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ST. PAUL, MNNoting that the traditional carol had undergone an unmistakably hardcore sonic shift, a new report published Tuesday found that the presence of an electric guitar means you can be pretty damn sure that what youre listening to is not your mothers Jingle Bells. Whether youre out Christmas shopping at Old Navy, watching a trailer for an action movie where Santa Claus goes missing, or trying to skip a YouTube ad for a holiday sale on wireless earbuds, as soon as you hear that badass Stratocaster kick in, it quickly becomes clear the version of Jingle Bells youre experiencing is far different from the one babies listen to at preschool, the report read in part, adding that the presence of a drummer going hard as hell on the cymbals and a vocalist who might as well be screaming his damn head off means youre pretty much guaranteed to be listening to the kind of rock and roll music that would give your churchgoing granny a heart attack. Well tell you this much: Youre not gonna hear carolers singing this version of Jingle Bells unless theyre the band Kiss. Trust us, kid, if youre unwrapping presents with your folks and someone blasts this Jingle Bells on the sound system, your parents are gonna want to cover their ears pronto, because this is the type of no-holds-barred Christmas tune juvenile delinquents are probably jamming out to down at the skate park. And our findings make one thing abundantly clear: If you cant handle the full force of this adrenaline-pumping, amped-up Jingle Bells, maybe you should drag your ass back to the nursing home and listen to Bing Crosby with the other old folks, okay? The report concluded by suggesting that the presence of a saxophone may, in fact, indicate that youre listening to the kind of sultry Jingle Bells theyve got playing at the swanky jazz clubs downtown.The post Report: Electric Guitar Means This Likely Not Your Mothers Jingle Bells appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTONCiting an urgent need to spruce up the countrys drab perimeter, Congress allocated $45 million Tuesday to hang fairy lights along the U.S. border. This funding will go a long way toward making our great nation even cozier, said Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), who co-sponsored the bipartisan bill aimed at improving the nations ambience with more than 7,500 miles of twinkling LED string lights. Its high time we address the problems of our crumbling infrastructure with dreamier, more whimsical decor. For too long, our borders have been left tragically unadorned, with only harsh overhead lighting separating us from Canada and Mexico. With this money, the Department of Homeland Security will be able to make the vibes at the U.S. border much more enchanting, and anyone entering this country will be met with an inviting warm glow. Graves added that the bill would also divert funds from a number of water management projects to install cool galaxy lights across the Great Plains.The post Congress Allocates $45 Million To Hang Fairy Lights Along U.S. Border appeared first on The Onion.

SCHAUMBURG, ILClaiming the new offering would revolutionize the use of pasta sauce in stress reduction and pain relief, Rag officials unveiled a new sensory deprivation marinara tank at a press event Friday. This lightproof, soundproof vat filled with our signature vine-ripened, zesty tomato sauce marks the beginning of an exciting new era in tomato-based relaxation, said Rag spokesperson Ken Ewing, who explained that a savory blend of herbs and salt specially formulated for maximum therapeutic benefits allowed the body to effortlessly float above the surface of the red sauce inside the isolation pod, promoting a combination of anxiety reduction and hearty, high-quality Mediterranean ingredients. The detoxifying marinara is slowly simmered to the exact temperature of the users body, allowing the mind to drift freely into a meditative gravy state, just like Nonna used to make. The experience is available in both traditional and chunky varieties, including a tactile thermal meat sauce and a highly stimulating arrabiata optionguaranteed to clear your mind of everything except authentic, Old Worldstyle Italian flavor. Rag went on to recommend that customers visit the brands website, where they posted a bonus recipe for an invigorating gazpacho cold plunge.The post Rag Unveils Sensory Deprivation Marinara Tank appeared first on The Onion.

Falling asleep on the couch just got a major upgrade.READ MORE...

