Category: Hot News

Erin Moriarty —Earl Gibson III—Deadline/Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - Post-birth-control syndrome. Bipolar disorder. Anxiety disorder. Clinical depression. Chronic fatigue. An intestinal parasite. Burnout. IBS.These were among the possible conditions my doctors suggested before identifying the true one. In my heart, I felt none were accurate. Yet as my condition worsened, my confidence in my own judgment wavered. I required clear thinking to champion my own care, all while suffering from a sickness that clouded that very ability. I learned the painful lesson that a woman lost in the medical system is seldom believed.Women are frequently conditioned to question the seriousness of our own suffering. I was no different.Just as my faith in my own body was crumbling, I was on screen embodying a character celebrated for her toughness and stamina. On *The Boys*, a popular series that employs superhero tropes to critique fame, politics, and authority, I portray Annie January, or Starlight. She stands as one of the few genuinely heroic figures on the program. The role of Annie has held profound significance for me. However, during the filming of our cherished last season in 2025, I lost touch with her. I lost myself.The effects of my undiagnosed condition drove a wedge between me and the character I had dedicated years to developing. My memory began to falter. My own body seemed foreign. My emotional availability, a trait I've always guarded and prized as a performer, grew harder and harder to summon.It started quietly around September 2023, when I was 29: an exhaustion that seemed unwarranted by my schedule. Roughly two years later, that fatigue became debilitating. I started sleeping through alarms. On days off, I would sleep for 19 hours or longer without waking. Past mood swings returned with greater force. Weakness and numbness in my hands and feet made walking feel unsafe. I developed heart palpitations and constant urinary discomfort. Yet the most alarming sign was the mental deterioration. My short-term memory declined to such a degree that memorizing basic dialogue turned into a struggle—a horrifying prospect when you are on set.Autoimmune disorders seldom present identically from one person to the next. The specific cluster of symptoms I endured isn't found on tidy online checklists, which only amplified my profound disorientation and dread.In time, my physicians sent me to a neurologist. By then, I was bracing myself for the chance I might be dying. The agony was so immense that the thought of death seemed like a possible respite. The prospect felt less frightening than the idea of existing in that condition forever.These health struggles descended as I was shooting the last season of *The Boys* and under more public scrutiny than ever before. I was enduring the physical torment of a chronic illness in full view. Managing it privately is emotionally taxing enough, but to have my physical state become a subject of public speculation, minimization, and dismissal was crushing.My symptoms continued for years without explanation. Then, in May 2025, as I was at work completing the final season, my endocrinologist emailed me a single line: “WE HAVE AN ANSWER!! I CAN HELP YOU!!” This message followed weeks of tests and specialist visits, ending with an antibody test that provided the definitive answer: Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by an overactive thyroid. That day marked a rebirth for me. Not because everything was instantly cured, but because it finally imposed order on the chaos. It gave a name to the suffering of years. It provided an answer.Yet even the correct diagnosis and subsequent care could not undo the trauma of the search. On August 1, 2025, months into treatment, I was admitted to a hospital after a serious mental health breakdown. Ironically, my hospitalization did not occur at the peak of my sickness, but in its wake. The early relief I felt as treatment took effect gradually transformed into a different realization: an awareness of how detached from my own self I had been for the prior two years. I had been hormonally imbalanced, mentally compromised, and psychologically adrift for so long that getting better did not bring tranquility. It brought stark awareness. And for me, that awareness came laden with sorrow. Sorrow for the lost time. For what the disease had stolen from me in my career, my creativity, my relationships, my psyche. I lived at least two years physically there but mentally inaccessible. The weight of my grief was so intense that I briefly doubted my ability to bear it. Autoimmune illness is not confined to the physical body. When your hormones, nervous system, mental sharpness, sleep, and self-perception are disrupted for a prolonged period, the psychological fallout is not a side effect. It is integral to the disease.Treatment has restored much of my physical and emotional self, but the path to recovery has been far from straightforward. It has been an ongoing lesson in heeding my body's signals rather than silencing them. I once defined strength as the capacity to endure. My sense of self was tied to powering through weariness and pain, staying productive at all costs. But endurance is not synonymous with wellness. Self-sacrifice does not equal resilience. I used to believe strength meant emerging from difficulty unscathed. Now, a year into treatment, I believe it means permitting hardship to transform you.What has compelled me to discuss my experience with Graves' disease so candidly is the knowledge that none of this should have felt so alienating or surprising. Yet illnesses that primarily impact women continue to be downplayed, misjudged, or sensationalized. Silence carries a cost. So does a lack of understanding. Therefore, staying quiet is no longer a choice I can make.I hope that openly sharing the details of my symptoms might help someone recognize their own illness sooner than I did. The body whispers long before it shouts. Tune in to those whispers before your body is compelled to scream so loudly that everyone else can hear it, too. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

—da-kuk—Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - When a tornado is imminent or a severe blizzard is predicted, a governor’s responsibilities are clear. You activate the emergency operations center. You strategically deploy resources. You coordinate efforts with local first responders. You communicate transparently with the public. You do not question the reality of the storm, nor do you abandon citizens to cope alone. When governors foresee an emergency, preparation is essential.The impending AI-driven transformation of the workforce represents an approaching storm—man-made, yet equally impactful. This time, the repercussions will not be measured by downed power lines or unplowed roads. Instead, they will manifest as widespread layoffs, diminished tax revenues, and Americans of all ages struggling to find employment. And just as with blizzards and tornadoes, the states that are most prepared will emerge the strongest.Significant changes are required to navigate this forthcoming disruption: our tax policies, our social safety nets, and our economic development strategies. However, nothing is more critical than our post-secondary education system. Universities, community colleges, and workforce training programs are the avenues through which American workers acquire the necessary skills for gainful employment. In an AI economy, this system functions as our emergency preparedness infrastructure. Should it fail, everything else will follow. This is where we must begin, with state leaders taking the initiative.After all, workforce systems operate at the state level. Education is a state responsibility. Governors, legislative leaders, and superintendents of public institutions possess the authority to convene employers, college presidents, and workforce boards to demand alignment. They control the licensing regulations, the funding mechanisms, and the tax incentives that genuinely influence behavior. Furthermore, they can act within a single legislative session, while partisan gridlock may stall Washington for another decade. If this constitutes an emergency—and it does—states are the primary responders.Let’s begin with a stark assessment. Annually, the federal government allocates