Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> 2024 College Football Playoff begins tonight with No. 7 Notre Dame taking on No. 10 Indiana (8 pm ET, ABC/ESPN); see first-round schedule and predictions (More)
> Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto to depart after 28 years; Cavuto was with the cable news network since its inception in 1996 (More)
> Slim Dunlap, singer-songwriter and The Replacements guitarist, dies at 73 (More) | Megan Thee Stallion files petition for a restraining order against rapper Tory Lanez, alleging harassment by Lanez from prison; Lanez is serving a 10-year sentence for shooting Megan in 2020 (More)
Science & Technology
> Google releases test version of its reasoning AI model; company says it displays high-level comprehension of complex problems in math, physics, coding, and more (More)
> James Webb Space Telescope detects supermassive black hole dating to 800 million years after the start of the universe; object is 400 million times the size of the Sun but has become nearly dormant (More)
> Bioengineers develop bacteria that eat carbon dioxide, can convert the carbon from common chimney smoke into precursors for new chemical products (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow +0.0%, Nasdaq -0.1%); Dow narrowly ends longest losing streak in 50 years (More) | Chipmaker Micron shares close down 16% on weaker-than-expected guidance in steepest drop since March 2020 (More)
> US economy grew at 3.1% annualized pace in Q3, stronger than previously estimated (More) | US existing home sales rose 6.1% year-over-year in November, the biggest annual gain since 2021; median home price is $406K, up 4.7% from a year ago (More)
> Amazon workers strike across seven US delivery facilities over labor contract; locations include four in California and one each in New York, Georgia, and Illinois (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Georgia appeals court removes District Attorney Fani Willis from state's stalled 2020 election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump; court cites "appearance of impropriety" given Willis' romantic relationship with the special prosecutor (More) | See timeline of the case (More)
> Federal Aviation Administration temporarily bans use of low-flying drones in 21 New Jersey towns, including near power substations, military installations, and airports; order authorizes use of government force to shoot down drones and is in effect until Jan. 17 (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> Food and Drug Administration updates 30-year definition of "healthy" packaged foods; rule sets limit on the amount of sugar that can be included, requires one or more of the following: fruit, vegetables, grains, dairy, or protein (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Disney becomes only studio to top $2B at the 2024 domestic box office, including three of the top five grossing films (More) | Academy Awards release shortlist of top contenders in 10 categories (More)
> UK court rules police can seize $3.4M from social media influencer Andrew Tate amid dispute over alleged unpaid taxes on $26.5M in revenue from Tate's businesses (More)
> Milwaukee Bucks top Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 to win the second annual NBA Cup, the NBA's new mid-season tournament; Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo named tournament MVP (More)
Science & Technology
> OpenAI launches free phone service (1-800-CHATGPT), allowing anyone in the US to call and talk to its ChatGPT chatbot for up to 15 minutes at no cost (More)
> Popular 2020 paper suggesting the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine could treat COVID-19 retracted more than four years after publishing; work is the second most-cited paper ever to be withdrawn (More)
> Lithocholic acid, a type of bile acid produced in the liver, has been found to have anti-aging effects similar to caloric restriction (More)
Business & Markets
> Grubhub to pay $25M to settle Federal Trade Commission lawsuit over allegedly misleading customers about delivery costs and drivers about their earnings (More)
> Merck signs $2B licensing deal to develop weight loss pill with Chinese drugmaker Hansoh Pharma in bid to compete with other obesity drugs on the market (More)
> Cloud AI startup Vultr raises $333M, with chip giant AMD and hedge fund LuminArx Capital Management leading the round; Vultr now valued at $3.5B (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> House Ethics Committee votes in secret to release report on its investigation into ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R, FL-1); release expected in the coming days (More) | Senate passes $895B defense bill raising pay for Congress members and junior enlisted service members, cutting transgender care for children of service members (More)
> President-elect Donald Trump selects former Senate candidate and NFL star Herschel Walker as US ambassador to the Bahamas (More)
> Russia says it has detained a 29-year-old Uzbek man in relation to the killing of Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's biological and chemical weapons defense program (More) | See previous write-up (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> "Dirty Dancing" and "Beverly Hills Cop" are among 25 movies added to Library of Congress National Film Registry (More) | See complete list of 900 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant films on the registry (More)