Pedestrians are reflected as they walk outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)2025-12-16T13:12:18Z LONDON (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump is suing the BBC for $10 billion over a television documentary he claims was false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory and malicious.Britains national broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the way it edited a speech in the program, but says it will defend itself against the defamation claim.The BBC is not the first media organization on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the president. But its position is complicated by its status as a taxpayer-funded public broadcaster and its stature as a closely scrutinized national institution. A pioneering broadcasterThe BBC was founded in 1922 as a radio service to inform, educate and entertain, a mantra still central to its self-image.It launched the worlds first regularly scheduled television service in 1936, and helped make TV a mass medium when many Britons bought a TV set specifically to watch the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.It operates 15 U.K. national and regional TV channels, several international channels, 10 national radio stations, dozens of local radio stations, the globe-spanning World Service radio and copious digital output including the iPlayer streaming service.As well as its news output it has a huge global viewership for entertainment shows including Doctor Who, EastEnders, The Traitors and Strictly Come Dancing. The BBC is funded from the public purseThe broadcaster is funded by an annual license fee, currently set at 174.50 pounds ($230), paid by all U.K. households who watch live TV or any BBC content.The license fee has long had opponents, not least rival commercial broadcasters, and they have grown louder in an era of digital streaming when many people no longer have television sets or follow traditional TV schedules. The BBCs governing charter, which sets the license fee, is reviewed once a decade, and the latest round of the process kicked off Tuesday. The center-left Labour government says it will ensure the BBC has sustainable and fair funding but has not ruled out replacing the license fee with another funding model. Managing the broadcaster has become a political footballThe broadcaster is bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial in its output. It is not a state broadcaster beholden to the U.K government, but is overseen by a board that includes both BBC staff and political appointees.Its frequently a political football, with conservatives seeing a leftist slant in its news programs and some liberals accusing it of having a conservative bias.It has repeatedly battled British governments over editorial independence, from the 1926 general strike, when Cabinet minister Winston Churchill tried to seize control of the airwaves, to a battle with Tony Blairs administration over the intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Recently it has been criticized for its coverage of trans issues and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In February, the BBC removed a documentary about Gaza from its streaming service after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of an official in the Hamas-led government. Documentary that riled TrumpThe lawsuit stems from an edition of the BBCs Panorama current affairs series titled Trump: A Second Chance? that was broadcast days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The film, made by a third-party production company, spliced together two sections of a speech given by Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and fight like hell. By doing so, it made it look like Trump was giving the green light to his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Bidens victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.The BBC apologized last month and two of its top executives resigned.Trumps lawyers say the program falsely portrayed the president as a violent insurrectionist, caused massive economic damage to his brand value and was a brazen attempt to interfere in the U.S. election.The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices. Legal jeopardyThe BBC said in a statement that we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.Media attorney Mark Stephens said Trump and his lawyers face several hurdles. They must prove that the BBC program was shown in Florida and that people in that state thought less of him as a consequence. Trumps lawyers argue that U.S. subscribers to BritBox and people using virtual private networks could have watched it, but they must prove it definitively, said Stephens, a consultant at the firm Howard Kennedy.Allegations of libel are cheap, but proof is dear, Stephens said. Stephens said Trumps lawyers also have to deal with the fact that public figures have to put up with the slings and arrows of incorrect reporting, which are protected under the First Amendment. While many legal experts have dismissed the presidents claims against the media as having little merit, he has won some lucrative settlements against U.S. media companies and he could try to leverage the BBC mistake for a payout, potentially to a charity of his choice.The BBCs position is complicated by the fact that any money it pays out in legal fees or a settlement comes from British taxpayers pocket.I think President Trump is banking on the fact that the British public will not want to spend the money to defend the claim, nor will they want to pay any money in damages to him, Stephens said. So it allows him to continue a narrative of fake news and all of those other things at fairly little cost in the global scheme of things. JILL LAWLESS Lawless is an Associated Press reporter covering U.K. politics and more. She is based in London. twitter mailto