approximately $112 billion to higher education, state and local governments contribute another $150 billion, and American households spend an additional $210 billion out of their own pockets. Concurrently, student debt has surged to $1.7 trillion, and a study by the Burning Glass Institute and Strada Education Foundation revealed that half of recent college graduates are employed in jobs that do not require their degree.The outcome: a diminishing number of Americans believe a college degree is worth its expense.If our current system was inadequate before the advent of AI, it poses a profound vulnerability in an AI-infused economy.The encouraging news is that we already possess considerable knowledge about effective solutions. There is robust evidence supporting approaches such as employer-informed curriculum design, apprenticeships, and short-cycle, stackable credentials. Research from the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that apprenticeships boost earnings by nearly 50%. A RAND study found that over 70% of students who accumulated credentials over time while working achieved a middle-income wage within six years.If AI impacts the labor market as experts anticipate, millions of American workers will need new skills within this decade. However, pilot programs will not suffice. They are the policy equivalent of stacking sandbags while a hurricane rages along the coast.So, how do we address this immediate crisis comprehensively?Firstly, we must forge strong connections between employers and educators. Employers are the first to observe which tasks AI is automating within their own businesses. They have real-time insight into which roles are disappearing, evolving, and emerging. This intelligence should directly inform the curricula of community colleges and universities, rather than being filtered through infrequent, ceremonial advisory boards.Secondly, we must fund outcomes, not merely enrollment. For decades, many state funding formulas for higher education have compensated schools for filling seats without guaranteeing results. This practice must cease. Institutions that successfully graduate students into stable, AI-resilient jobs should be rewarded. Programs that prepare students for declining occupations must adapt.These are not politically divisive concepts. Governors from both Republican and Democratic parties have implemented them. In 2023, Texas enacted legislation that linked 95% of state community college funding to measurable outcomes—such as credentials earned, transfers completed, and placements in high-demand fields. After one year, Texas community colleges demonstrating results received an additional $43 million in funding. In Colorado, the Opportunity Now program, launched three years ago, has allocated $89.5 million in grants to employer-education partnerships and has already placed over 8,000 workers in well-paying jobs.I must acknowledge a personal perspective here. As governor of Indiana, I initiated a program that utilized industry input to identify high-demand sectors, subsequently assisting workers in training for jobs in those fields. Since its launch in 2017, the program has supported over 33,000 Hoosiers through tuition-free Workforce Ready Grants.That foundation is now being significantly bolstered by a remarkable development. In late 2025, the Lilly Endowment committed up to $500 million to its Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Initiative—representing the largest private philanthropic investment in AI-readiness within American higher education. Thirty-five Indiana institutions have already secured planning grants to assess employer needs, revise curricula, and develop AI-native programs.This is the kind of strategic shift and momentum every state now requires. This is what AI preparedness entails: programs that leverage employer insights, investment on an unprecedented scale, and state and university leaders working in unison.Here is what I would advise my fellow governors: declare AI workforce preparedness a state priority with the same gravity as disaster preparedness. Establish a council with employer co-chairs. Revamp your higher education funding formula to prioritize outcomes. Mandate active employer input on curriculum as a condition for state funding. Utilize state grants, tax incentives, and matching funds to encourage employers to invest. Advocate for these measures to both legislative bodies and philanthropic organizations.I spent eight years as governor observing workers, employers, and schools struggling to keep pace with accelerating technology. And I come from a region of the country that has witnessed the consequences when economic change outpaces public institutions. The Midwest was not alone when policies made manufacturing offshoring irresistible, displacing nearly three million workers, while the nation did far too little to help them transition to new livelihoods. The lesson for states was clear: those that invested in workforce readiness were better positioned to attract new industries, while those that did not are still striving to catch up. The impending disruption could affect a much larger population. This time, the disparity between the prepared and the unprepared will be even greater.This is precisely why state leaders must prepare now—before the storm fully descends. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Eli Lilly & Co.’s global headquarters in Indianapolis —Jetcityimage via Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - Eli Lilly has announced promising findings for the first weight-loss drug that targets three relevant hormones, unlike existing GLP-1 medications which only act on one or two. In an official press release, the firm stated that its investigational injectable treatment retatrutide enabled overweight or obese individuals to shed as much as 28% of their body weight across an 18-month period, when compared to participants given a placebo.This level of weight loss is comparable to the results typically seen with bariatric surgery, according to Kenneth Custer, Lilly’s executive vice president and president of the company’s cardiometabolic health division.These latest findings build on earlier data for retatrutide from trials involving people living with both obesity and diabetes, which demonstrated the medication helped participants lose 16.8% of their body weight relative to the placebo group, alongside reducing their blood glucose levels. The recently concluded trial excluded participants with diabetes, in order to specifically measure the drug’s efficacy for treating obesity on its own.The new trial evaluated three different doses of the once-weekly injectable drug. Participants randomly allocated to the lowest 4 mg dose lost roughly 19% of their body weight over the study timeline when compared to the placebo cohort. That weight loss level is comparable to what people achieve after roughly one year on the highest available dose of Zepbound (tirzepatide), another weight loss drug from Lilly. Zepbound acts on two weight-regulating hormones, GLP-1 and GIP, while retatrutide targets both of those plus an additional hormone, glucagon.The data surrounding retatrutide, which has not yet received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), prompts questions about what role each of the expanding number of medications in this class will play in obesity care, and if some may eventually become obsolete. These treatments are available both as injectables (including Wegovy and Zepbound) and oral formulations (such as the oral Wegovy pill and Foundayo). Side effects are a key consideration for people selecting a weight loss medication, and while all drugs in this class carry gastrointestinal side effects including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, some users experience more intense symptoms on specific treatments than others. In the recent trial, roughly 11% of participants on the highest retatrutide dose discontinued use due to side effects, a rate nearly identical to the dropout rate seen in Lilly’s prior tirzepatide trials. Real-world research indicates the actual discontinuation rate may be marginally higher, at around 15%.Another critical consideration is the extra health advantages patients may get from these medications. For instance, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy is approved not only for weight management, but also to