United States: Information

Hillary Clinton testified for six hours before a House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein. She said she had no information about Epstein or his crimes and called the questioning repetitive and political theater. Other developments included the resignation of the World Economic Forum's chief over Epstein ties and Bill Gates apologizing to his foundation's staff for his relationship with Epstein. A report found dozens of FBI records, including interviews with an alleged Trump accuser, were missing from the Justice Department's public release of Epstein files. In the United Kingdom, King Charles's brother Andrew was arrested and released in connection with the Epstein probe. New Mexico reopened an investigation into Epstein's ranch, and several universities faced protests over faculty members' ties to Epstein.

This is a collection of separate news stories about major technology companies like OpenAI, Meta, Google, Apple, and SpaceX. The headlines show these firms are dealing with a mix of intense competition, new government scrutiny, and internal challenges all at once. - **AI Competition and Strategy**: OpenAI is pushing into enterprise services with consulting partners, but faces internal dissent over adding ads to ChatGPT and struggles with a major computing project called Stargate. Google is launching new AI models like Gemini 3.1 Pro and a music model called Lyria 3, with executives warning that some AI startups may not survive. Meta made a major deal with AMD for AI chips worth over $100 billion. - **Legal and Regulatory Pressure**: Meta and Google are defendants in a major U.S. trial where they are accused of engineering addiction in young users; Mark Zuckerberg testified. Apple is being sued by West Virginia and faces a warning from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over alleged bias in its Apple News service. OpenAI is under scrutiny in Canada after a mass shooter had concerning interactions with its chatbot. - **Political and Business Moves**: Trump's campaign is criticizing Apple News and seeking commitments from tech executives to cover data center costs. Elon Musk merged his AI company, xAI, with SpaceX, proposing futuristic plans like data centers in space. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed California to use a new congressional voting map that favors Democrats.

President Trump has directed all U.S. government agencies to immediately stop using artificial intelligence technology from the company Anthropic. This order follows a public dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over the military's use of the company's AI models. The Pentagon had demanded that Anthropic allow the military to use its AI without the safety restrictions the company had built in. When Anthropic refused, the Pentagon moved to designate the company as a supply-chain risk. Trump's order bans federal agencies from using Anthropic's technology. Anthropic has stated it will not change its position on AI safety. The company's Claude AI assistant recently rose to the number two spot in the App Store following the news of the dispute.

Donald Trump posted and later deleted a video on his social media platform that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The racist content sparked widespread outrage and condemnation from multiple quarters.

The FBI is involved in two separate controversies. In Georgia, the agency seized 2020 election ballots from Fulton County, and new documents show the action was driven by election deniers making debunked claims. The county is going to court to demand the records be returned. Separately, FBI Director Kash Patel is facing questions about his travel after appearing at a celebration with the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team. This has invited fresh scrutiny over whether the trip was appropriate.