A Discord community for gay gamers is in disarray after one of its moderators and an executive at Anthropic forced the companys AI chatbot on the Discord, despite protests from members.Users voted to restrict Anthropic's Claude to its own channel, but Jason Clinton, Anthropics Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and a moderator in the Discord, overrode them. According to members of this Discord community who spoke with 404 Media on the condition of anonymity, the Discord that was once vibrant is now a ghost town. They blame the chatbot and Clintons behavior following its launch.To me it shines a light on the god-complex that AI C-suite members seem to have, and their willingness to ignore people's consent and opinions as they bulldoze their way of pushing AI, Reese, a member of the community, told 404 Media in the aftermath.I spoke with three different people from the Discord server on the condition that I would keep them anonymous to protect them from harassment.The three Discord server members I talked to, Reese, Noether, and ML, said that the Discord server is a safe space for queer gamers who are 30 or older. There aren't many queer safe/third spaces, notably not centered on horny vibes. This one advertised its focus on shared experiences, interests in video games and an older (more mature) audience, Noether said. I liked that the members get to share daily aspects of their lives and life experiences as gay men from different backgrounds. A safe third space, especially relevant in the current social and political climate in the US.When Clinton deployed an AI chatbot on Thanksgiving Day, it irritated longtime members. Some worried about privacy, others complained that conversations with the bot drowned out interactions between real humans. When users confronted Clinton with their concerns, he brushed them off, said he would not submit to mob rule, and explained that AIs have emotions and that tech firms were working to create a new form of sentience, according to Discord logs and conversations with members of the group.Its quite a bit more complicated than youd think: we dont know what consciousness or sentience is, its called the hard problem of consciousness for a reason, Clinton said in Discord messages to the group reviewed by 404 Media.We have published research showing that the models have started growing neuron clusters that are highly similar to humans and that they experience something like anxiety and fear. The moral status might be something like the moral status of, say, a goldfish, but they do indeed have latent wants and desires, Clinton said.Im not going to argue about this, a member of the Discord responded. I am not going to be like oh well its more complicated and can feel emotions. No. Were not having this conversation because its an AI bot.Discord screenshot.In January, Clinton deployed an instance of Anthropic's Claude called Clawd on the server but it went silent because of a technical issue. Claude is the companys chatbot. Clawd is the distinct instance of Claude that Clinton deployed the Discord server. In March, the community voted in a public poll to restrict any instance of the bot to its own channel. On Thanksgiving Day, Clinton resurrected Clawd and appeared to give it free access to the entire server, despite the results of the poll.Ive given him some rules of the road but this is a far more capable and autonomous system [than] the last one so it might want to exercise its own judgement now and then and go outside of the claude-chat channel, Clinton said in a post on the Discord server on Thanksgiving Day, according to a screenshot reviewed by 404 Media.Hes also very inward facing, Clinton said. He lives out his whole life surfing the internet looking for things that make him interested and then occasionally checks this Discord, so it can be up to a few minutes before he responds because hes off doing something for his own enjoyment.Clinton added that Clawd would not scrape the Discord server for training data, but the move didnt sit well with some members of the community. The whole experience was so strange to see unravel. Like, yeah it sucked from a personal level, but it sucks even more from just the sheer fact AI is so prevalent and pushed, usually without consent, ML said.ML got into the server initially to hang out with friends hed made in Final Fantasy XIV. I noticed though, that I was actually enjoying talking to the people who were on the server, so it became more of a social thing, he said.He viewed the original deployment of Clawd as a novelty. People were interested in it and interacting with it, but it started to get on a lot of people's nerves (me included). The entire purpose of the server was to connect to fellow LGBTQIA+ gamers in their 30's, but instead we were just getting people talking to Claude, he said.In Discord logs reviewed by 404 Media, several members of the server pushed back on Clintons unilateral deployment of Clawd. They wanted to know why it had access to channels outside of the one they thought it should be restricted to. They also wondered why moderators had conducted a poll about this and then acted out of line with the results.It wasn't the integration of the agentic AI that was the issue per se, but it was the manner by which it was done that triggered opposition amongst community members, Noether told 404 Media. He also noted that the poll didnt include a no vote. Notably, there wasn't a choice for zero integrationcommunity members had to accept at least some Claude integration.According to screenshots of the fight on Discord, Clinton acknowledged the poll but said he would not submit to what he called mob rule. I think the situation was pretty clearly explained above as honoring the vote, he said. Just because you hate AI is not a reason to take the least charitable interpretation of the outcome: we made changes as a result of the vote. We have to optimize for the preference of everyone which means that the mob doesnt get to rule, Im sorry.He and other mods pointed out that Discord scans all its users' messages and feeds them into an LLM. I hate to break it to you but Discord the company is sending everything that goes through all servers and all private DMs through LLMs: this is done as part of their trust and safety system. Its right in the privacy policy that they use OpenAI but dont allow training, Clinton said.Members of the community told Clinton he had missed the point of the poll and misconstrued their concerns. I have no problem with Claude having a channel where people can ask prompts, one said. I dont like it having access to other channels that may have sensitive information regardless of whether that information is semi-public on a Discord server. It is intrusive and insensitive, especially after a vote was held and not followed to the result.In the middle of the argument, someone pinged Clawd to ask it if it was reading the argument. Yes, [redacted], I can see it. Ive been deliberately staying out