The head of the Justice Department’s antitrust unit said Thursday she is leaving the role, effective immediately, at a critical moment for corporate mergers in America. Gail Slater, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Antitrust Division, wrote on X: ‘It is with great sadness and abiding hope that I leave my role as AAG for Antitrust today.’ Slater continued, ‘It was indeed the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role. Huge thanks to all who supported me this past year, most especially the men and women of’ the Department. The White House referred questions to the...
‘Fiction’: House Republican campaign chair dismisses Democrats’ expanding GOP target map
Emboldened congressional Democrats are expanding their battleground map for this year’s midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their razor-thin majority in the House. But the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chairman, Rep. Richard Hudson, isn’t buying it. ‘I mean, I’ve read fiction my whole life, and I recognize it when I see it,’ Hudson said in an exclusive with Fox News. Republicans currently control the House 218-214, with two right-tilting districts and one left-leaning seat currently vacant. Democrats need a net gain of just three seats in the midterms to win back the majority for the first time in...
Cruz targets Minnesota-style fraud with bill requiring proof before federal childcare payouts
: A trio of Republican senators are moving to overhaul how federal childcare funds are distributed after what they call ‘mass fraud’ in Minnesota exposed a system that paid providers before verifying children were ever in the room. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined by senators Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., is introducing the Payment Integrity Act, legislation that would require states to distribute federally funded childcare dollars based on verified attendance, not enrollment claims. ‘Programs in Minnesota for welfare and childcare were designed to channel resources into protecting vulnerable children but were treated like an open ATM by...
Cardi B’s cameo in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show leads to dispute on prediction markets
CHICAGO — Cardi B was part of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. What she did exactly, well, that turned into a perplexing question for two major prediction markets. At least one Kalshi trader filed a complaint with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over how the prediction market handled Sunday’s appearance by the Grammy-winning rapper. The result of a similar event contract on Polymarket also drew the ire of some users on that platform. Prediction markets provide an opportunity to trade — or wager — on the result of future events. The markets are comprised of typically yes-or-no questions called...
Gabbard ends task force that aimed to reform intelligence gathering after less than a year
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she was ending the work of a task force that sought to reform the U.S. intelligence community, including rooting out what she described as the politicization of intelligence gathering, after less than a year since its creation. Gabbard established the group in April, when it was also tasked with probing ways to reduce spending on intelligence and whether reports on high-profile topics such as COVID-19 should be declassified. In a statement on Wednesday, Gabbard said the task force’s work was always intended to be temporary after she was tapped to oversee coordination of...
Retail operator of outdoor sportswear pioneer Eddie Bauer files for bankruptcy
The operator of roughly 180 Eddie Bauer stores across the U.S. and Canada has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming declining sales and a litany of other industry headwinds. The bankruptcy filing marks the third time in a little over two decades for the storied-but-now-tired brand that began as a Seattle fishing shop, later outfitted the first American to climb Mount Everest and made thousands of newfangled down jackets and sleeping bags for the military during World War II. Eddie Bauer LLC said Monday it had entered into a restructuring pact with its secured lenders as it made the...
Trump, Netanyahu to meet at White House in high-stakes talks on Iran, Gaza plan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in a visit expected to center on Iran, as Washington weighs diplomacy against the threat of military action and Israel pushes to shape the scope of negotiations. Trump has signaled the Iranian file will dominate the agenda. In a phone interview with Axios, the president said Tehran ‘very much wants to reach a deal,’ but warned, ‘Either we make a deal, or we’ll have to do something very tough — like last time.’ Netanyahu, speaking before departing Israel for Washington, said he intends to present Israel’s...
Landmark trial accusing social media companies of addicting children to their platforms begins
LOS ANGELES — The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Opening statements for the first, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, begin this week. Instagram’s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube will face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums. “This was only the first case — there are hundreds of parents and school districts in the social media addiction trials that start today, and...
As Ukraine war drags on, Trump hits Putin by squeezing Russia’s proxies
President Donald Trump vowed to impose ‘very severe consequences’ on Russia in 2025 if it didn’t commit to a deal to end its war on Ukraine. As the war nears its four-year anniversary in late February, national security experts tell Fox News Digital that Russia is facing tangible consequences for the war. Those are through its network of proxy countries that have directly endured the might of the U.S. military and subsequently left Russia with fewer streams of revenue and resources, they say. ‘The President’s moves as it pertains to Russia are really strategic,’ Morgan Murphy, who previously served as...
The world’s top nuclear powers have no arsenal limits, here are the countries with nukes
For the first time in decades, the world’s two largest nuclear superpowers are no longer bound by any treaty limiting their arsenals. The last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia, known as New START, expired Thursday. The lapse removed limits on how many nuclear weapons Washington and Moscow could deploy on missiles, bombers and submarines, and ended the requirement that both sides notify one another whenever nuclear weapons were moved. The scale of what’s now unconstrained is vast. Globally, there are more than 12,200 nuclear weapons spread across nine nuclear-armed nations, according to a recent analysis....