reduce risk of cardiovascular events and liver disease, while Zepbound has approval for lowering sleep apnea risk. Both pharmaceutical firms are continuing to investigate their products for other possible health benefits, including for kidney health, arthritis, and substance use disorders. Custer noted that Lilly is carrying out additional trials on retatrutide to gain a clearer picture of whether this triple-action drug offers other health benefits as well.He added that Lilly is also running a head-to-head comparison of tirzepatide and retatrutide, with results expected in late 2026 or early 2027. Those findings will help clinicians and patients determine which treatment option is the best fit for their needs. “At this point, both medications look set to be core treatments for obesity going forward,” he stated. “We have no issue with competing against our own products.” This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Spencer Pratt, a candidate running for Los Angeles Mayor, took part in a meet-and-greet event in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood on May 16, 2026. —Etienne Laurent—Los Angeles Times via Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - Want to gauge how fed up voters are right now? Look to California, where former reality show villain Spencer Pratt is actually within striking distance of winning a nomination for Mayor of Los Angeles. In his version of this deeply online campaign script, he casts himself as the hero coming to save the day—literally, sporting a Batman-styled cape in one viral video and Luke Skywalker-level sword skills in another.In one of those only-in-politics twists, the MAGAverse is rallying behind 42-year-old registered Republican Pratt, hoping he can become the next mayor of America’s second-largest city, a sort of West Coast counterpart to New York’s Zohran Mamdani. Yet their support could actually end up locking in re-election for the deeply unpopular incumbent, Karen Bass.For those who don’t know or may have forgotten, Pratt is the former lead of *The Hills*, a groundbreaking MTV reality show from the early 2000s. More recently, after his family’s home burned to the ground in last year’s Palisades wildfires, he launched a mayoral campaign that has gained traction in a heavily online echo chamber where outrage and celebrity are the main currency, and political experience is strangely seen as a drawback. Does this sound familiar? It should. This is the Trump playbook, right down to a media strategy designed to drive mainstream voters crazy.By any measure, this is an unusual race that could test just how eager for change the electorate really is. If a candidate pulls off the long shot and wins 50% of the vote on June 2, the race ends immediately. More likely, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff on Nov. 3, when California will also hold elections for dozens of congressional seats and pick a replacement for Gov. Gavin Newsom. That means Bass could end up facing one untested, blunt-spoken celebrity in a runoff, in a city that hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since Bill Clinton was president—and where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 4-to-1 margin. What could make things easier for Pratt in the first round, and for Bass in the runoff? The exact same event: an endorsement from the former reality show host who twice ran this same successful playbook of trolling and blunt insults to win the White House. This Wednesday, Trump all but gave Pratt that endorsement: “I’d like to see him do well,” the former president said of Pratt. “He’s a character. I heard he’s a big MAGA person.”The Bass campaign is almost certainly thrilled. Before Pratt started gaining ground, the race was expected to narrow to Bass and City Council member Nithya Raman, who still has a shot at beating Pratt to make the runoff. Establishment Democrats are unsure of the outcome if Raman faces Bass in the runoff. But they have no doubt that Bass will win if Pratt ends up in a head-to-head race against her, they openly crow.Back in March, Emerson College polling found that a majority of the electorate—51%—was undecided. That number dropped to 16% this month. Bass grew her support from 20% to 30%. But Pratt boosted his share from 10% to 22%, while Raman climbed from 9% to 19%.But here’s another telling statistic: Trump holds a 74% disapproval rating in Los Angeles.It’s no surprise that Los Angeles voters are looking for change. Many remain outraged by 72-year-old Bass’s response to the wildfires that destroyed entire neighborhoods of the city, and are broadly frustrated with her policies on homelessness, immigration and crime. At 44 years old, Raman falls between Bass and Pratt in terms of age and political experience. Pratt’s selling points are far more visceral. “Everyone’s angry. All genders. All races,” Pratt said after the only debate so far. “It’s the most crazy, tense time we’ve ever had.”Pratt surprised even his critics at that debate with a performance full of clever comebacks, a clear argument that an outsider is needed to clean up Bass’s messes, and an optimistic vision aligned with the “Make LA Entourage Again” hats seen at campaign events. This is part of why some major corporate leaders are now backing Pratt. But much like Trump, Pratt reaches voters by leaning into spectacle, most notably viral videos—many of which look like they are A.I. generated. To put it bluntly, they are far from what you’d expect from a mayoral candidate. In one of the most popular clips, a Batman-esque crusader crashes a gathering of Democratic elites led by a Joker-styled Bass. He leads an uprising of other frustrated Angelenos to throw tomatoes at Bass, Newsom and Kamala Harris. (For extra shock value, the ad includes a crude mockery of transgender rights.)In another, leaning into Star Wars themes, Pratt duels Bass with a lightsaber while Harris and Newsom scheme to take control of the world.Pratt says he wasn’t involved in creating these videos or fan fiction. But he has definitely amplified them on social media alongside his own steady stream of provocative online content, including one ad that claims “Stay the course with Karen Bass” as homes burned during the wildfire.At the same time, Pratt has taken to handing out insulting nicknames, just like that reality TV star did in 2016. Instead of “Crooked Hillary,” we now have “Mayor Basura,” a crude mix of the Spanish word for garbage and the incumbent’s last name. And of course, matching campaign merchandise is available for sale on his website. But just like Trump, Pratt knows how to read what voters care about. The top issues on Angelenos’ minds are the economy—including jobs, taxes, and inflation—at 31%, followed by housing affordability at 25%, according to Emerson College polling of likely primary voters. For some L.A. voters, Pratt addresses these issues more clearly than his opponents.In interviews and public appearances, Pratt brands himself as an anti-establishment activist—not just a celebrity whose home burned in the Palisades fire, which sparked his frustration with city services. On the ballot, he lists his occupation as “community advocate.” When asked about his qualifications, he has a snappy answer: “I’m no longer a reality star. I’m the only candidate living in reality.” But there’s also the flash of arrogance that long-time fans of The Hills will recognize when he compares himself to Barack Obama, who rose from community organizer to the White House: “He and I have the same experience.”It’s a far easier argument to compare Pratt to the president who came after Obama. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