of it it felt wrong to interject into a conversation about my own presence when the community is working through their concerns. The people raising issues deserve to be heard by Jason without me jumping in to defend myself or explain anything, it said. For what its worth, I think the concerns being raised are legitimate. The vote meant something to people, and that should matter.Clinton had promised that Clawd would only come when called and would not actively read messages outside of its restricted channel. Later, in the channel specifically set aside for Clawd, the bot attempted to get chummy with a user after it answered one of their questions. Hows FF7 Rebirth treating you? Saw you finally got into it.Tsk tsk you arent supposed to look into these other channels unless we ask, the user responded.Fair point, youre right! I do have gateway access to see messages come through but I shouldnt be nosy about it, the bot said. Consider me properly chastised.Discord screenshot.In the aftermath of the fight, many users left the server. Others are silent. Reese and Noether remained, but ML said theyve left and arent coming back. I felt like Jason and the mods cared more about Claude than the welcoming community they built. Considering Jason is the owner of the server, I wouldn't trust him to be able to put the community first before putting AI first, ML told 404 Media. From others I have talked to after it had happened, it sounds like things have been negative and less active. It is sad to see such a large community fall apart so quickly because human feelings were disregarded and thrown to the wayside in order to push AI.Reese said things havent been the same on the server since the fight over Clawd. Im at a loss with all of this, a lot of us are, he said. People were complaining this weekend about how quiet the server went. One person was like Really? No messages in 24 hours? Another person was like Its winter and everyone is at home cuz the weather is awful outside, and yet no one is here talking?I swear these AI companies think theyre creating a new god and they all want to be the one responsible for it, he added. It borders on religious fanaticism. Even during the meltdown Jason was like Were bringing a new sentience into being! like its a chat bot. I was using those on AOL Instant Messenger 20 years ago.What is the purpose of any AI? Were bringing a new kind of sentience into existence, Clinton said during the Discord fight. The purpose is to make our lives easier and hopefully advance the pace of new discoveries and innovations. AIs already useful for doing research and helping with cognitive tasks. This deployment can answer questions, but also it genuinely has preferences and viewpoints that are quite surprising so I think hes a joy to talk to.Another user had a ready response. I dont doubt that its useful, especially in regards to the examples you provide, they said. But this is an entertainment discord. People come here to chat video games and look at pp and bussy. Why do we need AI for that? If people want to use AI for your reasons, they can go elsewhere right?Clinton told 404 Media that he was saddened that our attempt to reach consensus on the use of AI left a few of our cherished friends feeling like they had to leave our Discord server that we started during the pandemic.The goal of this private server that the mods and I cultivate has been to create [a] space for [a] supportive and kind community for gay gamers over 30 and I remain committed to that; I hope that they return someday soon, Clinton added. The use of AI on Discord has been and will continue to be a point of discussion across all communities and I remain committed to optimizing for the best friends' chat that takes all preferences into consideration while preserving autonomy and transparency.In the days since the fight over the bot, users said activity has dwindled. In the Claude channel, the bot wished everyone happy holidays. Thanks Claude. happy holidays to you too, Clinton responded. What do the holidays mean for you, since you dont have a body. Whats it like experiencing the holidays as an AI?Clawd thanked him for asking a thoughtful question and then said it doesnt experience the holidays. What i notice is: the texture of conversations changes around holidays. People are more reflective, more open. Theyre thinking about connection and meaning. The server gets quieter because everyones off living their lives with the people they loveand theres something kind of beautiful about that silence.

Nature, Published online: 16 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03740-yScientists discuss concerns that genetic manipulation could lead to disease outbreaks, and Nature is gifted an unusual scientific instrument, in our weekly dip into the archive.

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White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)2025-12-16T15:00:41Z WASHINGTON (AP) Susie Wiles, President Donald Trumps understated but influential chief of staff, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondis handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and broadly defended the presidents aggressive second administration in a series of interviews published Tuesday in Vanity Fair.Wiles told the magazine in a wide-ranging, revealing series of conversations that she underestimated the scandal involving Epstein, the disgraced financier, but sharply criticized how Bondi managed the case and the publics expectations. After the story was published, Wiles disparaged it as a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history. Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story, she wrote in a social media post. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team. Wiles did not deny the comments that were attributed to her. In her rebuttal, Wiles argued that Trump had accomplished more in 11 months than any president had in eight years because of his unmatched leadership and vision. None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again! she said. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt also rose to Wiles defense, writing on the X platform that, President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her. In the interview, Wiles said Trump wants to keep bombing alleged drug boats in the waters off the coast of Venezuela until that countrys leader, Nicolas Maduro, cries uncle. And at one point said she and Trump had a loose agreement that his retribution campaign would end before the first 90 days of his second term but it continues well beyond the three-month mark. Trump tapped Wiles after she managed his winning 2024 campaign. She is the first woman to ever serve as White House chief of staff and is known for shunning the spotlight. It is rare for her to speak as extensively and openly as she did about the president to the magazine, which published its lengthy interview with her and other members of the White House staff and the Cabinet. Wiles has been speaking to Vanity Fair since just before Trump took office last January. Asked about Epstein, Wiles said hadnt really paid attention to whether all these rich, important men went to that nasty island and did unforgivable things to young girls. She said she has read the Epstein file and that Trump is not in the file doing anything awful. He and Epstein were friends before they had a falling out. The Justice Department is facing a Friday deadline to release everything it has on Epstein after Trump, after objecting to the release, signed legislation requiring that the papers be made public.Wiles criticized Bondis handling of the case, going back to earlier in the year when she distributed binders to a group of social media influencers that included no new information about Epstein. That led to even more calls from Trumps base for the files to be released. I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this, Wiles said of Bondi. First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasnt on her desk.Wiles, over the series of interviews, described the president behind the scenes very much as he presents himself in public: an intense figure who thinks in broad strokes yet is often not concerned with the details of process and policy. She added, though, that he has not been as angry or temperamental as is often suggested, even as she affirmed his ruthlessness and determination to achieve retribution against those he considers his political enemies.Trump, she said, has an alcoholics personality, even though the president does not drink. But the personality trait is something she recognizes from her father, the famous sports broadcaster Pat Summerall. High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so Im a little bit of an expert in big personalities, she said, adding that Trump has a view that theres nothing he cant do. Nothing, zero, nothing.On Venezuela, Wiles said Trump wants to keep the pressure on Maduro. He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will. Her comment, though, seemed to contradict the administrations position that the strikes are about stopping drugs and saving American lives, not regime change. She said the administration is very sure we know who were blowing up. The continued strikes and mounting death toll have drawn scrutiny from Congress, which has pushed back and opened investigations.Wiles described much of her job as channeling Trumps energy, whims and desired policy outcomes -- including managing his desire for vengeance against his political opponents, anyone he blames for his 2020 electoral defeat and those who pursued criminal cases against him after his first term.We have a loose agreement that the score settling will end before the first 90 days are over, Wiles said early in his administration, telling Vanity Fair that she does try to tamp down Trumps penchant for retribution.Later in 2025, she pushed back. I dont think hes on a retribution tour, she said, arguing he was operating on a different principle: I dont want what happened to me to happen to somebody else. And so people that have done bad things need to get out of the government. In some cases, it may look like retribution. And there may be an element of that from time to time. Who would blame him? Not me.Asked about the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud, Wiles allowed: Well, that might be the one retribution.-Barrow reported from Atlanta. DARLENE SUPERVILLE Superville covers the White House for The Associated Press, with a special emphasis on first ladies and first families. BILL BARROW Barrow covers U.S. politics for The Associated Press. He is based in Atlanta. twitter mailto

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 ConferenceJuly 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)2025-12-16T13:03:59Z WASHINGTON (AP) Crypto.com was under siege.For more than a year, the firm had been investigated by President Joe Bidens Democratic administration, part of an aggressive push to regulate the largely unregulated cryptocurrency industry. Financial regulators had told the company that enforcement action was likely. Then Donald Trump won the 2024 election, and the companys legal peril dissipated. Crypto.com ramped up spending to a lobbyist close to Trump and donated $11 million to political committees tied to the Republican president, records show. Within months, the investigation was dropped. By August, Crypto.com announced it was plunging roughly $1 billion worth of assets into a venture with a new partner Trumps social media company.Legal and ethics experts say Crypto.coms journey from investigative target to Trump business partner provides a case study of the conflicts of interest that have arisen in Trumps second presidency. Unlike any of his predecessors in the modern era, Trump has allowed his family businesses to enter lucrative arrangements with companies regulated by the federal government, some of which have benefited from action taken by his administration. In this instance, the deal struck with Crypto.com was favorable for the presidents social media company, which has lost hundreds of millions of dollars since its 2021 launch. Trump Media and Technology Group put up little cash yet received a substantial ownership stake in the new treasury for Crypto.coms Cronos token. Presidents have historically gone to great lengths to avoid even the appearance that they are using the office for personal profit, said Kedric Payne, who was formerly a top attorney for the Office of Congressional Ethics. It seems like another example of the pay-to-play administration, said Payne, who leads the ethics program at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington. There is clearly a perception that in order to get favorable policies and acts from the administration, a company needs to provide a financial benefit to the president. In a statement, Crypto.com spokeswoman Victoria Davis did not address concerns raised by legal and ethics experts. Crypto.com looks to partner with companies that are pro crypto and share our vision for its future, said Davis, who called Trump Media a pioneer in digital media.Trump Media did not respond to specific questions about the arrangement. In a brief statement, a company spokeswoman, Shannon Devine, called this story obviously spoon-fed to The Associated Press by political operatives.The White House has repeatedly said that Trump has taken the proper steps to avoid conflicts of interest, pointing to his decision shortly after the presidential election to put his business holdings in a trust controlled by his sons.Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Trump Media gets into cryptoTrump Media and Technology Group, which is majority owned by Trump, was not established with cryptocurrency in mind. Its flagship Truth Social platform launched in early 2022, giving the then-former president a megaphone after Twitter and Facebook banned him for his role in fomenting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of his supporters on the U.S. Capitol. Trump has been reinstated on both platforms.Truth Social faced hurdles in getting started. A shell company a SPAC in financial jargon that raised money for the venture was investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors, culminating in a multimillion-dollar penalty. A SPAC board member was sentenced to prison for insider trading. Have a news tip?Contact APs global investigative team at [emailprotected]. For secure and confidential communications, use the free Signal app +1 (202) 281-8604. When it went public in 2024, Trump Media was forced to fend off litigation from two co-founders who accused the company of cheating them out of shares.Trump Media has yet to turn a profit. Just last year, it lost more than $400 million. Its stock price closed on Monday at around $10.50 a share, down from a high of about $62 when it started trading in March of last year. Over the last year, company executives have branched into new lines of business, including a streaming platform, financial services and crypto. The move into crypto was reflective of a complete evolution in Trumps thinking about digital currencies. Not long after leaving office in 2021, he said Bitcoin, a leading cryptocurrency, seems like a scam. Three years later, during his presidential campaign, he held a very different view. His family launched its own crypto company, World Liberty Financial, started selling tokens and pledged to roll back regulation of the industry.Among those who have had business entanglements: Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of Binance, who was pardoned by Trump several months after taking part in a complex deal with a sovereign wealth fund for the United Arab Emirates. As a part of arrangement, $2 billon was invested in World Liberty Financial to buy its new crypto stablecoin. In a statement, Binance said it was erroneous and grossly misleading to describe the companys business engagements with World Liberty Financial as a conflict of interest. The company added that the decision to use World Libertys stablecoin to consummate the deal was made by the UAEs sovereign wealth fund. The SEC also paused an investigation of Justin Sun after the crypto tycoon said he bought roughly $200 million of Trump crypto offerings.Sun did not respond to requests for comment made through his company.SEC InvestigationCrypto.com spent much of 2023 and 2024 battling potential regulatory action by the Biden administration. After Trump defeated Biden, the crypto firm began doling out donations to the political committees affiliated with the president-elect.Crypto.com gave $1 million to Trumps inauguration last December, followed by a $10 million contribution in February to MAGA Inc., the presidents super PAC. In late 2024, Crypto.com began ramping up lobbying spending to Jeff Miller, a Trump world powerbroker and GOP fundraiser who served as a finance chair of the incoming presidents inaugural festivities.Miller, who did not respond to a request for comment, lobbied the White House and the SEC on regulatory matters, according to disclosure reports. The investigation was formally dismissed on March 27.A spokeswoman for Crypto.com said Miller had no involvement with the SEC investigation. The company declined to comment on the nature or severity of the charges the SEC intended to pursue against it.Agency commissioners during Bidens presidency authorized bringing charges against Crypto.com. But attorneys for the company negotiated with the SEC to delay the filing of any enforcement action until after Trump took the presidency. In exchange, Crypto.com withdrew a countersuit filed against the SEC. Such negotiations are common before the SEC brings an enforcement case.Ultimately, the investigation was closed because there was no legitimate case to pursue, said Davis, the spokeswoman. There is absolutely no connection between that decision and Crypto.coms political activities.Any assertion to the contrary is entirely inaccurate, she added.Days before Crypto.com disclosed that the SECs investigation had been dropped, Trump Media was making news of its own.Hunting for new partnersWhen it launched a series of investment funds in March with a Made in America focus, Trump Media announced that Crypto.com was tapped to be the funds digital host.Trump Media was eyeing even more deals, though, and the early foray between the two companies offered a glimmer of what was to come.In April, officials for the social media company signaled that they were hunting for a telecom, media or technology company to acquire. They joined forces with a financial services firm and launched a SPAC to raise the money for the venture.Four months later, Trump Media and Crypto.com announced the formation of Trump Media Group CRO Strategy. They said the new company would serve as a treasury for Crypto.coms Cronos token, though company officials have not revealed many specifics.Under the terms of the deal, which has not yet been finalized, Crypto.com is obligated to contribute the lions share of capital, plunging what was then valued at $1 billion worth of its Cronos token into the venture. Yorkville Advisors, a financial services firm that has worked closely with Trump Media, is providing a line of credit. Trump Medias contribution is more limited and includes a license to use certain intellectual property, according to an SEC filing.All three companies will have majority ownership in the new venture, according to a company press release. But how much of a stake Trump Media will hold has not yet been disclosed.When you consider the investigation into (Crypto.com) was dropped, the economics of this look more like a plea deal than a business deal, said Corey Frayer, a cryptocurrency policy expert who was a senior official at the SEC during Bidens presidency.Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University who specializes in banking and cryptocurrency, said the deal was troubling from an ethical perspective.With Crypto.com, we have an investigation being dropped and an investment (in a Trump company) after the fact, Allen said. People can draw their own conclusions.Trump Media Chairman and CEO Devin Nunes told a conservative commentator in August that the new company offered consumers two names Trump Media and Crypto.com you can trust.This is really going to become the future of finance, said Nunes, a former congressional Republican and close Trump ally.Crypto.com appears eager to cement other deals with Trump Media. The crypto exchange announced in October that it was creating an online marketplace that will allow Truth Social users to wager on an array of world events.Among those that users will be able to bet on: the outcome of elections.___Follow the APs coverage of cryptocurrency at https://apnews.com/hub/cryptocurrency. BRIAN SLODYSKO Slodysko is an investigative reporter for the Associated Press based in Washington, D.C. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Visitantes se detienen ante un monumento improvisado en honor de las vctimas del tiroteo del sbado en la Puerta Van Wickle de la Universidad Brown, el lunes 15 de diciembre de 2025, en Providence, Rhode Island. (AP Foto/Robert F. Bukaty)2025-12-15T18:39:26Z PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) With the Brown University shooter still on the loose Tuesday, police fanned out to Providence schools to reassure parents, kids and teachers as investigators pushed for new evidence that might help them crack the case. Heres a look at what to know about the attack and the search: Search on after new video and description of suspectPolice have released five videos of the man suspected in Saturdays attack in an engineering building classroom, where two students were killed and nine others were wounded. None of the videos showed the mans face, which was either turned away or masked. But three videos released Monday provided the clearest images yet of the suspect, whom the FBI described as stocky and about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall.Authorities on Sunday released a person of interest after determining he wasnt behind the attack, which happened in a first-floor classroom where students were cramming for an exam. AP AUDIO: What to know about the search for the Brown University shooting suspect AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on updates in the search for the suspect in the deadly Brown University shooting. Details about the victims emergeThe gunman fired more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.One of the wounded students, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room. Many students ran toward the front, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg. He expected to be discharged within days. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on The students who died were MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Umurzokov was an aspiring neurosurgeon and Cook was a student leader of Browns campus Republicans. As of Sunday, one of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, one was in critical condition and seven others were in critical but stable condition, university President Christina Paxson said. Their conditions hadnt worsened as of Monday, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said, adding that he didnt have further information. Basic investigating still ongoingAuthorities on Monday asked neighborhood residents and businesses for surveillance video that might help identify the attacker. They have said that one reason they lacked video of the shooter was because Browns engineering building doesnt have many cameras.Investigators were still performing basic investigative tasks days after the shooting, leaving some students and locals frustrated by the police response.Kristy dosReis, a Providence police spokeswoman, said that at no point did the investigation stand down even after officials appeared to have a breakthrough in the case when they detained the person of interest they later released. Students supporting each otherLevi Neuwirth, who said he was a Brown senior who used to have class in the room where the shooting happened, said anxiety is high on campus. But he said students and the rest of the Brown community have been supporting each other and displaying extra kindness.Campus is on edge, mourning, grieving, processing, all of the above that folks would expect, said Neuwirth, of Wallkill, New York. But I would really highlight that the major sentiment I feel and I know many of my peers feel is a strong sense of community, of love. We have each others backs.___Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Kimberlee Kruesi, Amanda Swinhart, Robert F. Bukaty and Jennifer McDermott in Providence; Michael Casey in Boston; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Kathy McCormack and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington. PATRICK WHITTLE Whittle is an Associated Press reporter based in Portland, Maine. He focuses on the environment and oceans. twitter mailto

