U.S.

Early race counts on election night can sometimes differ sharply from the final outcome. Christine Zhang, our election data reporter, explains the reasons behind red and blue “mirages.”

Both US parties scramble to win young voters via influencer operations. The evidence doesn’t support their efforts In tight races, any group that shifts a few points can be called decisive. In 2024, however, gen Z voters actually earned the spotlight. Take Michigan, where Donald Trump won by about 1.4 points: he and Kamala Harris evenly split the youth vote, a 24-point collapse in the Democratic edge since 2020. If young voters made up just 15% of the state’s electorate, their swing toward the president would be worth roughly 3.6 points, larger than Trump’s entire margin of victory. Alex Bronzini-Vender is a writer living in New York Continue reading...

Hint: He likes them big (and he cannot lie).

Critics say the tech entrepreneur's enormous wealth has given him too much political power. But when stacked up against other notable American moguls, historians say he's not unique.

The post Federal and State Officials Ramp Up Scrutiny of DraftKings, Other Sports Betting Apps appeared first on ProPublica .

The people at the frontlines of the ongoing barrage of AI-enabled cyberattacks are being pummeled with attacks, vulnerabilities and false alarms. Why it matters: Humans are still at the frontlines of a fight enabled largely by AI — and they're struggling to wade through mountains of threat data to determine who's been hit and which attacks pose a real danger to companies. What they're saying: "The last month has been the longest year of my life," Justin Timothy, threat intelligence consultant at GuidePoint Security, told Axios. Even before "Black October," Timothy was already swamped and dealing with hacker gangs that returned from a seasonal summer lull. These groups specialize in ransomware, essentially attacking the networks of an institution and holding it hostage. While AI is playing a role in many new cyberattacks, the ransomware scourge has already been shutting down pipeline systems, hospitals, education software and other essential services for years. It's only expected to get worse this year as powerful new AI systems are amplifying the capabilities of attackers faster than defenders can insulate vast corners of the unprotected internet. The big picture: The people companies call when they're hacked are being swamped, piling onto the persistent burnout that has plagued the industry. Troy Bettencourt, who leads Palo Alto Networks' global digital forensics and incident response practice, told Axios that demand for his team's services has climbed by double digits over the last six weeks. Unlike past surges tied to historically harmful attacks like SolarWinds , this year's workload has been relentless. "It's just a continuous grind that increases," Bettencourt said. The same heavy workload is happening across the industry, and even Palo Alto Networks' incident response subcontractors are at max capacity, he said. Investigations that could once be handled by a single consultant now require teams of five to 20 people, he said. The company is also pulling employe

The roof of a water tower atop a building in Manhattan’s Upper West Side that was home to a family of celebrity barn owls has been removed

Top diplomats from the G20, the group of the world's largest economies, are meeting in Atlanta as they face deep rifts over global crises that threaten international security and trade

A former Massachusetts police detective is being tried on charges that he killed a pregnant woman to hide that he had begun sexually abusing her when she was 15

Five Spanish missionaries are being elevated one step away from sainthood nearly 430 years after they were killed in present-day Georgia

Asian trading is mixed as worries about the future of artificial intelligence grow after Alphabet’s stock drop dragged on U.S. markets

Carolina Panthers 19-27 Green Bay Packers Packers WR has 113 receiving yards despite injury Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes, Josh Jacobs scored twice and the Green Bay Packers withstood three turnovers to beat the Carolina Panthers 27-19 on Thursday night. Love went 30 of 41 for 288 yards with touchdown passes to Tucker Kraft, Matthew Golden and Jacobs plus an interception. Although he rushed for only 39 yards on 21 carries against the NFL’s lowest-ranked run defense, Jacobs scored on a four-yard catch and one-yard run for the Packers (5-3). Continue reading...

