Ukraine's First Lady Pleads for More Aid

Ukrainian Pres. Vladimir Zelenskyy's wife, Olena Zelenska, has warned that Ukrainians are in 'mortal danger' of being left to die if Kyiv doesn't continue receiving financial aid from the West to fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion....

Politics

US, Japan, SKorea Step Up Actions on NKorea Cyber Threats

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said that the US, Japan, and South Korea have agreed to coordinate efforts and launch new trilateral initiatives to counter North Korea's threats in cyberspace, economic coercion, and space launches....

World

Lawsuit Claims US Funds Tech That Blacklists Conservative News

A lawsuit filed in the US Eastern District of Texas on Wednesday has accused the State Department of violating the First Amendment by using taxpayer money to fund 'fact-checking' enterprises that allegedly favor left-wing media outlets over conservative news sites....

Politics

Google Says New AI Model Outperforms ChatGPT

Google has announced the new Gemini model of its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot named Bard, claiming it outperforms ChatGPT and offers 'advanced reasoning' across multiple formats. Gemini, the first new release since tech firms attended an AI safety summit in the UK last month, outperformed...

Science & technology

NY Fraud Case: Judge Again Denies Trump's Mistrial Motion

Judge Arthur Engoron has denied former Pres. Donald Trump's lawyers' fourth request for a directed verdict to end his New York civil fraud trial, following a tense exchange over whether New York Attorney General Letitia James' case lacked merit....

Crime & justice

Armenia, Azerbaijan Agree to Work Toward Peace Deal

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to exchange prisoners of war and work toward signing a peace treaty, a sign of significant progress after three decades of conflict in the region....

Politics

Palestine: US 'Responsible for Bloodshed' After UN Veto

Palestinian Authority Pres. Mahmoud Abbas has said that the US decision to veto Friday's UN Security Council resolution calling for a truce in Gaza has made Washington complicit in alleged 'war crimes' against Palestinians....

World

Nonfarm Payrolls Up 199K, US Unemployment Falls to 3.7%

The latest jobs report from the US Labor Department, released on Friday, showed that nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 199K in November, slightly exceeding the Dow Jones estimate of 190K and outpacing October’s gain of 150K....

Money

Vladimir Putin Announces Re-election Run

Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he will run for re-election in 2024. He made his announcement after a Kremlin award ceremony for military veterans and posted a video statement after the event declaring his decision....

Politics

Judge Grants Pregnant Texas Woman Emergency Abortion

Texas District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble on Thursday granted Kate Cox, a pregnant 31-year-old mother of two, permission to have an abortion under a narrow exception of the state's ban on the procedure, which was adopted after the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022....

Social issues

FDA Approves First Gene-Editing Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved a breakthrough treatment for patients suffering from sickle cell disease, a painful ailment that affects roughly 100K people across the US, primarily people of color. Sickle cell disease makes red blood cells bend into inflexible sickle...

Health

Watchdog: 94 Media Professionals Killed in 2023

94 journalists have been killed doing their jobs — and around 400 imprisoned — so far in 2023, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Friday....

Crime & justice

X CEO Says Platform Added 10M Users in December

Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, formerly Twitter, announced Thursday that the platform has gained 10M new users this month. This comes after X's owner, Elon Musk, said in July that the company, which doesn't regularly release its data, had 540M monthly users....

Science & technology

Hunter Biden Indicted on 9 Tax Charges

Hunter Biden, son of Pres. Joe Biden, Thursday was indicted in California on nine tax charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — as a result of special counsel David Weiss' investigation....

Crime & justice

Denmark Passes Law to Ban Quran Burnings

Denmark's parliament approved legislation on Thursday prohibiting the burning of holy books, including the Quran, in public places....

Politics

Blinken: 'Gap' in Israel's Intent to Protect Civilians

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that there remains a gap between Tel Aviv's 'intent to protect civilians' and the results on the ground in Gaza, adding that Israel is obligated 'to do everything possible to put a premium on protecting civilians and maximizing humanitarian assis...

World

Study: Blood Test Can Predict Organs' Age, Disease Risk

According to new research published in Nature on Wednesday, a blood test can reveal 'the biological age of an organ in an apparently healthy person,' predict which organs might soon fail, and help doctors identify new drug targets if an organ needs attention....

Health

Former College Professor Kills Three on Las Vegas Campus

Three people were killed and one was wounded Wednesday in a shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) campus....

Crime & justice

Study: 40M New Mothers Experience Long-Term Health Issues Each Year

According to a study published Wednesday in The Lancet Global Health journal, more than a third of new mothers worldwide, or at least 40M women, annually experience lasting health issues after childbirth....

Health

Biden Willing to 'Compromise' After Republicans Block Ukraine, Israel Aid

US Pres. Joe Biden has said he's willing to make 'significant compromises' on the country's border policies, after the issue became a key stumbling block for advancing his roughly $100B national security package in Congress this week. The funding request includes allocations for securing America'...

Politics

UK: Minister Warns of 'Epidemic' of Children Being Told They're Trans

Kemi Badenoch, the UK's Women and Equalities Minister, told the House of Commons on Wednesday that Britain is facing an 'epidemic' of gay children being told that they are transgender, and warned of a 'new form of conversion therapy' that she claimed sterilizes young children....

Social issues

Peru: Ex-President Released from Prison After 16 Years

After the country's top court granted him a pardon in 2017, former Peruvian Pres. Alberto Fujimori — who had been serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses during his presidency — was freed from Lima's Barbadillo prison on Wednesday....

Crime & justice

EU Talks on AI Act Stall, Set to Resume Friday

The three-way debate between the 27 EU member states, the European Commission, and the EU Parliament on world-leading comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) regulations was paused on Thursday after nearly 24 hours of discussions to try to sign off on a deal to finalize the so-called AI Act....

Science & technology

Olympics: Russian, Belarusian Athletes Gain Support From Sports Bodies

Athletes from Russia and Belarus on Tuesday moved closer to being able to compete at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris after representatives of several international sports federations and national Olympic committees voiced their support at the Olympic Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland....

Sports

McDonalds to Launch Beverage Chain CosMc's

McDonald's has announced that it will open a new spinoff chain called CosMc's, the company's first new restaurant idea in the US since its establishment. The restaurant, named after an orange alien mascot from its previous commercials, will offer iced coffee, all-day Egg McMuffins, and multiple d...

Money