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CNN  —  Elon Musk is emerging as a new star in Democratic ads and fundraising appeals, as politicians from Virginia to Wisconsin try to seize on the tech billionaire’s role in slashing the federal government to motivate their voters and donors. A leading Democratic outside group recently launched ads in nearly two dozen House races that seek to paint vulnerable GOP incumbents as willing to cut spending on health care for children and the elderly to benefit billionaires such as Musk. The ads from House Majority Forward show images of Musk wielding the chainsaw that he held aloft last month…

The number of initial applications for first-time unemployment benefits fell last week, but economists expect that to change in the weeks and months to come as the Trump administration continues its widescale slashing of government jobs. There were an estimated 221,000 jobless claims filed for the week ending March 1, according to seasonally adjusted data released Thursday by the Department of Labor. That’s 21,000 down from the prior week’s tally and also below economists’ estimates for 235,000 claims. The number of first-time jobless claims settled back down after unexpectedly surging the week before, underscoring that the prior week’s increase was…

CNN  —  Police in Canada are searching for three male suspects following a shooting that injured at least 12 people outside a Toronto pub, authorities said on Friday. Six people sustained gunshot wounds, and four people have non-life-threatening injuries following the incident in the Scarborough neighborhood east of downtown Toronto, police said. The extent of the injuries of the remaining victims is unknown. The victims range in age from 20s to mid 50s. No fatalities have resulted from the incident. Police said authorities are deploying “all available resources to locate and arrest those responsible.” A suspected shooter was wearing a…

ATLANTA CNN  —  Steve Harvey is best known for awarding money to “Family Feud” contestants or dishing out advice on his radio show. But in recent years, he’s also become a popular target of AI-generated memes, many of which are humorous and seemingly harmless — like depictions of Harvey as a rockstar or seen running from demons. More sinister actors, however, are using AI-generated versions of Harvey’s image, voice and likeness for scams. Last year, Harvey was among celebrities like Taylor Swift and Joe Rogan whose voices were mimicked by AI and used to promote a scam that promised people…

CNN  —  European leaders have vowed to rearm the continent at historic emergency talks held after the United States threatened to rip up 80 years of security guarantees over the trajectory of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has fundamentally changed transatlantic relations, suspended all military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv and again cast doubt that the US would defend its NATO allies if attacked. With Russia posing what French President Emmanual Macron called an “existential threat” to Europe, the continent is now scrambling to prepare for the once-unthinkable prospect of defending…

Seoul, South Korea CNN  —  South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol, who lawmakers voted to impeach over his declaration of martial law, has been freed from detention after prosecutors decided not to appeal a court decision canceling his arrest. Yoon remains suspended from his duties and still faces ongoing criminal and impeachment trials. He was seen bowing to cheering supporters, who were waving Korean and US flags, as he walked out of the detention center in Uiwang on Saturday. “I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the many citizens who have supported me despite the cold weather,…

(CNN) — Millions of Americans could soon feel the impact of the deep staffing cuts being planned at the Social Security Administration, which is undergoing a massive reorganization that the acting commissioner has acknowledged is being steered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The loss of experienced employees who manage Social Security’s fragile and interdependent web of computer systems will likely leave the agency vulnerable to technical outages and, potentially, interrupt the benefit payments that are sent to more than 73 million retirees, people with disabilities and others, Martin O’Malley, who served as commissioner under the Biden administration, told…

Washington CNN  —  Unpredictability has long been one of President Donald Trump’s strongest assets. The uncertainty that follows is one of his most confounding. From the financial markets to foreign capitals, a fresh sense of Trump-inspired whiplash reverberated across the globe this week, raising questions about whether his decisions on trade, Ukraine aid or the federal workforce are rooted in strategy or impulse. “Look, our country’s been ripped off by everybody,” Trump said Friday. “That stops now.” The seventh week of his presidency was scripted to be something of a triumphant one, with a prime-time address to a joint session…

Columbia, South Carolina CNN  —  A convicted double murderer has been executed by firing squad – the first such execution in the United States since 2010, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections. The execution of Brad Sigmon, 67, by the South Carolina Department of Corrections on Friday is only the fourth firing squad execution in the US since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Sigmon chose firing squad over the two other state-approved methods of execution, lethal injection or the electric chair. He was pronounced dead by a physician at 6:08…

CNN  —  President Donald Trump recently halted all future shipments of military aid to Ukraine after a heated meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last week exacerbated a chasm in US-Ukraine relations. Western allies anticipate that Ukraine could sustain its current fighting pace for several weeks before the stoppage in US assets would start to affect operations. With the pause likely to remain in place until Trump is satisfied with what he sees as Zelensky’s commitment to peace talks, CNN looks at what exactly was in the military aid sent by the United States so…