Connect with us

Published

on

Republicans in the House of Representatives have approved a new rules package that will gut the Office of Congressional Ethics. The measure will force out three of the four Democrats currently serving on the office’s board of directors and will severely limit the office’s ability to hire new workers, including investigative staffers. Another provision in the new rules package allows a single lawmaker to force a vote on ousting the speaker of the House. It was a concession made by newly minted Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to win the support of far-right members of his party. Democrats also warned that McCarthy appears to have struck informal agreements with fellow Republicans. This is Massachusetts Democratic Congressmember Jim McGovern.

Continue Reading

World

New round of Hamas hostage releases announced as Israel agrees to let Palestinians return to northern Gaza

Published

on

By

New round of Hamas hostage releases announced as Israel agrees to let Palestinians return to northern Gaza

Hamas will release another round of hostages on Thursday, including Arbel Yehoud, after agreeing with Israel that displaced Palestinians will be allowed back into northern Gaza from Monday.

As well as Ms Yehoud, who was expected to be released yesterday, two more hostages including soldier Agam Berger will be released, according to the office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Three additional hostages will also be released on Saturday under the new agreement.

Hamas also gave the government a list showing the status of all hostages due to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire.

In return, displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza will be allowed to travel back to northern areas.

Israel will also give Hamas a list of 400 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons who have been arrested since 7 October 2023, according to a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Huge crowds await return to northern Gaza after delays

Tens of thousands of people were blocked from returning to northern Gaza after Israel refused to open checkpoints because it said Hamas had breached the ceasefire agreement.

Israel had insisted that Ms Yehoud be released on Saturday because she is a woman, a civilian and alive, and therefore should have been in the top category of hostages freed, according to the agreement.

When she wasn’t, the checkpoints remained closed.

Although Ms Yehoud wasn’t released, four Israeli female soldiers were reunited with families and 200 freed Palestinian prisoners were greeted as heroes in the West Bank.

Palestinians waiting to return to northern Gaza were frustrated by the weekend’s delays.

“A sea of people is waiting for a signal to move back to Gaza City and the north,” said Tamer al Burai, a displaced person from Gaza City.

“This is the deal that was signed, isn’t it? Many of those people have no idea whether their houses back home are still standing.

“But they want to go regardless, they want to put up the tents next to the rubble of their houses, they want to feel home,” he told the Reuters news agency via a chat app.

Continue Reading

Technology

Perplexity AI revises Tiktok merger proposal that could give the U.S. government a 50% stake

Published

on

By

Perplexity AI revises Tiktok merger proposal that could give the U.S. government a 50% stake

Photo illustration of TikTok app logo on a smartphone screen displayed with the American flag.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Perplexity AI on Sunday revised the merger proposal it had submitted to TikTok parent ByteDance. The proposal, which would create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok U.S., would now also allow for the U.S. government to own up to 50% of the new company upon a future IPO, CNBC has learned.

A proposal document viewed by CNBC, which was shared with ByteDance and prospective new investors, detailed the creation of a new U.S. holding company, “NewCo.”

The document proposes ByteDance contribute TikTok U.S., minus its core recommendation algorithm, in exchange for the company’s existing investors receiving equity in the new company. Perplexity AI would offer itself up in exchange for its own investors receiving a distribution of the NewCo equity.

Money for the merger would come from “new third-party capital provider(s) (to be mutually agreed upon),” per the proposal document, which would provide capital for a “one-time dividend payment to ByteDance investors in exchange for simplified governance” and to help the new entity grow.

Perplexity AI, the artificial intelligence search engine startup competing with OpenAI and Google, started 2024 with a roughly $500 million valuation and ended the year with a valuation of about $9 billion, after attracting increasing investor interest amid the generative AI boom — as well as controversy over plagiarism accusations. Investors have viewed AI-assisted search as one of Google’s key risks, as it potentially changes the way consumers access information online.

Last year, OpenAI, which started the generative AI craze in late 2022 with ChatGPT, introduced a search engine called SearchGPT. Google later launched “AI Overviews” in search, allowing users to see a quick summary of answers at the top of results.