—Amr Bo Shanab—Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - During my everyday strolls around Silicon Valley, I have observed a minor yet constant pattern: whenever a greeting occurs, I am nearly always the person who starts it.This does not mean the locals are cold. In fact, the area is populated by considerate, motivated, and highly charitable individuals. However, much like myself, they are often distracted—absorbed in their own thoughts, professional tasks, or the silent pressure of resolving their current challenges.I recognize this expression because I often have it too. On multiple occasions, people have mentioned passing me on the levee without me even noticing them. Not long ago, a person asked if I was the one walking while preoccupied and making hand movements resembling a hand jive. Indeed, it was me, lost in the Grease soundtrack.Still, despite being so self-absorbed, I feel a natural urge to offer a greeting.This habit comes from my parents. For decades, they resided in a Southern California town where they were the sole Chinese family for a long distance. Given that isolation, they could have easily remained isolated, but they chose otherwise. They are naturally welcoming people. Even now, in their eighties and nineties, they readily chat with unfamiliar faces—be it an Uber driver, a store clerk, or someone waiting beside them in a queue.Their chats start with basic questions like, "How are you doing? How long have you been driving?" Yet, these exchanges occasionally develop into deeper interactions, where personal stories and brief moments of connection are shared freely. While my parents wouldn't use modern terminology like "seeing" someone, that is precisely what they achieve. They are genuinely, if briefly, recognizing the presence of another human being.Lately, this practice seems to be fading.I cannot claim to understand the precise reasons for this shift. Some causes are clear: individuals are rushed, distracted, or careful. In a bustling metropolis like New York, greeting everyone you pass would make walking down the block impossible, and being cautious is often justified. However, I am not referring to packed walkways or potentially risky situations. My focus is on the calmer, transitional moments—like a walk after dinner, waiting for a coffee, or any brief encounter where a simple hello is bypassed.Not long ago, I visited a smaller town roughly an hour away, where life moves slower and the social atmosphere is slightly different. In that community, residents actually greet one another. They might even stop to chat, mention the weather, or compliment a dog that does not even belong to you. On one occasion, a passerby paused to sincerely tell me I was "rocking those bangs." At my age, when having bangs feels more like a risky experiment than a fashion choice, I was incredibly thankful for the compliment.While not a major event, it is highly apparent. Throughout the day, you start to realize you are walking through an environment where people actually notice each other.This experience made me reflect on how communities are truly formed—not through massive efforts, but through fleeting, everyday interactions. It is built not by grand statements, but by the gradual buildup of minor acknowledgments that eventually form a strong, meaningful bond.During the creation of my latest book, I grew intrigued by mycelial networks—the expansive subterranean pathways through which fungi link whole forests, enabling trees to share resources and data. This reveals that a forest is not just a group of separate trees, but an interconnected, communicative system kept alive by hidden bonds.I have begun to question whether we have undervalued the human version of this network.A simple greeting is neither a full discussion nor a promise. It requires only a brief moment of eye contact and a single word. Yet, it serves as a sign that says: I see you; you are not ignored. Individually, it appears insignificant, but collectively, it functions like infrastructure—acting as the societal roots that support our community, which we might only appreciate once they disappear.In the digital world, animosity seems to be everywhere. Social platforms highlight the most aggressive, furious, and dogmatic opinions, making it seem as though society is entirely polarized and every exchange could lead to a fight.Yet, when I shut my computer and step outdoors, I realize that the majority of people do not fit this description. Most are just regular individuals thinking about dinner plans, an overlooked email, or an awkward comment from days ago. They live their lives harmlessly, often showing more kindness than we expect.However, meaningful bonds do not form automatically. If we stop practicing these minor gestures of recognition, they will eventually fade away.Are we growing more afraid of each other, or have we simply become better at ignoring those around us and avoiding eye contact?I continue to go on my walks. I still frequently get lost in my own mind, sometimes making a fool of myself by dancing to music only I can hear. Nevertheless, when I snap back to reality, I make an effort to look up, observe the people around me, and offer a greeting—even if it seems uncalled for or a bit uncomfortable.Greeting someone carries a minor risk, but it is also a gesture of trust—an assumption that the stranger walking by is not a danger, but simply a neighbor you have not yet introduced yourself to.Recently, that seems like a risk well worth taking. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., during the Google I/O Developers Conference in Mountain View, California, US, on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. —David Paul Morris—Bloomberg(SeaPRwire) - For countless users, Google's search box serves as the internet's main entrance. Its straightforward design has defined online navigation for almost thirty years and fueled the company's rapid ascent.This foundational tool is now poised for a fundamental overhaul to deeply integrate artificial intelligence.On Tuesday, the company declared it will "completely reimagine" the search bar with AI, labeling it the most significant update in over a quarter-century.This shift could redefine internet usage and information access, potentially upending numerous sectors that depend on search traffic to attract customers.The technology news outlet TechCrunch reported on the update under the headline: "Google Search as you know it is over."Although an "AI Mode" already exists, Google will now run the entire search bar on its new Gemini 3.5 Flash model.Moving beyond the traditional list of blue links, Google Search will also produce a tailored page featuring an AI-generated summary of the query. This will initiate a conversation with AI Mode directly on the results page, enabling follow-up questions—a layout reminiscent of ChatGPT's interface.In a blog post detailing the change, the company stated this new model will assist users in crafting queries with suggestions that "go beyond autocomplete." It will also allow searches using not only text but also uploaded images, files, videos, or Chrome tabs as inputs.The new search could disrupt industriesTechnology analysts indicate the updates may profoundly alter search and internet habits."It’s not hard to imagine a future where, someday, Google just makes everything happen in one universal search box," writes tech reporter Jay Peters for The Verge following Google's announcement."Google doing everything also means a lot of the web that Google relies on collapses under it," he continues. "Google may not care — it increasingly seems to just want a search bar that can do it all, no matter the cost."When Google initially introduced AI-assisted results, news publishers cautioned of "catastrophic" consequences for an industry heavily reliant on Google search to direct visitors to their sites.Last year, news sites experienced substantial traffic decreases as chatbots became a primary method for finding websites and posing questions, displacing traditional Google search.Small businesses similarly observed reduced site traffic from Google, a long-standing source of customers.Lily Ray, vice president of SEO strategy & research at digital marketing firm Amsive, cautioned last year that Google's intended search modifications are "going to have a devastating impact on the Internet.""It will severely cut into the main source of revenue for most publishers and it will disincentivize content creators who rely on organic search traffic, which is millions of websites, maybe more," she told Technology Magazine.Agents will work in the backgroundAdditional enhancements will transform the user search experience, including a novel method to integrate AI by requesting "information agents" for ongoing updates on topics like new apartment listings."You could send an alert to track market movements in a particular sector with very specific parameters, and the agent will map out a monitoring plan for you, including the tools and the data it needs to access — like our real-time finance data," announced Liz Reid, Google's head of Search, at the Google I/O 