> Children's television series "Bluey" to get feature film in 2027 produced by BBC and Disney (More) | Diane Delano, actress known for roles on "Northern Exposure" and "Popular," dies at 67 (More)
> Vermont tops Marshall 2-1 to win their first-ever NCAA men's soccer national championship (More) | The European Super League relaunches as the Unify League, will feature 96 soccer clubs across Europe (More)
Science & Technology
> Alabama woman receives gene-edited pig kidney, becomes the fifth person to undergo animal-to-human gene-edited organ surgery (More) | What is xenotransplantation? (More)
> Study suggests brain cells mature faster in microgravity environments like space compared to Earth; research used organoids—lab-grown organ-like structures—to study the effects (More)
> Archaeologists discover evidence of systematic cannibalism in a Bronze Age burial site near Bristol, England (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.6%, Nasdaq -0.3%); Dow falls for ninth straight day, its longest losing streak since 1978 (More)
> Grammarly, maker of AI-powered writing assistant, acquires productivity startup Coda; financial terms of the deal not disclosed (More) | Databricks raises $10B in financing, valuing the data analytics company at $62B (More)
> Japan's Honda and Nissan reportedly to begin merger talks; automakers are considering operating under a single holding company and eventually bringing in Mitsubishi (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Luigi Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is indicted in New York on 11 counts, including first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism (More) | Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann is charged with another murder, bringing number of alleged victims to seven (More)
> Federal Trade Commission announces rule banning junk fees—hidden charges—on hotel and event ticket prices (More) | Biden administration finalizes rule clarifying who can apply for H-1B work visas, including expanding definitions of specialty occupation positions (More)
> President-elect Donald Trump sues The Des Moines Register for a poll in the lead-up to Election Day showing him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in Iowa by 3%; Trump ultimately won the state by 14% (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Zakir Hussain, legendary Indian tabla player and four-time Grammy winner, dies at age 73 (More) | Taylor Swift No. 1 on Billboard's year-end Top Artist chart for second straight year, first artist to top the year-end chart four times since it launched in 1981 (More)
> Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder defeat Houston Rockets in 2024 NBA Cup semifinals; Bucks and Thunder matchup in second-ever NBA Cup final tomorrow (More)
> Warner Bros. Discovery opts not to renew deal to air new episodes of "Sesame Street" on HBO and Max (More) | "Kraven The Hunter" brings in just $11M in its opening weekend, lowest-ever opener for a Sony-produced Marvel film (More)
Science & Technology
> Louisiana reports its first human case of H5N1 bird flu, patient hospitalized; around 60 human cases have been confirmed nationwide but no human-to-human transmission observed; officials say threat to public remains low (More) | See bird flu stats (More)
> AI-powered blood screening detects signs of breast cancer at stages earlier than existing tests; technique detected stage 1A tumor presence with 98% accuracy (More)
> Astronomers observe a particle jet emanating from M87*—the first black hole to ever be imaged—with energy tens of millions of times greater than visible light (More) | Fascinated by black holes but don't know how they work? Start here (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed Friday (S&P 500 -0.0%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq +0.1%), with Dow's seven-day losing streak the longest since 2020 (More)
> Broadcom's stock jumps 24% to all-time high Friday, pushing the company past $1T valuation; news came after Broadcom's quarterly earnings call spurred reports the company is working to develop AI server chips for Apple and OpenAI (More)
> Amazon workers at two New York warehouses authorize possible strike after setting a Dec. 15 deadline for union contract bargaining dates; roughly 5,500 workers threaten to walk out days before Christmas (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Cyclone Chido hits French territory of Mayotte as Category 4 storm, the most destructive cyclone to hit the Indian Ocean island in 90 years; 11 people confirmed dead and 250 injured as of this writing, with death toll expected to rise to several hundred or more (More)
> ABC News agrees to pay $15M and $1M in attorneys' fees to settle President-elect Donald Trump's defamation case over anchor George Stephanopoulos' false claims Trump had been found civilly liable of raping E. Jean Carroll; a Manhattan court found Trump civilly liable of sexual battery, not rape (More)
> An alleged Chinese spy attended a 2020 birthday party for Britain's Prince Andrew and was authorized to act on the prince's behalf in Chinese business dealings, UK court hears (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Centrist François Bayrou named France's new prime minister.
