newsnation

EXCLUSIVE: United States Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz recently returned from a Middle East swing, touting the "amazing progress" in the implementation of President Donald Trump’s Israel–Gaza peace deal, and telling Fox News Digital that the situation abroad is "night and day to where we were a year ago." Fox News Digital spoke exclusively with Waltz Thursday evening, just hours after he returned to the United States from the Middle East. MIKE WALTZ SEES TRUMP'S GAZA PLAN AS 'ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION OPPORTUNITY FOR PEACE' Waltz traveled from the Lebanese border to the Syrian border, the Egyptian border, Jordan to Israel and beyond. "The purpose of the trip was to get on the ground and see the implementation," Waltz said. "We met with the Jordanians, the king, the prime minister and president of Israel — we met with our troops."  Waltz explained that there is a "small contingent" of approximately 100 U.S...

Axios : Policymakers behind key state AI bills scoff at Trump's EO; some GOP governors are pushing ahead with their own AI bills; Steve Bannon says Sacks misled Trump   —  States are forging ahead with AI laws despite President Trump's new executive order aimed at reining them in.

Maxwell Zeff / Wired : OpenAI launches GPT-5.2, its “best model yet,” in Instant, Thinking, and Pro variants, with significant improvements in writing, coding, and reasoning   —  The ChatGPT-maker is releasing its “best model yet” as it faces new pressures from Google and other AI competitors.

Senate Republicans rammed through the first procedural hurdle on their road to confirming nearly 100 of President Donald Trump's nominees on Wednesday. The move tees up a later vote on 97 of Trump’s picks and marks the third time Senate Republicans advanced a bloc of the president’s nominees since changing the confirmation rules in September. The final vote to confirm the latest tranche of picks is expected next week. Once Republicans clear this latest package, they will have confirmed over 400 of Trump’s picks during the first year of his second term. DEM ATTEMPT TO THWART TRUMP NOMS BACKFIRES, REPUBLICANS TEE UP NEARLY 100 FOR CONFIRMATION That benchmark would place him well ahead of former President Joe Biden , who at the same point in his presidency had 350 of his nominees confirmed. Among the list of nominees are former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor, and two picks for the National Labor Relations Board, James M...

Financial Times : Nick Clegg joins London-based VC firm Hiro Capital as a general partner, and Yann LeCun joins the firm as an adviser; sources: Hiro looks to raise a €500M+ fund   —  Former lobbyist and UK deputy prime minister joins London-based Hiro Capital  —  Sir Nick Clegg is becoming a venture capitalist …

The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit seeking the immediate release of a memo providing the legal justification for U.S. military strikes on drug boats, Fox News has learned. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The Department of Justice, including its Office of Legal Counsel, Department of State and the Department of Defense, which was recently renamed the Department of War, are listed as defendants. HEGSETH HINTS AT MAJOR DEFENSE SPENDING HIKE, REVEALS NEW DETAILS ON TRUMP’S ANTI-NARCO-TERRORISM OPERATIONS In the lawsuit, the ACLU, which noted the action was being taken under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), said it was "seeking the immediate release of a legal opinion authored by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), a component of the Department of Justice (DOJ), concerning the U.S. military’s claimed authority to carry out lethal strikes on civilians ...

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch : Google Photos launches new video editing tools, including specialized templates with preset music and text overlays, as well as a redesigned video editor   —  Google Photos announced on Tuesday the launch of new features aimed at making video editing and highlight reel creation easier.

Reed Albergotti / Semafor : Source: the US Department of Commerce plans to allow the export of Nvidia's old H200 chips to China, seeking a compromise over controlling exports to China   —  THE SCOOP  —  Seeking a compromise over controlling exports to China, the US Department of Commerce will soon allow the export …

LA GRANGE, TEXAS — Along the bends of Highway 71, a string of steady Texas towns dot the wind-swept pastures. It’s here where most folks earn a living with their hands, wear dust on their boots, sun on their skin and easy smiles on their faces. This is the soft edge of the Hill Country, where limestone gives way to red dirt and family ranches stitch the land together. Folks here haul their own hay, do things right the first time and don't wait for daylight to start the day. Among those who know the grind is Cole Bolton, owner of K&C Cattle Company, who welcomes the Trump administration’s renewed focus on the razor-thin margins ranchers have endured for years. "What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they're paying us for the product," Bolton told Fox News Digital. Known as the "big four," Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef anchor the U.S. beef supply chain, commanding pricing power that reaches fro...

Marina Temkin / TechCrunch : Sources: Aaru, which uses AI to simulate user behavior, has raised a Series A led by Redpoint Ventures at multiple valuation tiers, including a $1B tier   —  Aaru, a startup that provides near-instant customer research by using AI to simulate user behavior, has raised a Series A led by Redpoint Ventures …

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ’s press office responded to a New York Post article mocking his "testicle-crushing" sitting pose with a photo of the politician in an exaggerated, contorted position that quickly went viral. "Democracy requires flexibility," Newsom’s office wrote in the post accompanying the image. HALLE BERRY STUNS CROWD BY CRITICIZING GAVIN NEWSOM, SAYS HE ‘PROBABLY SHOULD NOT BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT’ The California governor had been ridiculed online after video from his appearance at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday showed him sitting with his legs tightly crossed, prompting a wave of joking commentary on social media. "I have never seen a man crush his testicles harder than this dude," said one user. LIBERAL COMEDIAN HAS HAD ENOUGH OF NEWSOM'S TRUMP-LIKE TWITTER ANTICS  The press office’s exaggerated photo sparked another round of memes and quips from users, questioning whether the governor’s team had actually meant...

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg : Sources: Ted Sarandos met with President Trump in November, and both agreed WBD should go to the highest bidder; Sarandos argued that Netflix wasn't a monopoly   —  Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos ventured to the White House in mid-November for a meeting with President Donald Trump.