Immigration has historically driven U.S. growth and filled labor shortages in various sectors, but it has also remained one of the most politically divisive issues. In the modern era, successive administrations have agreed on the need to reform the asylum system and bolster border security, while differing sharply on how to manage immigration more broadly.
The total federal debt of the United States passed a new milestone on October 21, 2025, reaching $38 trillion for the first time, with $30.4 trillion in federal debt held by the public, which is equivalent to about 100 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP). This is the highest level it’s been relative to our GDP since 1946.
Licensed gun dealers are a major source of firearms that end up illegally trafficked, according to a new analysis using federal data by the research arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates for stricter gun laws.
Gun trafficking involves diverting guns from legal commerce into the illegal market, often through straw purchases, unlicensed dealing or other methods that bypass background checks and federal recordkeeping requirements.
Netflix is buying Warner Bros. Discovery in an $82.7 billion deal that gives it HBO, iconic franchises, and major studio infrastructure. "Warner Bros. shareholders will receive $27.75 a share in cash and stock in Netflix," notes Bloomberg. "The total equity value of the deal is $72 billion, while the enterprise value of the deal is about $82.7 billion." From the report: Prior to the closing of the sale, Warner Bros. will complete the planned spinoff of its networks division, which includes cable channels such as CNN, TBS and TNT. That transaction is now expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026, Netflix said in a statement. With the purchase, Netflix becomes owner of the HBO network, along with its library of hit shows like The Sopranos and The White Lotus. Warner Bros. assets also include its sprawling studios in Burbank, California, along with a vast film and TV archive that includes Harry Potter and Friends.
Netflix said it expects to maintain Warner Bros.' current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films, a point that had been a cause of concern in Hollywood. Netflix said the deal will allow it to "significantly expand" US production capacity and invest in original content, which will create jobs and strengthen the entertainment industry. Still, the combination is also expected to create "at least $2 billion to $3 billion" in cost savings per year by the third year, according to the statement. U.S. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who leads the Senate antitrust committee, said the acquisition "should send alarm to antitrust enforcers around the world."
"Netflix built a great service, but increasing Netflix's dominance this way would mean the end of the Golden Age of streaming for content creators and consumers," Lee wrote in a post on X.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren called it an antitrust "nightmare" that would harm workers and consumers. "A Netflix-Warner Bros would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market -- threatening to force Americans into higher subscription prices and fewer choices over what and how they watch, while putting American workers at risk," Warren said on Friday. "It would mean more price hikes, ads, & cookie cutter content, less creative control for artists, and lower pay for workers," she said in a post on X. "The media industry is already controlled by a few corporations with too much power to censor free speech. The gov't must step in."
The European Commission has fined Elon Musk’s X €120 million (around $140 million) for breaching its transparency rules under the Digital Services Act. The European Union’s executive arm announced that it was investigating the social media company’s blue checkmarking verification system — first introduced when it was still known as Twitter — last year, along with other alleged DSA violations. Today’s verdict concerns the "deceptive design" of the checkmark, as well as "the lack of transparency of [X's] advertising repository, and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers."
The Commission's issue with X’s verification system is that where blue checkmarks were once something that Twitter that Twitter vetted, they can now be bough by anyone. According to the EU, this puts users at risk of scams and impersonation fraud, as they can’t tell if the accounts they’re engaging with are authentic. "While the DSA does not mandate user verification, it clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place," it wrote in a statement.
The EU has also ruled that X’s advertisement repository employs "design features and access barriers" that make it difficult for good faith actors and the general public to determine the source of online ads and spot scams or threat campaigns. It says that X fails to provide information pertaining to both the content of an ad and the entity paying for its placement.
The third alleged infringement concerns the public data that companies are required by the DSA to make available to qualifying researchers. The European Commission claims that X’s practices in this area are unnecessarily prohibitive, therefore "effectively undermining research into several systemic risks in the European Union."
X has 60 working days to respond to the EU’s non-compliance decision — the first of its nature — on blue checkmarks, and 90 days to submit an "action plan" of how it will address the alleged breaches relating to its advertising repository and access to public data. Failure to comply could result in financial penalties.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/x-hit-with-140-million-fine-from-the-eu-161259324.html?src=rss
The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have filed separate lawsuits against Perplexity over alleged copyright infringement. The Times said it had sent Perplexity several cease-and-desist demands to stop using its content until the two reached an agreement, but the AI company persisted in doing so.
In the lawsuit [PDF], the Times accused Perplexity of infringing on its copyrights at two main stages. First, by scraping its website (including in real time) to train AI models and feed content into the likes of the Claude chatbot and Comet browser. Second, in the output of Perplexity's products, with the Times accusing the company’s generative AI products of often reproducing its articles verbatim. The Times also says Perplexity damaged its brand by falsely attributing completely fabricated information (aka hallucinations) to the newspaper.
The Chicago Tribune also filed a lawsuit against Perplexity for similar reasons. "Perplexity’s genAI products generate outputs that are identical or substantially similar to the Chicago Tribune’s content,” the newspaper claimed in its suit. “Upon information and belief, Perplexity has unlawfully copied millions of copyrighted Chicago Tribune stories, videos, images and other works to power its products and tools."