French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Bayrou roughly a week after Michel Barnier was ousted as prime minister in a no-confidence vote triggered by budget disputes in the National Assembly. Barnier's government was the shortest-serving in the modern French republic's history. Bayrou, 73, is the leader of the Democratic Movement and is expected to form his government in the coming days.
South Korean president faces second impeachment vote.
The National Assembly will hold the impeachment vote against President Yoon Suk Yeol Saturday late afternoon local time. The vote comes a week after the conservative president survived the first impeachment vote over his short-lived declaration of martial law (see how it unfolded). At least 200 votes from the National Assembly's 300 members are needed to impeach Yoon.
Initial public offering launches for stegosaurus skeleton.
Rally, a company that sells shares in a wide range of items, announced an initial public offering (see 1440's overview) for a nearly complete stegosaurus fossil nicknamed "Steg." The offering values the fossil—still being unearthed in Wyoming—at almost $14M, with 200,000 shares available at $68.75 each. Trading is set to begin Dec. 20 on Rally's app and website. Shareholders are expected to receive a payout in a year once the fossil is sold privately or auctioned to the highest bidder.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-11) hospitalized after injury on overseas trip.
The former House speaker is being evaluated after falling during an event in Luxembourg. The 84-year-old was traveling with a bipartisan congressional delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of a World War II battle. Earlier in the week, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell also suffered an injury after falling at the US Capitol. The 82-year-old sprained his wrist, cut his face, and is experiencing leg stiffness.
New Jersey governor seeks federal resources in drone probe.
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) requested more resources from the Biden administration to investigate drone sightings reported in New Jersey and nearby states. Residents first reported the sightings last month; up to 180 aircraft have been reported since Nov. 18. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have jointly said the sightings appear to be aircraft operating lawfully and don't pose national security risks or safety threats. See their statement here.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> College football bowl season kicks off tomorrow; see schedule and preview of all 36 matchups (More) | Eighteen-year-old Indian Gukesh Dommaraju becomes youngest-ever World Chess Champion (More)
> Sean "Diddy" Combs accused of rape by three men in separate lawsuits; Combs is currently awaiting trial on felony charges of racketeering and sex trafficking (More) | "Wicked" and "Conclave" lead nominations for the 2025 Critics Choice Awards with 11 apiece (More)
> BuzzFeed to sell "First We Feast," the studio behind popular "Hot Ones" YouTube show, for $82.5M (More) | YouTube TV to raise monthly subscription fee by $10 to $82.99 (More)
Science & Technology
> Google unveils Android XR, a mixed reality operating system for smart glasses and headsets integrating its AI platform Gemini (More) | ... and announces Gemini 2.0, built to support AI agents carrying out tasks for users (More)
> Neanderthals and humans in Eurasia interbred for a window of about 7,000 years beginning roughly 50,000 years ago, genetic analysis suggests; between 1% to 2% of modern Eurasian genes are inherited from Neanderthals (More)
> New study estimates superflares—bursts of radiation from stars equal to trillions of hydrogen bombs—may occur roughly once per 100 years; previous studies suggested events occurred every 1,000 to 10,000 years (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.5%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.7%), weighed down by better-than-expected inflation report a day earlier (More) | ServiceTitan raises roughly $625M in Nasdaq debut, valuing cloud software firm at nearly $9B (More) | Heard about IPOs, but don't know how they work? Sign up for 1440 Business & Finance (Join here)
> Warner Bros. Discovery shares close up over 15% after announcing it will split its TV business from its streaming studios (More) | Adobe shares close down over 13% in biggest drop since September 2022 after downbeat revenue forecast (More)
> Federal Trade Commission sues Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, accusing the largest US alcohol distributor of offering discounts to large chain buyers like Costco and Kroger while charging higher prices to small businesses (More) | Stanley recalls 2.6 million mugs after 38 people suffer burns from faulty lids (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> President-elect Donald Trump is named Time magazine's Person of the Year, rings the New York Stock Exchange's opening bell; magazine cites Trump's historic comeback and impact on news cycle (More) | Read the interview (More)
> Justice Department internal watchdog report on Jan. 6, 2021, storming of US Capitol finds FBI anticipated potential for violence, failed to canvass informants from field offices or dispatch undercover agents; four informants entered Capitol premises without FBI authorization (More) | Read the report (More)
