Will China Make the Pacific the Next Battlefield?

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon quietly carved out two Washington, DC zip codes from being serviced by its fastest Prime delivery service with its own branded trucks, outsourcing deliveries to slower services like UPS and the Postal Service, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb alleges in a new lawsuit. The alleged decision led to about 48,000 Prime members living in two zip codes east of the Anacostia River receiving fewer benefits than they were actually paying for (at $14.99 a month or $139 a year), according to Schwalb. The neighborhoods that were allegedly affected include majority-Black and low-income areas. But even when customers noticed and complained about the slower delivery times, the AG alleges, Amazon “misled the consumers to believe it was a coincidence.” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel tells The Verge in a statement that Amazon changed how it serviced the zip codes cited in the lawsuit due to “specific and targeted acts against drivers delivering Amazon packages” in those areas. “We made the deliberate choice to adjust our operations, including delivery routes and times, for the sole reason of protecting the safety of drivers.” Nantel calls the AG’s claims “categorically false” and says Amazon is “always transparent with customers during the shopping journey and checkout process about when, exactly, they can expect their orders to arrive.” But while Amazon has the right to protect its workers through these changes, Schwalb says it can’t deceive customers while doing so. “Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working Ward 7 and 8 residents for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide. While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one ZIP code is worth less than a dollar in another,” he says in a statement. Schwalb is suing under DC’s consumer protection law. He’s seeking to stop Amazon from continuing its allegedly deceptive behavior and collect an unspecified amount of civil penalties, restitution, and damages.

Image: EA Dragon Age: The Veilguard has an incredible character creator, and starting today, you can mess around with it without having to buy the full game. EA will be releasing a free, standalone version of the character creator for all platforms the game is available on (PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC), and you’ll be able to bring the character you make in the free creator over to the full game if you decide to buy it. If you have any interest at all in The Veilguard, I really recommend checking out the free character creator when it’s available and seeing all of the options. (Hair looks particularly good.) And if you end up making a character, transfer them to the game, and want to make some tweaks, you’ll be able to do so early on in your adventure, so don’t sweat your decisions too much. EA is also releasing a fourth patch for the game, which adds a mission that will reward you with in-game items themed around the Dragon Age II protagonist, Hawke.

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire Jared Isaacman to head up NASA, he announced on Wednesday. Isaacman funded and partook in the Polaris Dawn mission, in which he and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis performed the first commercial spacewalk. Isaacman is set to replace former Florida Senator Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator, who President Joe Biden tapped to lead the agency when voted into office. Aside from Polaris Dawn, Isaacman also funded Inspiration 4, a mission that took him and three other non-professional astronauts to space atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in 2021. Most of Isaacman’s fortune comes from Shift4, the payment-processing business he founded when he was 16. He still serves as CEO of the company, which recently acquired the Canadian gift card platform Givex and struck a payments deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink in 2021. I am honored to receive President Trump’s @realDonaldTrump nomination to serve as the next Administrator of NASA. Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history.On my last mission…— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) December 4, 2024 “With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to journey to the stars and never settle for second place,” Isaacman wrote on X. “Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth.” Isaacman joins the other group of unconventional nominees Trump has chosen to head up various government agencies and advisory committees, including the new “Department of Government Efficiency“ led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Canada will beef up security on its border with the U.S. before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told a House of Commons committee, The Canadian Press has reported.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is in a legal dispute with rival Elon Musk, said said he is "not that worried" about Musk's influence in the incoming Trump administration.

America and Russia are now at war, writes top military and Russia analyst Rebekah Koffler for Newsmax Platinum. Koffler's briefing details Russian President Vladimir Putin's own comments and actions.

The FBI recently notified Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the bureau, that he was targeted in an Iranian hacking operation, CNN reported, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter.

PALM BEACH, FL — In his most impactful promise yet in the lead-up to being inaugurated in January, President-elect Donald Trump announced an ambitious plan to annex the nation of Canada and rename it "Gay North Dakota."

At least 15 human skulls at a Neolithic site in Italy may represent the group's collective ancestors, although archaeologists aren't certain.