Paying for early access to Trump's Truth Social could raise big money - and major ethical issues
NEW YORK (AP) — In yet another unprecedented move by America's first billionaire president, Donald Trump may soon be profiting from a new line of business tied to his office: charging access for a first peek at certain posts on his Truth Social platform. His struggling media company plans to sell Wall Street traders the chance to see posts from “highest-ranking” accounts — including possibly his own — milliseconds before others. That could mean big money for them, and Trump. His posts are often important enough to rattle financial markets. Until this moment, presidential policy announcements were considered sort of public property that should be free and available to all at the same time. The White House and Trump's companies all had no comment.
Trump firm plans to sell priority access to Truth Social posts, possibly his own
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's media company is planning to charge for special high-speed access to Truth Social posts, including possibly his own affecting national security and financial markets. The move announced Thursday would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to get news from Truth Social contributors in milliseconds so they can make quick profits off moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates. Called Truth PSI, it would be similar to paid access at other platforms with the difference that the most popular poster is the president himself. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether this is profiting off his office.
US oil firms sign deals with Iraq to develop alternative shipping routes
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies have signed roughly $60 billion in agreements and partnerships with the Iraqi government, including deals intended to create alternative routes for shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf. It’s not clear when the oil deals signed Friday will be able to create viable alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil flows. Goldman Sachs estimates that pipelines in just one country take at least two and a half years to build, and these pipelines would travel through two or more nations.
China's Xi calls for more global efforts to guide AI, chides US for its curbs on tech sharing
SHANGHAI (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for more global cooperation in the development and governance of artificial intelligence, while promising support for other countries. Speaking at a conference in Shanghai, he reiterated China's objections to what he called the “overstretching” of national security concerns. Xi said AI should not be dominated by any single nation. American-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing some of the world's most advanced technologies, intensifying the rivalry between the world's two biggest economies. China plans to provide 5,000 AI training opportunities to developing countries over the next five years. Xi also announced the establishment of AI cooperation centers with various organizations in the developing world.
The sell-off for AI stars worsens, while oil prices keep jumping
NEW YORK (AP) — The sell-off for AI winners deepened and yanked stock markets lower worldwide. The S&P 500 fell 1% Friday to finish its first losing week in the last three and only its third since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.4%. Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the market and briefly gave up its status as the most valuable stock on Wall Street. The worries about whether AI stocks have shot too high dragged down Asian markets even more sharply. Oil prices jumped again on worries about the war with Iran, but longer-term Treasury yields eased.
Netflix posts higher Q2 results but shares drop due to lukewarm forecast
Netflix said Thursday its second-quarter profit grew thanks to new membership signups and price increases. But the company’s shares declined sharply in after-hours trading as the video streaming company’s forecast for the current quarter fell below Wall Street’s expectations. Netflix earned $3.4 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the March-June period. That’s up 9% from $3.13 billion, or 72 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Chinese AI model takes US tech industry by surprise with abilities rivaling Claude and ChatGPT
Another powerful new artificial intelligence model from China is taking the U.S. tech industry by surprise. The Beijing-based startup Moonshot on Friday unveiled its Kimi K3, the latest release from Chinese startups whose “open-source” AI technology is making the California titans of AI sweat. The technology appears to be catching up to the best versions of Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Kimi K3 topped the charts on Arena’s ranking of what it calls “front-end coding capability,” which is one measure of an AI large language model’s performance. The unveiling came shortly before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s opening address to the nation’s annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
FAA says Boeing can resume self-certifying its jets as airworthy
The Federal Aviation Administration says Boeing will be allowed to take responsibility for certifying all of its 737 Max and 787 planes starting next week. The FAA took over 737 Max approvals in 2019, after two crashes were blamed on a new software system Boeing installed. The FAA also ended the company’s right to self-certify 787 Dreamliners in 2022, citing ongoing production quality issues. The FAA said Friday that the agency determined after months of review that Boeing’s final safety checks are adequate to ensure its planes are airworthy. Government oversight will continue with inspectors monitoring production at Boeing factories.
World Cup beer sales are hopping. Brewers hope the stout demand outlasts the tournament
The World Cup has been a bonanza for beer in the United States. Bars in Boston reported needing emergency deliveries to keep taps from running dry on some game days. FIFA says fans downed a total of 290,000 stadium beers during the six matches in Philadelphia. But all that frothy foam obscures a cold reality: Beer sales have been struggling globally for about a decade. Many consumers are cutting back on alcohol for health reasons. Brewers say they're hopeful the World Cup will remind people how much they like to socialize over beer. It’s unclear if soccer’s world championship tournament can reverse the trend despite having three countries as co-hosts this year.
Lettuce at Taco Bell in 5 states confirmed as a source of diarrhea-causing parasite
ATLANTA (AP) — Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served by Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of the widespread outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday confirmed the source and warned consumers not to eat shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Officials have identified a single supplier of the lettuce. The federal warnings to consumers did not identify the company, but Taylor Fresh Foods, of Salinas, California, said FDA testing indicated it was “a specific independent farm” affiliated with the company.
