornhub because of age verification laws.

Nikkei Asia : Huawei Rotating Chair Meng Wanzhou says the company is helping train 300,000+ tech students per year, in cooperation with 3,000+ universities in 110 countries   —  TAIPEI — China's Huawei Technologies said it has built tech “academies” in 110 nations to cultivate hundreds of thousands of engineers a year …

John Herrman / New York Magazine : Meta saying it expects AI characters to populate its apps is its friendly rebrand of an effective but alienating effort to automate social interactions   —  Why AI friends are coming to Facebook and Instagram.  —  Among Meta's many resolutions for the new year — making augmented reality …

Sylvia Pfeifer / Financial Times : The defense industry is poised for a deal surge as firms expand in AI, drones, and space systems; Bain: VC deal value in the sector has risen 18x in a decade   —  Large contractors expected to use growing cash piles to invest in high-growth areas  —  Defence companies are primed for a surge …

Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog : Some 2024 LLM takeaways: multimodal vision became common, LLM prices crashed, overall environmental impact worsened despite efficiency gains, slop arrived, more   —  A lot has happened in the world of Large Language Models over the course of 2024.  Here's a review of things we figured …

A controversial immigration program that has been in place for decades has recently become a hot-button issue as it looks likely to be axed or severely limited by the incoming Trump administration, and Democrats are calling on President Biden to take moves to preserve it. Temporary Protected Status is a program established in the 1990s that allows the government to designate countries unsafe for nationals to return to, granting nationals already in the U.S. work permits and protection from deportation if they are here illegally or if their legal status expires. The Biden administration designated or re-designated a number of countries for TPS, including Venezuela, Haiti, Afghanistan and others, allowing hundreds of thousands of nationals to remain in the U.S. as a result. There are currently 17 countries designated for TPS. ‘LEGAL AUTHORITY’: SENATE DEMS DEMAND BIDEN EXTEND PROTECTIONS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AHEAD OF TRUMP ADMIN  The first Trump administration sought to wind d...

A military appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cannot rescind the plea deals of detainees at Guantanamo Bay including alleged 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Fox News has learned. The court opinion, which has not been formally published yet, said the plea deals reached by military prosecutors and defense attorneys were valid and enforceable, and that Austin exceeded his authority when he later tried to nullify them. The Pentagon has the option of going next to the D.C. Circuit federal appeals court for emergency review, but the court docket did not show any filings as of Tuesday afternoon. JUDGE RESTORES CONTROVERSIAL 9/11 TERRORIST PLEA DEALS INVOLVING KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED: REPORT A hearing is scheduled next week at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba, where Mohammad and two other defendants could plead guilty in separate hearings, with the death penalty removed as a possible punishment. The plea deals in the long-running case against the terrorists we...

Thanos Pappas / Carscoops : VW Group had sensitive info, including GPS coordinates, of 800K+ electric vehicles exposed on an unprotected AWS database for months before it was alerted   —  The sensitive information of VW, Audi, Seat, and Skoda EV owners was left exposed on an unprotected and misconfigured cloud storage system for months

Former President Jimmy Carter , the first U.S. commander-in-chief to reach the age of 100, was fondly remembered by state leaders across the political spectrum after his passing. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement that he, first lady Marty Kemp and their children "join all Georgians and the entire nation in mourning the loss of former President Jimmy Carter." "As the only American president thus far to come from Georgia, he showed the world the impact our state and its people have on the country. And as a son of Plains, he always valued Georgians and the virtues of our state, choosing to return to his rural home after his time in public office," Kemp said. Georgia GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a top potential contender to replace the term-limited Kemp in 2026, added in his own tribute that Georgia, the nation and world "lost a man who exemplified what it means to be a public servant and to put the needs of others before your own." JIMMY ...

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica : The technology of passkeys is elegant, but the complexities of syncing them to password managers can contribute to platform lock-in and make them less usable   —  It's that time again, when families and friends gather and implore the more technically inclined among them to troubleshoot problems …

As House Speaker Mike Johnson seeks to retain his grip on the gavel, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., is demanding "assurances" that Johnson "won't sell us out to the swamp." Johnson, who secured the speaker's gavel last year , got a major boost on Monday when Trump endorsed him to remain in the role. "I understand why President Trump is endorsing Speaker Johnson as he did Speaker Ryan, which is definitely important. However, we still need to get assurances that @SpeakerJohnson won’t sell us out to the swamp," Spartz noted in a post on X.  "President Trump will be able to save America only if we have a speaker with courage, vision and a plan - also public commitment to the American people how he will help deliver President Trump’s agenda to drain the swamp," she added in another tweet. Spartz had previously issued a statement on Monday in which she called out Congress's profligate spending and demanded a plan to accomplish President-...

Jimmy Carter, the nation’s 39th president, has died at the age of 100. He served a single term as president, but he also will be remembered for his decades of humanitarian work .  Those who knew him – opponents and supporters alike – described him as a man of integrity, whatever flaws he may have had as president.  "When we look at the whole thrust of Jimmy Carter’s life, it’s an amazing American story," Douglas Brinkley, author of The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House , told Fox News Digital.  "He grew up with no electricity, went to work in the… Navy. He became President of the United States at the height of the Cold War and won the Nobel Prize for his post-presidency," Brinkley said. "All the time, his ambitious humanity was aimed at trying to make sure that everybody he came in contact with, had a better, fair shake at life."  JIMMY CARTER HAD ONE OF THE ‘GREATEST SECOND ACTS’ IN AMERICAN HISTORY, CONSERVATIVE HI...

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and a former peanut farmer whose vision of a "competent and compassionate" government propelled him into the White House, died on Sunday , according to local media. He was 100. The news was announced by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday. Carter's death follows the passing of his wife Rosalynn on Nov. 19, 2023 at the age of 96 with her family by her side at the Carter home in Plains, Georgia, just days after she had been admitted to hospice care.  The late former president himself had entered hospice care in February 2023 . Carter survived for years after he had a "small mass" removed from his liver in early August 2015 and later that month announced he had liver cancer that had spread throughout his body.  The Carter family had a history of cancer and the former president lost his father, brother, and two sisters to pancreatic cancer. His mother had breast cancer, which later spread to her pancr...

Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal : Netflix's foray into live sports caps off a strong year, with its share price up 90%+ in 2024, but the stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act   —  Foray into live sports caps a strong year, but stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act