Binance halted trading Thursday after hackers allegedly linked to North Korea stole more than $6 billion, the largest crypto hack in history. Why it matters : The attack comes after a wave of high-profile cyber intrusions and data breaches during "Black October," when a series of security incidents and AI -discovered bugs triggered fears of a global crisis. Driving the news: Binance co-founder Yi He said on X that the crypto exchange had suspended deposits and withdrawals. "User funds are safe," she wrote. "Binance will cover all hacking losses." An estimated $6.3 billion were drained from wallets in the incident, Binance said , although the exchange and partners managed to freeze about $3 billion that can potentially be recovered. "This is unprecedented," said Kevin March, a co-founder of JPEG Trading, a cryptocurrency trading firm that closely tracked the hack to monitor market conditions. An initial investigation found linked the hack to a compromised laptop from one Binance engineer. That access allowed an attacker to gain access to Binance's systems to make withdrawals, the exchange said. Zoom in : Researchers from TRM Labs and Pangolin Intelligence found that the attack appeared to be the work of a North Korean hacking collective. "This was absolutely North Korea," Nick Carlsen, a senior TRM investigator, told The Wall Street Journal . Representatives of North Korea have previously denied allegations of hacking crypto exchanges. The country has turned hacking and scams into an industrial-scale scourge, focusing on crypto heists and a widespread practice of tricking Western companies into hiring North Korean workers . A Binance spokesperson said the exchange's security teams are "reviewing all relevant information with urgency." The big picture: If estimates hold up, the suspected Binance hack would be the biggest crypto attack in history. In 2025, North Korea-linked hackers stole about $1.5 billion worth of crypto from the Bybit exchange. Between the lines : C

Two helicopters collided midair near McMinnville Municipal Airport in Oregon, crashing in a field and forcing highway closures as the FAA investigates.

Three people were killed when two helicopters collided midair near an Oregon airport, including a 22-year-old flight instructor and a student pilot. Federal investigators are probing the cause.

Three customers and two employees suffered symptoms after an industrial degreaser was mistakenly used to prepare margaritas at a North Carolina Chili's.

Representative Haley Stevens of Michigan, who was defeated by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in August’s Democratic Senate primary, said she would appear with the candidate this weekend.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) suggested Thursday the state could withhold certification of the U.S. Senate election results if Democrat Mary Peltola wins. Why it matters: Withholding certification could complicate Peltola's path to the Senate, as Republicans investigate allegations that Democrats recruited a candidate with the same name as GOP incumbent Dan Sullivan . Driving the news: Asked during an interview with NewsNation whether he would certify the election if Peltola wins while the matter remains under investigation, Dunleavy stopped short of committing to do so. "We're going to investigate it. We're going to follow the law," Dunleavy said, adding that any findings of illegal conduct "may in fact impact whether somebody is seated in the U.S. Senate." He said the matter would involve discussions with Senate leadership and that officials would need more information before determining "whether we send something down or not." Pressed on why he had not given an unequivocal yes, Dunleavy said: "We're going to ensure that we aren't going to send a scam to Washington." For the record: Peltola has denied any involvement in the alleged scheme. What they're saying: "Dunleavy's threat to overrule the will of Alaskan voters exemplifies what Alaskans hate about partisan politics and shows why he's the least popular governor in the country," a spokesperson for the "Alaskans for Mary" campaign said in an emailed statement Thursday night. "Mary won't be intimidated by Dunleavy, Sullivan, or any of their DC allies who are trying to steal this election from Alaskans before votes are counted — and she's going to win this race by focusing on solutions to Sullivan's price hiking policies and putting Alaska first." The big picture: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is investigating allegations that Democratic operatives recruited another candidate named Dan Sullivan to draw votes away from the Republican incumbent. President Trump accused Democrats and Peltola's

Candidate for Ohio governor confirms campaign no longer airing ad that smeared rival and was defended by Trump Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, confirmed on Thursday that his campaign is no longer airing an attack ad that features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. The ad prompted a wave of revulsion since Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, lost custody of her daughter in 1978, when her second husband, Cledith Arthur, was charged with raping her daughter between the ages of 10 and 12. Continue reading...