The proposed new structure would allow for most of ByteDance’s existing investors to retain their equity stakes and would bring more video to Perplexity, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC earlier this month. And although ByteDance has publicly implied it will not sell TikTok U.S., that’s part of why Perplexity AI believes it has a shot with its bid — since the deal would be a merger rather than a sale, the source added.

Under the revised proposal, the U.S. government could own up to half of the new structure once it IPOs at least $300 billion, according to the source.

A fair price is “well north of $50 billion” but the final number attached to the proposal will be decided, in part, by which of ByteDance’s existing shareholders want to remain part of the new entity and which want to cash out, according to the source.

Though any potential transaction between Perplexity AI and ByteDance would likely take months to complete, President Donald Trump has so far temporarily restored TikTok in the U.S. and suggested plans that would involve an American stakeholder purchasing the company and then selling a 50% stake to the U.S. government. In a video posted to TikTok earlier this month, CEO Shou Zi Chew said, “I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States.”

Perplexity is one of multiple companies and individuals vying to be the one to purchase or merge with TikTok, which reportedly include Microsoft, Oracle and potentially Elon Musk. On Saturday, President Trump said he would likely have a decision on the app’s future in the U.S. in the next 30 days.

Continue Reading

Sports

Sources: Penn St. finalizing deal for DC Knowles

Published

on

By

Sources: Penn St. finalizing deal for DC Knowles

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is finalizing a deal to become the new defensive coordinator at Penn State, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

Knowles is expected to agree to a three-year deal that will average $3.1 million per season, which will make him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football. He is believed to be the first coordinator in college football to make a base salary of at least $3 million.

Knowles made a base salary of $2.2 million last season, and his compensation got close to $3 million with bonuses in the wake of Ohio State’s national title run. The Buckeyes extended an offer to Knowles, sources told ESPN, that would have made him the highest-paid coordinator in the country, ahead of Michigan‘s Wink Martindale and LSU‘s Blake Baker, who are both set to earn $2.5 million next season.

Knowles also received interest from Notre Dame and Oklahoma, sources told ESPN.

He led Ohio State to the No. 1 defense in the country this past season, finishing first in total defense and scoring defense at just 12.9 points per game. The Buckeyes were No. 3 in run defense and No. 3 in passing yards allowed.

The move marks a significant maneuver within the Big Ten, as Penn State returns a sizable core of its College Football Playoff team from 2024 and should be considered among the favorites for the national title next season.

Knowles will have some key players to work with. Defensive lineman Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant will be linchpins, along with cornerback A.J. Harris and linebacker Tony Rojas.

The return of quarterback Drew Allar and tailbacks Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, along with a strong offensive line, will be the root of Penn State’s preseason optimism for 2025.

Knowles, who will replace new Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Allen, is a veteran coordinator who worked at Duke from 2010 to 2017 and Oklahoma State from 2018 to 2021. Knowles has been at Ohio State since 2022, with this past season’s unit representing his best work. Ohio State is expected to have eight players from that 2024 defense drafted, including the entire starting line.

The Philadelphia native has had an unusual path through the sport, as he played at Cornell and began his coaching career at the Ivy League school in the late 1980s. He worked as Cornell‘s head coach from 2004 to 2009, going 26-34, before becoming the defensive coordinator at Duke.

He is coming off strong back-to-back seasons at Ohio State, as the Buckeyes finished No. 2 nationally in scoring defense in 2023.

Ohio State will be on the hunt for a new coordinator. The Buckeyes will return three starters from their national title defense, with all three set to be decorated in the preseason.

Safety Caleb Downs earned first-team All-Big Ten honors and will be among the top prospects for the 2026 NFL draft. Linebacker Sonny Styles is set to emerge as a top prospect after winning second-team all-conference honors, and cornerback Davison Igbinosun is a two-time honorable mention All-Big Ten performer who is returning with the goal of becoming a first-round pick.

Continue Reading

Trending