> UK's health secretary permanently bans puberty blockers for children under 18, extending a temporary ban in place since May; decision follows a review this year finding a lack of evidence to date supporting the treatment, with transgender advocates calling the decision discriminatory (More)
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Time magazine taps WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark as its 2024 Athlete of the Year (More) | North Carolina tops Wake Forest 1-0 to win 2024 NCAA women's soccer national championship (More)
> Two more hotel workers charged in Argentina in a case related to the death of One Direction's Liam Payne (More) | Former cycling world champion Rohan Dennis pleads guilty to charge related to the death of his wife, Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins (More)
> Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas," which debuted in 1994, tops Billboard Hot 100; the song extends its record with six distinct runs atop the chart (More)
Science & Technology
> Construction uncovers a 1,375-year-old pyramid along the site of a future highway in central Mexico; structure dates to the pre-Hispanic Metztitlán kingdom (More)
> James Webb Space Telescope measurements confirm gap in cosmological model, suggests additional factor needed to explain why the universe is expanding at a faster rate than its early stages (More) | What do scientists know about the Big Bang? (More)
> New cancer treatment eliminates bladder and lung tumors in mice without side effects by combining targeting drugs and engineered radioactive antibodies (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.4%, Nasdaq -0.3%); investors await new inflation data from November, set to be released today (More)
> Federal judge temporarily halts supermarket chain Kroger's proposed $25B acquisition of rival Albertsons pending Federal Trade Commission proceedings; Washington judge then permanently bars merger from the state, citing competition concerns (More)
> Walgreens shares close up nearly 18% on reports of potential sale to private equity firm Sycamore Partners, marking the highest one-day jump in shares in the pharmacy chain's history (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Franklin Fire near Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, burns over 2,800 acres as of this writing, places 12,500 people under evacuation orders (More) | See live updates (More)
> Suspect in fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson appears in Pennsylvania court for extradition hearing to New York (More) | See profile on the suspect (More)
> Polygamous sect leader—who worked to start an offshoot of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints—has been sentenced to 50 years in prison this week in Arizona for child sex abuse (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> New York Mets sign former New York Yankees superstar Juan Soto to 15-year, $765M contract, the most lucrative deal in sports history (More) | Dave Parker and Dick Allen elected to Baseball Hall of Fame via Classic Baseball Era Committee (More)
> President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Elon Musk among shortlist of candidates for Time magazine's 2024 Person of the Year (More)
> “Emilia Pérez” leads all films with 10 nominations for the 2025 Golden Globe Awards; "The Bear" tops on the TV side with five nods (More) | US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to perform in Broadway musical "& Juliet" this Saturday (More)
Science & Technology
> Nature Magazine releases its annual list of the top 10 people shaping science and technology in 2024; efforts range from AI weather prediction to the detection of fraud in academic papers (More)
> Social forum platform Reddit to test a conversational AI feature, allowing US users to ask questions and curate responses; model trained on years of user-generated content (More)
> Physicists make first-ever observation of the antimatter partner of hyperhelium, using Europe's Large Hadron Collider; study provides insight into first fractions of a second following the Big Bang (More) | The antimatter mystery (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.6%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq -0.6%); investors await tomorrow's release of key inflation data—the consumer price index report (More) | Want to learn about Wall Street, the markets, and everything in between? Sign up for 1440 Business & Finance (Join here)
> Nvidia faces probe in China over possible antitrust violations related to the chipmaker's 2020 acquisition of Israeli tech company Mellanox (More) | Hershey shares close up nearly 11% on reports of Cadbury-owner Mondelez exploring acquisition; Hershey previously rejected Mondelez's $23B takeover bid in 2016 (More)
> Rupert Murdoch loses court bid to change his family’s trust to consolidate his eldest son Lachlan’s control of News Corp. and Fox Corp; the trust currently ensures all four of Murdoch's children have equal say in governing his media empire (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the witness stand for first time in ongoing corruption trial on accusations of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate instances (More)
