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Jared Perlo / NBC News : A look at AVA, an AI chatbot developed by Alaska's court system to provide aid in the probate process, which has been plagued by delays and hallucinations   —  A yearlong effort to build an AI probate assistant reveals the limits of government chatbot development.

Cuban leaders should be concerned following the U.S. military operation in Venezuela and the arrest of Nicolás Maduro , Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday, as President Donald Trump signaled that his administration could shift its focus to the Caribbean island. Cuba has long maintained a presence in Venezuela, with intelligence agents and security personnel embedded amid close relations between Havana and Caracas. Rubio , the son of Cuban immigrants, said Venezuela’s spy agency was "basically full of Cubans," as was Maduro’s security detail. MADURO GAVE STATE TV ADDRESS AS US STRIKES IN VENEZUELA BEGAN: REPORT "One of the biggest problems Venezuelans have is they have to declare independence from Cuba," he said during a news conference in which officials revealed details of the military operation. "They tried to basically colonize it from a security standpoint." He added that the communist island was "a disaster. It’s run by incompetent...

Mishal Husain / Bloomberg : Q&A with Kara Swisher on the economics of the AI boom, the upcoming IPOs of SpaceX and OpenAI, Elon Musk, the tech industry's Trump pivot, robotics, and more   —  After a year of dominating mega-deals and driving stock-market gains, the tech industry is poised for a pivotal 2026 …

Months after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, tensions are rising again as Iran kills protesters, Israel weighs new military action and President Donald Trump signals the U.S. could intervene. Trump sharpened pressure on Tehran this week, threatening U.S. action if Iranian security forces violently suppress the ongoing protests that erupted after the country's national currency collapsed. "If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters … the United States of America will come to their rescue," Trump said on social media, adding that the U.S. was "locked and loaded." But while Trump’s language suggested a readiness to use force, analysts say Washington still has options short of direct military action. THE ISRAELI-IRANIAN WAR IS NOT OVER — IT HAS JUST ENTERED A DANGEROUS PAUSE Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said Washington should move quickly to expand internet access for demonstrators and prepare for potential political ...

President Donald Trump's Justice Department is demanding records from Minnesota related to its voter registration practices, raising concerns about the state’s same-day "vouching" policy. The policy allows a registered voter to "vouch" for up to eight people seeking same-day registration, and it has come under fresh scrutiny amid broader concerns about election integrity in the wake of Minnesota’s massive welfare fraud scandal. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon on Friday, requesting unredacted records covering the March 2024 primary and the November 2024 general election. Dhillon called on the state to hand over digital records related to same-day registrations, votes cast by same-day registrants, and audit and compliance records under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). TRUMP OFFICIAL FREEZES MILLIONS IN SBA AID TO MINNESOTA, SLAMS WALZ’S POLICIES AS BREEDING ‘ENDEMIC’ FRAUD "The basis and pur...

Bill Allison / Bloomberg : Filing: OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman donated $25M to Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., in H2 2025; Crypto.com operator Foris DAX donated $20M   —  President Donald Trump's super political action committee raised $102 million in the second half of 2025, fueled by eight-figure donations …

Miles Kruppa / The Information : Brookfield is launching a cloud company called Radiant and a new $10B AI fund, and plans to acquire up to $100B in land, data centers, and power assets for AI   —  Private-equity firm Brookfield is starting its own cloud business, going up against tech giants like Amazon by arguing it can bring down the costs of developing AI.

Philosopher Count : How AI automation can fulfill Thomas Piketty's predictions on rising economic inequality, and why highly progressive taxes on capital can help slow the spiral   —  Piketty was wrong about the past.  He's probably right about the future.  —  1. Introduction

President Donald Trump spent the first year of his second White House term signing a torrent of executive orders aimed at delivering on several major policy priorities – including slashing federal agency budgets and staffing, implementing a hard-line immigration crackdown, and invoking emergency authorities to impose steep tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner. The pace of Trump’s executive actions has far outstripped that of his predecessors, allowing the administration to move quickly on campaign promises. But the blitz has also triggered a wave of lawsuits seeking to block or pause many of the orders, setting up a high-stakes confrontation over the limits of presidential power under Article II and when courts can – or should – intervene. Lawsuits have challenged Trump's most sweeping and consequential executive orders, ranging from a ban on birthright citizenship and transgender service members in the military to the legality of sweeping, DOGE-led government cuts and t...