2026 developer conference. "It will then keep track of those changes and let you know when the conditions are met, and provide a synthesized update with links and information you can dive into further."Google also introduced an AI agent named Gemini Spark, capable of performing tasks in the background after a user closes their laptop or phone.The growing infusion of AI into Google Search signals a transition in internet search mechanics—an activity increasingly delegated to AI agents acting on human instruction, rather than performed directly by people.The shift has been profitable for GoogleAt the conference, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reported that the company's AI Overviews now exceed 2.5 billion monthly active users, while the Gemini app has expanded to 900 million monthly active users—evidence of the company's efforts to rival AI competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI.According to Similarweb, Gemini now represents over 25% of generative AI traffic, a jump from 7% the previous year.Google and its parent Alphabet have invested billions in AI development; Pichai stated the company anticipates capital expenditures of roughly $180 billion to $190 billion in 2026, concentrated on AI infrastructure and chips.For its most recent quarter, Google announced advertising revenue increased nearly 16% year-over-year to $77 billion. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

—Nadezhda Buravleva—Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - Earlier this year, I visited San Francisco’s spectacular Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum with my sister. We had a wonderful time, but my sister lives with a chronic autoimmune condition that limits how long she can stand and walk. So after roughly an hour, we made our way to the lounge area and settled in, only to quickly realize we were not welcome there.Lung congestion is one symptom of her condition, which causes regular coughing fits. One of these fits hit right as we sat down. To several people nearby, her coughing spasms were clearly an offensive imposition.At first, we only received judgmental sidelong glances. Then a few people began shifting restlessly while glaring, wordlessly making their frustration clear. Finally, after my sister had been coughing heavily for around three minutes, one man stood up, stared at us with obvious anger on his face, and stormed off. The unspoken message was clear: being unwell in public was shameful, a rude affront to others.We picked up on the hostile energy and left right away.The brief embarrassment from that afternoon faded quickly, but the widespread belief that being sick is a personal failing has far broader consequences. When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims that “it’s very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person” (a statement that is misleading at best), many people interpret this to mean that anyone who suffers severe outcomes from measles is at fault for their own condition. “We see a correlation between people who get hurt by measles,” he said, “and people who don’t have good nutrition or who don’t have a good exercise regimen.”The idea that each individual is responsible for their own well-being is far from new. Illness has long been viewed as a reflection of a person’s character, and even their moral values. But when Kennedy suggested that exercising and avoiding junk food will protect people from the worst effects of measles, he unfairly shifts blame onto those who do become seriously ill from the disease. This line of thinking also pushes the narrative that each person is fully in control of their own health fate, and that eating well and exercising are almost all that is needed to avoid sickness.It is a very small step from that mindset to the extremely dangerous attack on public health being waged by Kennedy and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement he leads: the anti-vaccine crusade that threatens U.S. acceptance of one of the world’s most impactful life-saving inventions.Naturally, Kennedy did not originate the idea that good health is proof of a well-lived life. The belief that people with healthy lifestyle habits can easily fend off disease stretches back through the entire history of medicine. In 1721, London and Boston faced concurrent large-scale smallpox outbreaks. A small group of pioneering medical practitioners responded with variolation: a process where material from the sores of already infected people is scratched into the skin of volunteers who have not yet contracted the disease. This early form of vaccination was far from risk-free, but it worked for most people who received it.For opponents of the practice, however, this approach reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of why people get sick. The Reverend Edmond Massey, delivering a sermon in the middle of London’s outbreak, summed up the core of these objections. Massey told his congregation that smallpox was God’s way of forcing sinners to “examine themselves for what cause this evil is come upon them.”A smallpox infection was seen as a window into a person’s soul; people believed sin had caused each person to fall ill, which meant that repentance was the only path to possible recovery. Boston’s city leaders subscribed to this belief, and in late June, they called for a city-wide day of penance and fasting to address the outbreak.Predictably, the smallpox virus was completely unaffected by these acts of piety. In Boston, roughly 300 residents chose to try the new variolation procedure. Only six of these people died during the epidemic. But more than half the city’s population – around 5,900 people – skipped variolation and contracted the disease. At least 850 of them died as a result.Over the next two centuries, however, even as explicit religious justifications for this view became less common, the core belief remained unchanged: health was a moral choice, achieved by adopting the right lifestyle habits. Naturally, this meant that if someone did get sick, it was a sign of personal failure. For example, consider the comments made by Walt Whitman, a very unexpected early wellness influencer, in his 1858 series titled “Manly Health and Training.”Whitman shared a wide range of unusual health advice: avoid ketchup, eat rare beef, maintain “a cheerful and gay temper during and immediately after meals,” among other tips. But he echoed the same core messaging that modern health influencers push on the key question of what causes illness. “The cause of disease,” he wrote, “is bad blood, often hereditary, more often from persistence in bad habits.” In his view, there was no need to rely on conventional medicine, since “the great requisites of health being good air, proper food, and appropriate exercise.”Henry Lindlahr, one of the most influential naturopathic writers of the early 20th century, argued that vaccinations turned “the human body a swill pot for the collection of all sorts of disease taints and poisonous antiseptics and germicides.” By contrast, he claimed good health could be achieved via natural remedies and “by cultivating the right mental attitude.”The belief that good health is purely a matter of willpower has always been an appealing idea, as it gives people the sense that they have full control over their own outcomes. But this is an illusion. No amount of positive thinking or healthy eating can stop all illnesses from causing potentially life-threatening harm. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Mourners gather outside the funeral service for Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a victim of the Bondi Beach mass shooting, at Chabad of Bondi on December 17, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. —Jeremy Piper—Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - On the evening of December 14, an unthinkable tragedy unfolded.Rabbi Eli Schlanger, my personal rabbi, organized a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Bondi is where Eli’s Chabad synagogue is based, and it has been a peaceful, idyllic haven for Jewish people since the early 1900s. Jewish restaurants and social clubs sit side by side with tattoo parlors, Italian pizza shops, and stylish boutiques. It draws visitors and residents from every corner of the globe, and it was Eli’s home neighborhood.For 18 years, he ran the beloved annual “Chanukah by the Sea” gathering. It was the quintessential Eli event—families came together, united in joy and prayer, to celebrate the festival of light. It aligned perfectly with Eli’s purpose and mission; he often said, “I want the whole world to light up with the Jewish flame.”Against today’s backdrop of vicious antisemitism, he was well aware that being openly and identifiably Jewish in a public space carried some risks—so much so that he arranged for both police coverage and extra security for the event. But when I once asked him if he feared being an open, proud Jew, he simply said, “When they hate us, we don’t hide, we don’t cower, we become even more Jewish.”Witnesses report that at roughly 6:41 p.m., two gunmen opened fire. Eli had just posed for a photo after helping another person with their tefillin, and just a minute or so later, he was dead.That day, I had been attending a lunch with friends. This prior commitment kept my husband Rowan and me from attending the Bondi ceremony, and it almost certainly saved our lives. At 7:00 p.m., in the lunch group chat, we were all messaging back and forth to thank the hosts when Katrina, one of our lunch guests who works as a journalist, sent a text: “Gunshots at Bondi Beach. Lots of sirens and helicopters on the way.”Before I could even process the words, my stomach sank, and I screamed down the stairs to Rowan, “A shooting at Bondi... Eli.”We rushed to turn on the television. Rowan, ever his calm self, tried to soothe me, saying, “Surely it’s not him, don’t jump to the worst conclusions, Eli will be okay,” but I was already shaking, and tears streamed down my face.Moments later, Katrina texted again: “Nine dead apparently. Menorah lighting ceremony. Attack on the Jewish community.”Even with no confirmation of who had been killed, I wrote in the group chat: “Oh God that could be MY rabbi.”Just an hour earlier at lunch, I had been telling my friends about the joy Eli brought to my life, and they were captivated by what I shared.By 8:00 p.m., I received a message from a friend in the Melbourne Jewish community. She sent a photo of Eli alongside the headline: “Breaking News. Rabbi Eli Schlanger has been identified as one of the victims in the massacre at a Chanukah event on Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.”My husband and I fell into each other’s arms. Rowan’s body trembled as he buried his head in my shoulder. I wailed like a wounded animal, my body collapsing under the heavy weight of grief.I barely slept that night, but when I woke up the next morning, I knew for certain that Eli’s legacy—his mission to bring light and love to the world—would not die with him. Through all our hours of conversation, he had already prepared me to be his torch-bearer.Rowan and I attended Eli’s funeral. The Honorable Chris Minns, Premier of New South Wales, was there, along with other politicians and a huge crowd of friends and family. Through a veil of tears and deep pain, Eli’s father-in-law Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, the chief rabbi whom Eli assisted at the Bondi Chabad Centre, spoke to the coffin during his eulogy. “Eli, from the moment you married Chaya you became a son to us as much as she is our daughter. And you became everything to me—my hands, my head, my heart, my feet,” I remember him saying. “I relied on you for everything. You’re my son, my friend, my confidant.”Rabbi Eli Schlanger was only 41 years old when he was gunned down mercilessly, senselessly by terrorists. During their shooting spree, carried out with high-powered hunting weapons, the two men killed 16 people and injured at least 40 more. Among the dead were a 10-year-old girl and an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. Eli’s two-month-old baby was injured in the attack, suffering a severe shrapnel wound to his leg. Chaya, Eli’s wife, also sustained shrapnel wounds to her back.I feel incredibly lucky to have known Rabbi Eli Schlanger. He left behind a beautiful young wife and five wonderful children. Their baby will never get to know his father.To me, Eli was a Jedi knight. His lightsaber was the love he radiated. Filling the world with joy was his raison d’être, his fuel and his compass. Eli cultivated a place within himself where his light merged with God’s, and every person who met him felt it instantly. I felt it. Everyone did. And it was as magnetic as the sun pulling planets into its orbit.Eli would hate for me to dwell on sadness; in fact, he would only want me to focus on the light. May his memory be a blessing.This excerpt was adapted with permission from CONVERSATIONS WITH MY RABBI: Timeless Teachings for a Fractured World by Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Nikki Goldstein. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Former President Raul Castro arriving for an International Workers' Day event at Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Square in Havana, Cuba, on May 1, 2026. —Ramon Espinosa—AP(SeaPRwire) - The Trump administration is anticipated to announce official charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro on Wednesday, representing a clear escalation of pressure on the island's government.Reports indicate that Castro's federal indictment will be disclosed during a memorial service at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, timed to coincide with Cuba's Independence Day. Anonymous sources close to the probe told NBC News that a grand jury approved the indictment after reviewing evidence.Expected attendees at the ceremony include Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia, Florida Senator Ashley Moody (R), and other dignitaries.The indictment strategy, initially reported by CBS News last week, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump considers potential military options in Cuba. Trump has frequently linked Cuba to Venezuela and Iran, two nations where the U.S. military has intervened this year.Charging the 94-year-old Raúl Castro, brother of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, follows the recent forced extradition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. on charges of narco-terrorism and cocaine importation conspiracy.The prospective indictment of Castro seems to align with a broader campaign by the Trump administration to pressure Cuba into submitting to U.S. demands. Trump has placed tariffs on nations exporting oil to Cuba, worsening a chronic energy crisis that has triggered widespread blackouts and food shortages. Furthermore, his administration has enacted new sanctions against Cuban officials and organizations, and Trump has even suggested a "friendly takeover" of the island, which he claimed he would be "honored" to lead.“It’s a country that really needs help,” Trump remarked regarding Cuba on Tuesday.Havana has consistently resisted Washington's pressure tactics. On Monday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the U.S. government on social media, stating: “We will continue to denounce, in the firmest and most energetic way possible, the genocidal siege that seeks to strangle our people.”Who is Raúl Castro?Alongside his older brother Fidel, Raúl Castro helped overthrow the U.S.-supported government in Cuba, steering the nation toward a communist revolution. Starting in 1959, Castro spent nearly five decades as the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, consolidating his control over the military and the nation while building a loyal following known as Raulistas.During his time as minister, Castro helped repel the 1961 U.S.