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Hayden Field / CNBC : Source: Perplexity AI made a TikTok US bid to ByteDance, proposing a merger that brings video to Perplexity, with ByteDance investors retaining their stakes   —  Perplexity AI officially made a play for TikTok on Saturday, submitting a bid to its parent company, ByteDance …

A Georgia state senator has had his ban from entering the state House chamber revoked following an ugly incident on Thursday which saw him flung to the floor, arrested and subsequently hospitalized. State Sen. Colton Moore, a hardline supporter of President-elect Trump who previously tried to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis impeached for indicting the former president, was involved in a heated exchange at the entrance to the House chamber where officials refused him entry to attend Gov. Brian Kemp's State of the State Address. Moore, of Trenton in Dade County, ended up being pushed to the floor by Keith Williams, a lawyer for House Speaker Jon Burns' office, who was trying to enforce a ban placed on Moore by the speaker. Moore was banned from entering the chamber after he blasted the state Senate's decision last year to consider  a resolution  to name a building at the University of North Georgia after the now-deceased former house speaker David Ralston...

Politico : Congressional leaders seem flummoxed by the growing popularity of Xiaohongshu and Lemon8, an unintended consequence of the TikTok ban   —  The Chinese apps RedNote and Lemon8 have exploded in popularity as TikTok faces an imminent ban and the Supreme Court upheld the law forcing its sale.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken 's final press conference quickly devolved into chaos Thursday after reporters had to be forcibly removed from the event, including one, an activist, who was physically carried out.  The men were upset that a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel had not been reached sooner, accusing Blinken of "genocide" and being a "criminal."  Writer and activist Sam Husseini had to be dragged out of the event by security. Another reporter, Grayzone News' Max Blumenthal, left more peacefully but still had to be escorted out after shouting questions at Blinken about why he had kept "the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?" ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASE-FIRE, HOSTAGE RELEASE DEAL REACHED: 'Americans will be part of that' "You pontificate about a free press?" Husseini erupted. "I'm asking questions after being told by Matt Miller that he will not answer my questions, and so I ask them. Wasn't – wasn’...

The Hollywood Reporter : A look at efforts by Meta, YouTube, Snapchat, X, and Substack to attract TikTok's creators and users; Substack is offering a $25K “TikTok Liberation Prize”   —  Tech giants like Meta and YouTube want to poach TikTokers, with Snapchat, X, Substack and others also planning efforts to coax them to their platforms.

FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., is introducing a bill that aims to redirect funding from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to fund the hiring of more Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border.  The bill, titled the "Diverting IRS Resources to the Exigent Crisis Today Act" or the "DIRECT Act," aims to "rescind certain balances made available to the Internal Revenue Service and redirect them to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection."  Specifically, the proposal seeks to have "unobligated balances" appropriated or otherwise made available to the IRS for "enforcement activities" under federal law instead go to the CBP "for the salaries and expenses of new agents and officers hired for the security of the southern border of the United States," according to the bill's language. Tenney is reintroducing the 2023 bill to the newly sworn-in 119th Congress.  HOUSE REPUBLICAN'S BILL WOULD RIP FEDERAL FUNDS ...

Bloomberg : Zhou Chaonan, the chairwoman of data center operator Range Intelligent, has become China's third richest woman after her company's stock rose 105% in 2024   —  - Range Intelligent's chairwoman Zhou joins world's 500 richest  — TikTok owner ByteDance is one of Range's major customers

The Biden administration is facing pushback from both sides of the political aisle for moving to cross Cuba off of the state sponsors of terrorism list. The U.S. slapped Cuba with the designation in 2021 shortly before then-President Donald Trump left office.  In a statement issued on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that the administration is "taking several steps to support the Cuban people as part of an understanding with the Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope Francis and improve the livelihood of Cubans."  "First, today we notified Congress that President Biden determined Cuba should no longer be designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism," she continued.  WHITE HOUSE REMOVES CUBA'S STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM DESIGNATION, REVERSING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MOVE "Secondly, we notified Congress that the President issued a waiver for Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, otherwise known as the Libertad Act, for a peri...

Kate Knibbs / Wired : DoubleVerify says there is a jump in AI click farms, including a network of 200+ websites called Synthetic Echo, designed to siphon ad revenue from real outlets   —  A new report, shared exclusively with WIRED, shows how an AI content mill with hundreds of sites managed to pull big-name advertisers into their schemes.

President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, was interrupted by at least three protesters during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.  "Veterans are committing suicide and are homeless, but we send money to bomb children in Gaza," one female protester wearing fatigues shouted as she was escorted from the hearing, Fox News Digital video shows.  Hegseth appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday morning, when he was grilled by lawmakers ahead of a committee vote and final confirmation vote on his nomination as secretary of Defense.  PETE HEGSETH HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL FOR FIERY HEARING ON HIS RECORD, PLANS TO SHAKE UP PENTAGON An elderly man who was handcuffed with zipties was also seen being escorted out of the hearing. Another man, also appearing to wear fatigues, was seen being carried out by Capitol Police.   CONSERVATIVE GROUP COMPILES LIST OF 'WOKE' SENIOR OFFICERS THEY WANT PETE HEGSETH T...

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica : Parallels rolls out an “early technology preview” of Parallels Desktop for Macs with Apple Silicon that has “really slow” support for x86 OSes, like Windows 11   —  Virtualization software like Parallels and VMware Fusion give Mac owners the ability to run Windows …

Eleanor Terrett / Fox Business : Crypto payments platform MoonPay has acquired blockchain payment processor Helio, a source says for $175M   —  The acquisition follows partnerships with PayPal and Venmo  —  Crypto payments platform MoonPay has acquired blockchain payment processor Helio for $175 million …

Country music star Carrie Underwood is expected to perform at President Trump’s inauguration, Fox News Digital has learned.  A Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee spokesperson told Fox News Digital Underwood will perform during the swearing-in ceremony for President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance on Jan. 20.  Underwood, the 2005 "American Idol" winner, will be singing "America the Beautiful" and will be joined by the Armed Forces Choir and the United States Naval Academy Glee Club.  Underwood will perform "America the Beautiful" after Vance takes his Oath of Office and before Trump takes the Presidential Oath of Office.  This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction, the nation's highest civilian honor, to Pope Francis on Saturday. The medal was scheduled to be presented to the pope in person in Rome during what was to be Biden's final overseas trip of his presidency, but Biden canceled his travel plans so he could monitor the wildfires in California. Instead, Biden bestowed the award on the pope during a phone call in which they also discussed efforts to promote peace and alleviate suffering around the world. "Pope Francis is unlike any who came before," a White House announcement reads. "Above all, he is the People’s Pope – a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world." BIDEN’S MEDAL OF FREEDOM PICKS SHOW DEMOCRATS ARE ‘OUT OF TOUCH’ AND ‘TROLLING’ REPUBLICANS: COLUMNIST It was the first time during his four years in office that Biden awarded the medal "with distinction," it said. Biden, 82, leave...

John Micklethwait / Bloomberg : Bloomberg EIC John Micklethwait predicts AI's impact on journalism: jobs will change, not vanish, reporting and breaking news will remain valuable, and more   —  The news business is facing its next enormous challenge.  Here are eight reasons to be both optimistic and paranoid.