Trump's sentencing in hush money case paused indefinitely.
A New York judge removed a Nov. 26 sentencing in President-elect Donald Trump's hush money case while allowing the defense to file a motion to dismiss the case by Dec. 2. Trump was found guilty in May of falsifying business records to cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) says he won't return to Congress.
Gaetz's announcement comes a day after he withdrew himself from the attorney general nomination following renewed scrutiny over allegations of sex trafficking, drug use, and inappropriate conduct with a minor. Gaetz resigned Nov. 13 from Congress on the same day Trump nominated him to serve as attorney general. See our previous write-up here. See a timeline of events here.
Amazon invests additional $4B in OpenAI rival Anthropic.
The new funding brings Amazon's total investment in the artificial intelligence startup to $8B; Amazon remains a minority owner of Anthropic. Anthropic is known for its AI-powered text-generating chatbot Claude 2, which rivals OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Last month, Anthropic revealed a new model of Claude that can perform a range of computer tasks on behalf of a person.
Oldest direct evidence of hot water activity on Mars found.
Scientists have discovered that a 4.45-billion-year-old zircon grain from a renowned Martian meteorite, known as "Black Beauty" (w/photo) and found in the Sahara Desert in 2011, indicates hot water once existed on Mars. The finding suggests the red planet may have had conditions suitable for supporting life in its ancient past.
DirecTV ends deal to buy Dish TV over failed debt swap.
DirecTV was initially expected to buy Dish TV and Sling TV from EchoStar for a nominal fee of $1 plus the assumption of $9.75B of debt. The deal would have created the largest US pay-TV provider with roughly 18 million subscribers total. DirecTV called off the deal because Dish bondholders rejected the proposal.