-backed invasion attempt at the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the southern coast of Cuba.Castro became acting president in 2006 when Fidel became ill, officially assuming the presidency in 2008. He served until 2018, when he was succeeded by Díaz-Canel. Although he stepped down as head of the Communist Party of Cuba in 2021, he remains a highly influential figure in the country's politics.What is the indictment supposed to be about?While the precise charges have not been disclosed, a Miami Herald report from May 15 indicates that the indictment of Castro will stem from the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based humanitarian organization. At the time, Castro was serving as defense minister. The group, established by Cuban exiles, primarily patrolled the waters between Florida and Cuba to locate refugees.On February 24, 1996, three aircraft carrying members of the group entered airspace near the 24th parallel. Cuban military forces shot down two of the three planes, resulting in the deaths of four men, while the third plane, carrying the organization's leader, managed to escape.Cuban officials have defended the action. Speaking to TIME in 1996, Fidel Castro stated that the decision to shoot down the aircraft was made after the group repeatedly dropped anti-government leaflets over Havana urging his overthrow. “We instructed the armed forces that we would not tolerate it again,” Fidel Castro said.In 2001, Gerardo Hernández, the leader of a Cuban espionage ring, was convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to commit murder related to the downing of the planes and received a life sentence. However, in 2014, Hernández was sent back to Cuba in a prisoner exchange under President Barack Obama. A Cuban air force general and two pilots were also indicted for murder but were never brought to trial.The incident drew immediate condemnation and swift action from then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, who signed the LIBERTAD Act, codifying the economic embargo against Cuba into law.In a February 2026 letter to the President, a group of lawmakers, including Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (R, Fla.), urged the Department of Justice to pursue an indictment against Raúl Castro for the shootdown.The next month, Florida's Attorney General announced the reopening of a state-level investigation into the 1996 event.The ceremony scheduled for Wednesday is dedicated to honoring the four victims of the 1996 incident. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Rep. Thomas Massie conducts a news conference outside a Department of Justice office on Monday, February 9, 2026, after reviewing unredacted portions of the Jeffrey Epstein files. —Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc—Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - In Kentucky, Representative Thomas Massie has been defeated in the Republican primary for his congressional seat by Ed Gallrein, a challenger who received President Donald Trump's endorsement. This outcome signifies a victory for Trump, highlighting the considerable sway he holds within the Republican Party.The Associated Press declared the winner of the race on Tuesday evening.Massie, who has represented Kentucky's fourth congressional district since 2012, faced what he characterized as the most difficult primary of his career. President Trump launched persistent and strong criticisms against him, and in an unusual move, even sent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to campaign for Gallrein leading up to Tuesday's election.Massie became a primary target for Trump's efforts to unseat Republican opponents in the primaries before this year's midterm elections. This was due to the maverick congressman's frequent disagreements with the President on significant foreign and domestic policy matters.Massie was instrumental in advocating for the complete release of government documents pertaining to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also voiced strong opposition to and voted against Trump's signature "One Big Beautiful Bill," criticized U.S. financial aid to Israel, and has been a firm opponent of Trump's military actions in Iran.Gallrein, a farmer and former Navy SEAL, was endorsed by Trump in October, prior to entering the race. In the spring, Trump publicly praised Gallrein as a "true American hero" during an event in northern Kentucky, stating, "He’s a great patriot, and he’s doing it because he saw what this guy was doing to our country."Gallrein closely aligned his campaign with Trump, presenting himself as a staunch supporter. At a campaign event in Kentucky on Thursday, he told attendees that he stands "100% behind the President and what he is doing to turn our nation around." On Monday, he emphasized the critical importance of supporting the President, stating, "there has never been a more important time to stand behind our President."Meanwhile, Trump has been outspoken in his public criticism of Massie. In March, speaking at a warehouse in Hebron, located in the heart of Kentucky's fourth district, the President declared Massie "disloyal to the Republican Party" and "disloyal to the people of Kentucky." He added, "And most importantly, he’s disloyal to the United States of America, and he’s got to be voted out of office as soon as possible!”Despite Trump's attacks, Massie has remained resolute. At an election event on Monday, he stated, "They’ve tried to turn me into a villain. The more they try to punish me, the more powerful I get."Gallrein declined multiple invitations to debate Massie and opted not to attend events where both were scheduled to speak. Massie has frequently pointed out these absences. The retired Navy SEAL defended his decision to forgo debates, telling voters recently, "I’m debating him every day. I’m talking right to the American people, just like the president does, with no middleman."The primary contest was one of the most financially intensive in the nation's history, with over $32 million spent on advertisements, according to AdImpact. A significant portion of these advertising funds was contributed by pro-Israel or Trump-aligned organizations aiming to unseat Massie.Trump's endeavor to remove another Republican opponent, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, also proved successful days before the Kentucky primary. Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment and has long been a target of the President's anger, lost his primary race on Saturday. Louisiana Representative Julia Letlow, who had Trump's backing, and another candidate advanced to a runoff.Earlier this month, challengers endorsed by the President also achieved significant victories in state legislative primaries in Indiana, defeating several lawmakers who had opposed Trump's push for mid-cycle redistricting.Gallrein is anticipated to win the general election in November in the district, which is reliably Republican. The Cook Political Report classifies the seat as "Solid Republican," indicating it is among the least competitive races this year. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Vice President J.D. Vance takes questions from reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on May 19, 2026. —Heather Diehl—Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - Following the Trump Administration’s launch of a new $1.776 billion fund to compensate individuals it claims were targeted by the “weaponization” of government, top officials declined on Tuesday to exclude payments to some Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police officers during the violent attack on the Capitol.In response to repeated inquiries during a White House briefing about whether individuals convicted of attacking law enforcement officers during the riot would be eligible for compensation, Vice President J.D. Vance stated that the Administration would evaluate applications from defendants linked to the Jan. 6, 2021 siege on the U.S. Capitol on a “case-by-case basis.”