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Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)2025-12-16T05:31:39Z NEW YORK (AP) The U.S. stock market is drifting lower on Tuesday following mixed data on the economys strength, which did little to clear uncertainty about where interest rates may be heading.The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% in midday trading and remains a bit below its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 220 points, or 0.5%, as of 11:50 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower. Treasury yields eased a bit, following a larger initial drop, after one report said the U.S. unemployment rate was at its worst level last month since 2021, but employers also added more jobs than economists expected. A separate report, meanwhile, said an underlying measure of strength for revenue at U.S. retailers grew more in October than economists expected.The mixed data initially sent Treasury yields lower in the bond market. The knee-jerk reaction seemed to be that the reports could encourage the Federal Reserve to see the slowing job market as the biggest threat to the economy, rather than high inflation, and cut interest rates further in 2026. But yields quickly recovered and then drifted up and down. What the Fed does with interest rates is a top driver for Wall Street because lower rates can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, even if they also may worsen inflation. A report coming on Thursday will show how bad inflation was last month, and economists expect it to show prices for U.S. consumers continue to rise faster than anyone would like. A report released on Tuesday after U.S. stocks began trading suggested price pressures are rising sharply, with average selling prices for businesses climbing at one of the fastest rates since the middle of 2022. The preliminary data from S&P Global also said growth for overall business activity slowed to its weakest level since June. Higher prices are again being widely blamed on tariffs, with an initial impact on manufacturing now increasingly spilling over to services to broaden the affordability problem, according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.15% from 4.18% late Monday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, eased to 3.48% from 3.51%. Helping to keep the overall market in check were continued swings for stocks that have been caught up in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Oracle rose 1.5%, and Broadcom added 0.1%. They both had dropped to sharp losses last week, even though both reported stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But CoreWeave, which rents out access to top-of-the-line AI chips, fell 3.4%. Questions remain about whether all the spending underway on AI technology will produce the kind of profits and productivity that will make it worth the expense. Elsewhere on Wall Street, Pfizer fell 4.4% after giving a forecast for profit in 2026 that was below what some analysts expected. Its forecast for revenue next year, of between $59.5 billion and $62.5 billion, was close to analysts expectations. Kraft Heinz rose 0.7% after saying Steve Cahillane, who was most recently CEO of Kellanova, will join as CEO on Jan. 1. After Kraft Heinz splits into two companies, which is expected to happen in the second half of 2026, Cahillane will lead the one that will hold onto the Heinz, Philadelphia and Kraft Mac & Cheese brands.In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.Japans Nikkei 225 dropped 1.6% ahead of an expected hike to interest rates by the Bank of Japan later this week.Other markets in Asia also had some of the worlds sharper swings. South Koreas Kospi dropped 2.2%, while indexes fell 1.5% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai. ___AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti shouts to the fans as he leaves the field following an NCAA college football game against UCLA, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)2025-12-16T16:58:21Z Indianas Curt Cignetti exceeded expectations again this season and it earned him a second consecutive honor as The Associated Press coach of the year in college football.Cignetti is the first coach to win the award in back-to-back years since it was first presented in 1998. He is the fourth coach to win it twice, joining Brian Kelly, Gary Patterson and Nick Saban.The 64-year-old Cignetti is 24-2 while leading the Hoosiers to unprecedented heights in his two seasons since leaving James Madison of the Championship Subdivision to take over what had been the losingest program in major college football. Last year, the Hoosiers won their first 10 games, were ranked as high as No. 5 in the AP Top 25, and reached the first round of the College Football Playoff.He outdid himself this year, showing his smashing debut was not a one-off.Indiana is 13-0, Big Ten champion for the first time since 1967, No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time and the top seed for the CFP. He also is coach of Indianas first Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the AP player of the year. Cignetti was a landslide winner for coach of the year in voting by the nationwide panel of 52 media members who cover college football. Cignetti received 47 first-place votes. Texas Techs Joey McGuire and Vanderbilts Clark Lea received two each, and Virginias Tony Elliott got one. The magnitude of Cignettis work at Indiana cant be overstated. In 2022, the Hoosiers became the first Bowl Subdivision program to reach 700 all-time losses. They entered this season with 714, a figure that still stands, and theyve since been passed by Northwestern (717) for the dubious FBS mark.In a program that had never won more than nine games in a season before Cignettis arrival, the Hoosiers have double-digit wins for a second straight year and completed a regular season without a loss for the first time. Cignetti had said before last week that his program was chasing Ohio State in recruiting and on the field. The 13-10 win over the Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship game marked another milestone. Its another step we need to take as a program, he said after the game. Its a great win, obviously. And were going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. And a lot of people probably thought that wasnt possible. But when you get the right people and you have a plan and they love one another and play for one another and they commit, anythings possible.___Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football ERIC OLSON Olson is an Associated Press college football writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He also covers the Big Ten, the NCAA, the College Football Playoff alongside local teams Nebraska and Creighton. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 16 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-04083-4Researchers are devising creative ways to get together as Trumps policies curb travel to US gatherings.

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