President Joe Biden issued 39 pardons and commuted nearly 1,500 sentences on Thursday, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in U.S. history. The move affects Americans convicted of non-violent crimes, with the White House citing rehabilitation and contributions to community safety as reasons for the clemency.
On Wednesday, several popular apps owned by Meta, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, experienced outages affecting users nationwide. Reports of disruptions began surfacing around 1 p.m. ET, with the majority of issues concentrated on the mobile apps rather than desktop versions.
Democrat Todd Gloria has officially begun his second term as mayor of San Diego this week. Gloria, who was voted as the city's first person of color and first LGBTQ+ mayor, was sworn in during the City of San Diego’s 75th Inauguration Ceremony at the Jacobs Music Center at Copley Symphony Hall.
MSNBC's flagship morning program Morning Joe is facing a sharp decline in viewership, with ratings down 35% among total viewers and 37% in the key 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. The drop comes after co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski disclosed their controversial meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November.
A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reveals that China may be operating multiple espionage facilities in Cuba to spy on the United States. The report, based on satellite imagery and open-source analysis, identifies four key locations—Bejucal, El Salao, Wajay, and Calabazar—as sites supporting China’s signals intelligence (SIGINT) efforts.
President-elect Donald Trump announced that prominent D.C. attorney Mark Paoletta will return to the White House as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Director Russ Vought. Paoletta, known for his strategic legal prowess, will be instrumental in reversing the course of federal regulations, reducing spending, and implementing reforms recommended by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Queensland government announced Monday that hundreds of virus samples, including dangerous pathogens like Hendra, Lyssavirus, and Hantavirus, are missing from a state laboratory.