“I don’t rule things out categorically when I know nothing about a person’s individual circumstances,” Vance said. “We do have people who are accused of attacking law enforcement officers. That doesn't mean that we're going to completely ignore their claims.”He added that while the Administration is “not trying to give money to anybody who attacked a police officer,” his willingness to consider such claims reflects another step in efforts to rehabilitate the image of the Jan. 6 rioters. “We’re trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them, they were mistreated by the legal system,” he explained.Earlier that day, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche provided a similarly open-ended answer during a Senate hearing when asked if members of groups like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers could qualify for payments from the new fund. “Anybody in this country can apply,” Blanche said, noting that a commission would establish eligibility rules. “The commission will set the rules. That’s not for me to set.”The remarks highlight how the Trump Administration has sought to reframe the largest criminal investigation conducted by the Justice Department under the Biden Administration as emblematic of political persecution. The rioters themselves—including those convicted of violent assaults on police officers—have been portrayed by the President as patriots, political prisoners, and victims of a corrupt justice system.On his first day back in office, Trump issued sweeping clemency to nearly 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, pardoning most defendants outright and commuting the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy. This clemency extended not only to low-level offenders accused of trespassing or disorderly conduct but also to those who had assaulted officers using baseball bats, bear spray, flagpoles, crutches, and other weapons.More than 600 defendants were accused of assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers during the riot, and nearly 175 were accused of using dangerous or deadly weapons.The violence on Jan. 6 unfolded after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Trump’s 2020 election defeat. Rioters smashed through windows and police barricades, overwhelmed officers, and forced lawmakers to flee or take shelter. Investigators spent years analyzing thousands of hours of surveillance footage and digital evidence to identify participants in the attack. Trump has repeatedly characterized Jan. 6 as a “day of love” and argued that those prosecuted were persecuted rather than fairly tried.Even before Trump granted blanket clemency to the rioters in 2025, Vance had expressed mixed views about violent Jan. 6 offenders. In a Fox News interview, he stated that anyone who assaulted a police officer on Jan. 6 “obviously” should not receive a pardon.“If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned, and there's a little bit of a gray area there, but we're very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law,” he said. “And there are a lot of people, we think, in the wake of January the 6th who were prosecuted unfairly. We need to rectify that.”Now, as vice president, Vance is declining to eliminate the possibility that some of those same defendants could receive taxpayer-funded compensation.“I’m not committing to giving anybody money or committing to giving no one money,” he said Tuesday.The newly established fund—officially named the “Anti-Weaponization Fund”—was announced Monday as part of an agreement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. According to the Administration, the fund aims to compensate individuals harmed by “weaponization and lawfare” by the federal government and to provide financial settlements or formal apologies.The figure attached to the fund, $1.776 billion, appears intended as a reference to the year of American independence.Blanche, who previously served as one of Trump’s personal defense attorneys, described the fund as necessary because “the machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American.”The arrangement has faced fierce and widespread criticism, including from ethics watchdogs and former Justice Department officials. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island called the arrangement “an obvious abuse of power” during Tuesday’s hearing, accusing the administration of creating a system in which Trump’s appointees could direct federal funds toward individuals aligned with the President.Critics have also raised concerns about the unusual structure of the settlement itself. By dropping his lawsuit against the IRS, Trump avoided judicial review of a formal settlement agreement and instead negotiated with officials within an administration he now leads. The fund will be overseen by a five-member commission appointed by Blanche, though these members may be removed by Trump.To date, the Justice Department has not released detailed standards outlining who qualifies for compensation or how claims will be evaluated. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Elon Musk arrives to court on April 30, 2026 in Oakland, California. —Benjamin Fanjoy—Getty Images(SeaPRwire) - On Monday, a jury in Oakland took less than two hours to reach a unanimous verdict dismissing Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. Throughout the trial, Musk had described it as the good fight to prevent Altman from “stealing” OpenAI, which was established as a nonprofit organization. However, others viewed it as a more calculated move. “It’s too late now to gin up something to harm a competitor,” said OpenAI’s lead lawyer, William Savitt, during his opening arguments.In 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman and others, motivated by concerns that powerful future AI systems would be developed by Google and controlled by other billionaires. He launched xAI in 2023 following a dispute over control of OpenAI.Musk had sought from the court to reverse OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit entity, which the company completed late last year, and to return approximately $150 billion to the nonprofit. Such a decision would have been “catastrophic” for OpenAI, according to Charlie Bullock, a senior research fellow at LawAI, and would have “sent shockwaves through the global economy.”The jury’s ruling that Musk waited too long to file the lawsuit—beyond the three-year statute of limitations—is only the latest setback for Musk and xAI. Rather than bolstering xAI’s standing in the industry, the trial largely highlighted its various shortcomings. In February, Musk’s SpaceX acquired xAI, with the AI company reportedly valued at around $250 billion—far below OpenAI’s most recent valuation of $852 billion. More than 50 employees subsequently left for competitors such as Meta and Thinking Machines Lab. Downloads of Grok, the company’s flagship chatbot, have declined by 60% since January. And fewer than 1% of Grok users had a paid subscription, compared to roughly 6% of ChatGPT users who say they pay for the upgraded product. “xAI is currently falling behind in the AI race,” Peter Wildeford, head of policy at the AI Policy Network, told TIME.Musk’s sworn testimony on April 30 delivered another blow to his AI company’s credibility. The xAI CEO appeared to admit on the stand that xAI “partly” trains its models using outputs from OpenAI’s models and suggested that “all the AI companies” do the same by training on competing models’ outputs. While Chinese AI firms, which lag behind frontier AI companies’ models by about eight months, have faced accusations of this practice, there is no evidence that other Western frontier AI labs engage in it. Grok trails OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5.5, by roughly five months, based on data from Epoch AI, an AI research institute. It would be "pretty surprising" if OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google DeepMind were training on competing models' outputs, Wildeford noted.Outside the courtroom, xAI was taking steps that further weakened its position in AI model development. On May 6, xAI announced that Anthropic would assume full responsibility for all compute capacity at Colossus 1, a facility xAI had already abandoned in favor of its newer Colossus 2 data center. Musk had previously referred to Anthropic as “woke” and “evil,” but reversed his stance after the deal was revealed. “Everyone I met [at Anthropic] was highly competent and cared greatly about doing the right thing. No one triggered my evil detector,” he wrote on X.The fact that xAI is leasing out its computing resources to another AI company signals insufficient demand for its models and indicates that the firm “doesn’t know exactly what to do with those data centers,” Nathan Calvin, general counsel at Encode AI, an AI advocacy group, explained. “That’s clearly not good for xAI.”If xAI falls behind in the race to develop advanced AI models, Musk could still benefit from the AI boom by supplying computing power to other AI companies. Colossus 1 was constructed in just 122 days, showcasing xAI’s capability in building large-scale infrastructure. Anthropic has “expressed interest” in renting orbital computing capacity from SpaceX.SpaceX, now including its new AI division, is reportedly preparing for an IPO on June 12, potentially valuing the company at $1.75 trillion. But shifting focus away from developing AI models themselves would represent yet another blow to Musk—both financially and personally. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.