> Former Marine Daniel Penny acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 New York City subway death of Jordan Neely; jury's decision came three days after a more serious charge of manslaughter was dismissed (More)
> Haitian gang kills over 180 people, mostly elderly, in the capital of Port-au-Prince; gang leader reportedly targeted the group after consulting a voodoo priest who blamed them for giving the leader's son a severe illness through witchcraft (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Los Angeles Galaxy top New York Red Bulls 2-1 to win a record 6th MLS Cup (More) | Inter Miami star Lionel Messi named 2024 MLS MVP (More)
> Taylor Swift ends "Eras" tour with final performance in Vancouver, Canada (More) | The $2.2B tour was the highest-grossing of all time (More) | "Moana 2" tops $600M at global box office, surpassing original film's total haul in 10 days (More) | Steve Mensch, president of Tyler Perry Studios, dies at 62 in plane crash (More)
> The 2024 Kennedy Center Honors recognizes the Grateful Dead, director Francis Ford Coppola, jazz musician Arturo Sandoval, singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt, and New York City's Apollo Theater with artistic lifetime achievement awards (More)
Science & Technology
> New AI-powered brain scans found to be twice as effective as doctors at pinpointing when strokes occurred in patients, providing assessments on how much damage is reversible (More)
> Scientists reveal chemistry in tick saliva enabling insects to form a cement cone around their bite; the process allows them to bind to hosts for days (More)
> Engineers develop biodegradable alternative to microbeads—tiny plastic pellets that pose significant environmental and health risks—used in consumer health and beauty products (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed Friday (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq +0.8%) after November jobs report beat expectations, unemployment rate rose slightly (More)
> Google sues to prevent the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from supervising Google Payment Corp. like a bank; CFPB says Google failed to investigate fraud in its peer-to-peer Google Pay app, meant to rival Venmo (More) | Why did Google discontinue its Google Pay app in the US? (More)
> President-elect Donald Trump names former PayPal Chief Operating Officer David Sacks as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency advisor (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol survives impeachment vote Saturday amid boycott from members of his conservative party; opposition party can reintroduce motion to impeach Wednesday (More) | See previous write-up on the country's six hours of martial law (More)
> Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris holds its first mass in five years following 2019 fire and subsequent $1B restoration (More) | See before-and-after photos (More)
> Ghana ousts ruling party, reelects former President John Mahama; election comes amid cost-of-living crisis following 2022 default on $30B in sovereign debt (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment vote.
The National Assembly is poised to vote Saturday evening local time on whether to impeach Yoon after the conservative president temporarily declared martial law earlier in the week. Yoon's decision was based on the alleged presence of antistate, pro-North Korean influences within the country. Members of Yoon's party and the opposition liberal coalition have pushed for impeachment. See updates here.
Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral reopens this weekend after 2019 fire.
A reopening service will be held tonight for over 1,500 invite-only guests, followed by an inaugural Mass tomorrow. Over 50 heads of state and government are expected to attend. The reopening comes more than five years after a fire in 2019 caused the now-861-year-old landmark's roof to collapse. Public viewing areas for 40,000 spectators will be set up along the southern bank of the Seine.
Appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in US.
A federal appeals court upheld a US law requiring TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the app or face a ban in the US by mid-January. The ruling dismissed TikTok's claim that the law infringes on First Amendment rights, emphasizing the US government's actions aim to protect its citizens from potential foreign adversarial threats. TikTok said it will take its case to the Supreme Court.
Manslaughter charge against former marine Daniel Penny dismissed.
The jury in the trial of Penny had reported Friday they were deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous decision on whether he was guilty of manslaughter in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway. The judge dismissed the manslaughter charge after a request from prosecutors and instructed the jury to consider a lesser count of criminally negligent homicide.
US economy adds 227,000 jobs in November, more than expected.
The nonfarm payroll growth is up from a revised growth of 36,000 in October and beats economist estimates of 214,000 jobs. The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.2% from 4.1%, as expected. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% month-over-month and 4% year-over-year—both 0.1 percentage point higher than expected. See all data here.
Romanian top court annuls presidential election result over interference.
Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential election after intelligence services warned about a Russian influence campaign supporting conservative populist candidate Calin Georgescu. The decision means the entire first round of voting will be redone, with a new date to be set, following concerns about foreign interference and the integrity of the electoral process.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Los Angeles Galaxy take on New York Red Bulls in 2024 MLS Cup Final tomorrow (4 pm ET, Fox) (More) | 2025 FIFA Club World Cup draw revealed; see full preview for the 32-team tournament (More)
> "Scrubs" television series reboot in the works at ABC (More) | HBO's "Harry Potter" television series to begin filming in mid-summer 2025 (More)
> Art Basel, thought to be North America's largest art fair, begins today from Miami Beach; see full preview of events and exhibitions (More)
Science & Technology
> NASA delays mission returning humans to the moon from 2026 to mid-2027, citing a flaw in the heat shield of the crewed landing module (More) | The history of NASA in four minutes (More, w/video)
> OpenAI releases its new o1 large language model; company says it can perform complex reasoning tasks and has 34% lower error rates on advanced problems (More) | Everything you need to know about OpenAI, from its failed coup to becoming the industry leader (More)
> Dietary fructose can promote tumor growth, with the liver breaking down the substance into nutrients used by cancer cells for fuel; estimates suggest fructose consumption has increased 15-fold over the past century (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.6%, Nasdaq -0.2%) ahead of latest jobs report to be released today (More) | Bitcoin retreats from $100K record (More) | Heard about bitcoin but don't know how it works? Click here (More)
> US judge rejects Boeing's guilty plea deal over 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people; judge says appointment of an independent legal compliance monitor should focus solely on competency, not diversity requirements (More)
> Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announces, quickly reverses plan to limit length of time anesthesia can be covered during medical procedures in Connecticut, New York, and Missouri following backlash (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Bullet casings discovered at scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's shooting were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose"; police have released additional photos of the suspect as search for shooter continues (More)
> 7.0-magnitude earthquake off of the coast of Northern California prompts temporary tsunami warnings, evacuation orders (More)
> Democratic Republic of Congo investigates suspected respiratory illness behind at least 71 deaths last month; government says it is on high alert as it awaits laboratory results (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Disney+ integrates ESPN live sports and other select content into its offering, including two new Disney+ exclusive sports studio shows (More)
> Texas, Georgia, and Alabama highlight top 2025 recruiting classes for college football's national signing day (More) | Sports streamer DAZN signs roughly $1B deal for broadcast rights to all 63 matches for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (More)
> Taylor Swift named Spotify's most-streamed artist worldwide for second straight year; The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake, and Billie Eilish round out the top five (More)
Science & Technology
> Drugmaker Eli Lilly reports its weightloss drug Zepbound showed more than 20% reduction in body weight, roughly 50% more effective than rival Wegovy in randomized control trials (More) | See comparison between the two (More)
> Researchers discover brain circuit linked to resilience against stress in mice; findings may lead to new treatments for chronic depression (More)
> Engineers develop new catalyst that efficiently turns methane gas into useful polymers; reaction produces formaldehyde, which can be combined with urea to create a resin found in common consumer goods (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.6%, Dow +0.7%, Nasdaq +1.3%), with all three indexes reaching all-time session highs and closing at records (More) | Bitcoin surpasses $100K in value for the first time; the cryptocurrency has jumped over 45% in value since the US presidential election last month (More)
> Amazon sued by Washington, DC, Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) for allegedly excluding two historically underserved communities from access to Prime's expedited two-day delivery (More)
> General Motors to record over $5B hit to Q4 profit as it aims to restructure an unprofitable joint venture in Shanghai that has lost market share to Chinese manufacturers in recent years (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> South Korea's opposition parties submit motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol following martial law declaration this week; vote could come as early as tomorrow (More) | See previous write-up (More)
> President-elect Donald Trump to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (More) | Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) selected to lead Small Business Administration (More) | Peter Navarro selected as top trade adviser (More) | Jared Isaacman—first billionaire to conduct private spacewalk—chosen to lead NASA (More) | Army veteran Dan Driscoll selected for Army secretary (More) | See list of key appointments and nominations (More)
> Final House race called as Democrat Adam Gray is declared winner of California's 13th District; Republicans to hold five-seat majority (220-215) (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
