America’s Dark Eagle Hypersonic Weapon Details Revealed

China’s economic slowdown

Dark Eagle hypersonic weapon

Jimmy Lai convicted

Retail sales rose just 1.3% year over year, the weakest pace since 2022 and the sixth straight month of slowing growth.

Industrial production growth edged down to 4.8%, signaling softer factory output.

Fixed-asset investment fell 2.6% through November, one of the steepest pullbacks on record.

Property investment slid 15.9%, while average home prices in major cities continued to decline.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump said he is leaning toward nominating Kevin Warsh or Kevin Hassett to lead the Federal Reserve. (WSJ)

Trump administration forecasts robust economic growth in 2026, fueled by tax cuts, rising wages, lower inflation, and deregulation. (AX)

Bessent expects Americans to receive "very large" tax refunds early next year due to retroactive provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (FBN)

Associated Press pushed a misleading narrative claiming holiday shoppers face persistent inflation woes, ignoring poll data showing improved consumer sentiment and declining price-noticing trends since 2022. (BN)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: BRICS nations are accelerating de-dollarization by stockpiling gold and launching a prototype gold-backed trade currency to challenge U.S. financial dominance. (BNE)

Helion Energy offered the first public glimpse of its Polaris nuclear fusion prototype, aiming for direct electricity generation by 2028. (CM)

House of Representatives voted 213-184 to pass a bill that aims to speed up federal permitting of interstate natural gas pipelines. (INV)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: OCC approved national trust banking charters for crypto firms Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets, and BitGo. (CD)

JPMorgan Chase launched My OnChain Net Yield Fund, a tokenized money-market fund on Ethereum seeded with $100 million. (WSJ)

UK plans to bring crypto assets under the same regulatory framework as traditional financial products by 2027. (TB)

North Korean hackers have stolen more than $300 million in crypto by luring victims into fake Zoom calls. (CN)

Army officials disclosed that Dark Eagle has a range of roughly 3,500 kilometers, putting targets in mainland China within reach from Guam.

The boost glide weapon can travel at speeds above Mach 5 and maneuver unpredictably through the atmosphere, making interception far more difficult than with traditional ballistic missiles.

Dark Eagle can reach targets in under 20 minutes and is designed to strike air defenses, command centers, and sensor networks.

"We scare the hell out of the Chinese with this (MRC) because we keep it over in the Philippines and Japan. Keeping them moving around the indoor paycom," said a U.S. military official.

Production is currently about one missile per month, with plans to scale to two per month as the Army works to build credible combat mass.

After years of delays and testing concerns, the Army still aims to declare the system operational by the end of fiscal year 2025.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Scientists unveiled V2P, an AI tool that predicts diseases likely triggered by specific DNA mutations, accelerating diagnostics and precision medicine for rare conditions. (SCI)

Google unveiled upgraded Gemini Deep Research agent, enabling developers to integrate advanced capabilities for due diligence tasks like synthesizing vast information and processing large context prompts. (TC)

Washington Post launched an error-plagued AI podcast tool "Your Personal Podcast" despite internal tests revealing widespread inaccuracies and bias. (SEM)

DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis declared "transformative" AGI is on the horizon, reiterating his prediction of human-level AI by 2030. (AX)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Tesla began testing unoccupied Model Y robotaxis on Austin streets using Full Self-Driving software, advancing toward broader unsupervised operations. (IEV)

Unitree Robotics launched the world's first humanoid robot app store, allowing smartphone-based customization. (IE)

Saudi Arabia's King Faisal Specialist Hospital completed the world's first fully robotic intracranial tumor surgery. (TER)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: NASA's MAVEN orbiter mysteriously went silent after passing behind Mars, prompting an investigation by mission teams. (TWC)

NewsNation got an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look how the U.S. Army is accelerating AI integration in training and command systems to counter advancing military technologies from China (NN)

Under Secretary Emil Michael said he aims to cultivate five additional defense firms—beyond Anduril, Palantir, and SpaceX—to deliver breakthrough capabilities, spotlighting Planet Labs, Neros Tech, and Hadrian. (SOR)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: PolyAI, developer of AI-powered voice assistants for enterprise call centers, raised $86 million in a Series D round co-led by Georgian. (TEU)

Patent law startup Solve Intelligence raised $40 million in Series B funding led by 20VC. (PF)

Prime Security, an AI startup automating security design in software development, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Scale Venture Partners. (AX)

A panel of government-approved judges found Lai guilty of colluding with foreign forces and publishing seditious material, charges that carry a potential life sentence.

Lai, founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily, has been jailed since 2020 and held for long periods in solitary confinement as his health has deteriorated.

Prosecutors argued Lai used journalism and international outreach to undermine Beijing, while his defense said the case criminalizes speech and political opinion.

The trial was held without a jury and closely watched by the U.S., U.K., EU, and press freedom groups as a test of Hong Kong’s judicial independence.

Media and human rights organizations say the ruling signals that dissenting journalism itself is now treated as a national security threat.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: UK Communities Secretary Steve Reed faces mounting backlash over a proposed redefinition of Islamophobia, with critics warning it risks curbing free speech. (TEL)

Canada and EU are advancing a digital partnership on interoperable digital identity wallets, raising privacy concerns. (RTN)

Actress Jenny McCarthy credited Charlie Kirk with inspiring her and husband Donnie Wahlberg to devote their lives to Jesus Christ following his assassination. (TPM)