These lawsuits are the latest in dozens of legal cases involving copyright holders and AI companies in the US. The Times, for instance, previously sued OpenAI and Microsoft. It accused the companies of training their large language models on millions of its articles without permission. That case is ongoing.
Copyright holders have licensed their content to AI companies in some cases, though. OpenAI has struck multiple deals with media companies. The Times and Amazon reached an agreement this year that's said to be worth as much as $25 million per year to the media company.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-new-york-times-and-chicago-tribune-sue-perplexity-over-alleged-copyright-infringement-153656431.html?src=rss
Consob has urged VASPs to secure CASP approval or shut down by December 30, 2025.
This comes as the deadline for transitioning to new MiCAR policies approaches.
Unauthorised operators will halt their services and return user assets.
Italy’s financial regulator Consob has issued an urgent call to digital assets investors and operators as the nation moves closer to adopting MiCAR policies.
According to the late yesterday press release, Consob emphasised December 30, 2025, as the last day VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers) operating under the existing regime will be able to serve without full approval.
Consob has warned that operators who fail to follow this transition risk a ban.
Thus, any VASP operating in Italy should adhere to the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation or exit the marketplace.
30 December 2025 is the last day on which Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs, operators currently offering virtual asset services, such as cryptocurrency exchanges) registered with the OAM (the Organismo Agenti e Mediatori, or Agents and Brokers Organisation) can continue to operate.
MiCAR resets Italy’s regulatory rulebook
Italian regulators have only wanted VASPs to secure the OAM (Organismo Agenti e Mediatori) certificate to operate seamlessly over the years.
Meanwhile, MiCAR brings tougher rules, with only fully licensed Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) permitted to serve the European Union.
Meanwhile, the authorisation procedure involves operational checks, client protection requirements, supervisory controls, and existing monitoring. That’s far stricter than the previous model.
Consob stressed that VASPs will only operate if they apply for CASP certification in Italy or any other European Union Member State by December 30.
Operators who submit applications by this deadline can keep offering services until the final decision, but all entities should adhere to MiCAR by June 30, 2026.
What’s next for investors?
Consob has warned both operators and day-to-day cryptocurrency users.
Investors should promptly confirm whether their desired service provider plans to adhere to the new policies and requirements.
Here, they can monitor two crucial things.
First and foremost, investors should check whether the operator has published its MiCAR transition plans.
Secondly, investors should verify the provider’s regulatory status after the deadline.
VASPs that don’t apply or fail to secure approval will not operate in Italy after December 30, and customers can request a return of their assets upon such developments.
Meanwhile, Consob confirmed warning operators multiple times during the transition phase, highlighting updates in September last year, July 2025, and the October 31 notice to companies still holding only the OAM certificate.
While some operators view MiCAR as the pathway for regulated, international operations, others consider the new regulation as the end of the road.
Meanwhile, digital assets investors should stay alert, check the provider’s regulatory status, and act before the new MiCAR regulations lock them out or pressure them with last-minute withdrawals.
Big Tech has lost its way. At WIRED’s Big Interview event, Techdirt editor Mike Masnick and Common Tools CEO Alex Komoroske announced a manifesto designed to help the industry get back on track.
The cofounder and CEO of Circle says “money as an app platform” is the next step in a digital-based global economic system that’s right around the corner.
Skybound Game Studios is being sued by indie outfit iam8bit over fraud and breach of contract, including the theft of original designs. Skybound Entertainment, the parent company of Skybound Game Studios, is chaired by Robert Kirkman, who may be best known for creating the original comic book of The Walking Dead. We've reached out to Skybound for comment on the lawsuit but have not received a response as of publication.
iam8bit is a video game producer as well as a merchandise operation selling vinyl soundtracks and other geek gear. The company entered into a partnership with Skybound Game Studios in April 2021. Since then, iam8bit alleges that Skybound conducted a multi-year accounting scheme and failed to provide accurate financial reports for the partnership each month. "Skybound failed to provide the monthly reports as agreed," the Los Angeles Superior Court complaint reads. "It also padded its expenses with millions of dollars in fake line items." iam8bit claims Skybound has yet to explain the line items, even to a third-party auditor that it engaged. The company is alleging more than $4 million in damages related to the accounting issues.
iam8bit also accused Skybound of cutting it out of a deal regarding indie video game Stray. According to the company's counsel, iam8bit designed and developed promotional materials for the launch of Stray on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The complaint claims that Skybound used trade secrets from iam8bit to secure its own deal for the Nintendo launch of the game. It alleges Skybound used confidential information about iam8bit’s royalty split with publishing Annapurna Interactive to cut out its business partner, while also using “almost exact copies” of its creative output for marketing.
The full list of allegations in iam8bit's complaint include breach of contract, fraud, conversion, unjust enrichment and misappropriation. The company's legal team is seeking monetary damages, punitive damages and attorneys' fees in compensation.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/iam8bit-is-suing-skybound-game-studios-alleging-fraud-and-theft-of-designs-000822886.html?src=rss
The signals from Washington on critical minerals are no longer ambiguous; they are decisive, strategic and aligned with Australia’s long-term interests. The issue is whether Canberra and industry can convert this momentum into concrete projects that deliver secure supply chains, new processing capacity, domestic industrial depth and worthwhile commercial returns. To do that, Australia must move at speed, locking in partnerships, prioritizing specific minerals, and supporting companies ready to diversify minerals markets.
Login
