Murdoch stepping down: Rupert Murdoch, who is 92 years old, is stepping down from his role as leader of Fox and News Corp. In a memo to employees, Murdoch wrote that his son Lachlan Murdoch will move up to become sole chairman of both Fox and News Corp. Murdoch created his media empire beginning in Australia. He expanded to include newspapers and television stations in other countries including the U.S. His purchase of Metromedia Broadcasting in New York City launched what developed into Fox Broadcasting and grew to include Fox News. Murdoch bought the New York Post and Wall Street Journal and fashioned them into journalistic properties that reflected his strongly conservative political views.
AI maker sued: A group of 17 authors is suing the maker of the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT for copyright infringement. The suit against OpenAI was filed in federal court in New York and was organized by the Authors Guild. The lawsuit charges that the artificial intelligence program has been designed to steal copyrighted material in systematic theft on a massive scale. An example cited is the artificial intelligence program taking material from George R.R. Martin’s “A Book of Thrones” and using it in a new work the AI program created and gave the title “A Dawn of Direwolves.” Author John Grisham is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Paxton has plans: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he may challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in 2026. Paxton has been acquitted by fellow Republicans in the Texas legislature in an impeachment trial. Paxton had been charged with corruption and the impeachment was an effort to remove him from office. Only two Republican state senators voted to convict Paxton. The FBI is believed to have opened an investigation into the alleged corruption.
Venezuelans: U.S. Homeland Security says it is granting Temporary Protected Status to approximately 472,000 Venezuelans who are in the U.S. illegally. That will allow them to legally go to work in the U.S. An estimated 7.3 million people have fled Venezuela for other countries in recent years due to political, economic and social upheaval. New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul welcomed the move by Homeland Security saying it will allow the migrants to begin supporting themselves and help ease a growing financial burden on state and local governments.
Zelenskyy in Washington: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House today marks the third time he has been there for talks. President Biden has been preparing a new $24 billion military aid package to help Ukraine defend itself from the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy’s schedule included time to lobby Congress for approval of the new U.S. aid. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he wouldn’t commit to more aid for Ukraine until he saw a plan for Ukraine’s victory in the war.
Interest rates: The Bank of England today announced it is not going to raise interest rates after about two years of successive rate hikes designed to control inflation. The Bank of England’s move today follows yesterday’s decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to hold interest rates steady for now. However, the Fed hinted it might put through one more quarter-point rate hike before the end of the year.