Adi Robertson / The Verge : A look at US tech laws rolling out in 2026, including California's SB 53 AI transparency law and Virginia's new social media limits for minors, effective today   —  As usual, 2025 was a year of deep congressional dysfunction in the US.  But state legislatures were passing laws that govern everything …

Momentum on a 20-point peace plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine is faltering after President Vladimir Putin accused Kyiv of targeting a residence linked to him, a claim Moscow says leaves little room for compromise at the negotiating table. The accusation comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing a 20-point peace proposal as a counteroffer to a 28-point framework floated by the Trump administration before Thanksgiving. Zelenskyy was expected to present the plan directly to President Donald Trump during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, part of what he described as "some of the most active diplomatic days of the year." Russia claims Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack early Monday against a presidential residence in the Novgorod region, involving 91 long-range drones that were intercepted by Russian air defenses. Russia’s defense ministry released footage of a masked soldier standing next to drone wreckage it said was recovered from the...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is expected to deliver the opening remarks at New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani 's inauguration on Jan. 1, the mayoral transition team announced on Tuesday. "Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s presence underscores the leaders central to the movement to usher in a new era for New York City — one focused on delivering an affordability agenda and reimagining what government can do for working people," the transition team said in a statement. The mayoral transition team noted that Mamdani's inauguration is set to be unlike any other. SOCIALIST WINS PILE UP AFTER GOP’S BRUTAL 2025 OFF-YEAR ELECTION LOSSES In the past, the inaugural ceremony was held for 4,000 ticketed guests in City Hall Plaza. On Thursday, Mamdani will break with tradition by inviting "all New Yorkers to join in the festivities with a public block party on Broadway along the historic Canyon of Heroes," the transition team said. The team said the bloc...

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer : Two ex-staffers of cybersecurity incident response companies Sygnia and DigitalMint plead guilty to targeting US companies in 2023's BlackCat ransomware attacks   —  Two former employees of cybersecurity incident response companies Sygnia and DigitalMint have pleaded guilty to targeting U.S. companies …

President Donald Trump and his administration are reviving the Monroe Doctrine — more than a decade after former President Barack Obama ’s Secretary of State John Kerry said the centuries-old policy was dead.  The restoration of the Monroe Doctrine, which sought to limit European influence in Latin America and to protect U.S. influence in the region, comes as the Trump administration released its National Security Strategy this month that redirects U.S. attention to the Western Hemisphere in an intentional effort to better prioritize protecting the U.S. homeland amid the Trump administration's crusade against the influx of drugs into the U.S. from Latin America.  "President Trump has prioritized enforcing the Monroe Doctrine unlike any other President in decades," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "He was elected on his promise to eliminate the scourge of drug deaths in our country, including his commitment to secure the...

Katria Alampay / Bloomberg : How Japan's viral horse racing game Umamusume, developed by Cygames, passed 30M downloads in Asia, spurring anime adaptations, concerts, and new racetrack fans   —  With more than 30 million downloads, Umamusume: Pretty Derby has generated anime adaptations, live concerts and a new legion of racetrack fans.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that peace talks to end the war in Ukraine are close to completion after a meeting in Florida with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with both leaders citing major progress on a 20-point plan while acknowledging unresolved disputes over territory, ceasefire terms and Ukrainian approval. Trump and Zelenskyy spoke to reporters following their meeting at Mar-a-Lago, describing weeks of negotiations involving U.S., Ukrainian , European Union and NATO officials that have moved a potential peace framework close to the finish line, though several high-stakes issues remain unresolved. Trump said negotiations have intensified over the past month and suggested discussions are far more advanced than at any previous point in the war, while cautioning that final agreements depend on resolving a small number of difficult questions. "We could be very close," Trump said. "There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues. But I thin...

Stephanie Stacey / Financial Times : Global hotel groups are intensifying efforts to get customers to book directly, as they seek to save on online platform commissions and prepare for AI agents   —  Companies including Marriott and Hilton push to improve perks and get more direct bookings  —  Major hotel groups are intensifying efforts …

In President Donald Trump ’s first year back in office, over 2.5 million illegal aliens have left the country, due in large part to the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and extensive deportation program. In its deportation push, the Department of Homeland Security has prioritized targeting violent criminal illegals. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has accused the media of "whitewashing" facts about the arrests of illegal immigrants with violent criminal histories and portraying them as victims.  "As the media whitewashes the facts, day in and day out, our brave men and women of ICE risk their lives for the American people," McLaughlin said. From a "habitual" child predator to a beheading incident to another who strangled a taxicab driver to death, here are ten of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens arrested with violent charges this year. On June 1, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national living in the U.S. on...

Patrick Oster / Bloomberg : Lou Gerstner, a former IBM CEO and chairman credited with turning the company around, died at 83; IBM's market value rose from $29B to ~$168B during his tenure   —  Louis Gerstner, who took over International Business Machines Corp. when it was on its deathbed and resuscitated it as a technology industry leader, died Saturday.