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President Trump re-designated the Houthis as a terrorist group on Wednesday, according to the White House.

In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump said that the terrorist group ‘threaten[s] the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade.’

‘Supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF), which arms and trains terrorist organizations worldwide, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times since 2023, endangering American men and women in uniform,’ the order noted.

‘Since seizing most Yemeni population centers by force from the legitimate Yemeni government in 2014-2015، the Houthis have launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure, including multiple attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia, the deadly January 2022 attacks on the United Arab Emirates, and more than 300 projectiles fired at Israel since October 2023.’

This is a breaking news story. Check back with us for updates.

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The creation of billions of dollars of digital wealth for the Trump Organization started with a social media post Friday. 

At 9:44 p.m. ET, the then-president-elect announced the creation of a new digital token: $TRUMP.    

“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!” Donald Trump’s X account posted. “Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to http://gettrumpmemes.com — Have Fun!”

The announcement came with little fanfare. But what would ensue in the coming days — including wild price swings and Melania Trump’s own digital token — would roil the crypto community, including some Trump supporters, just as he was set to return to the Oval Office.

The $TRUMP and $MELANIA tokens, as they’re referred to on social media, belong to the crypto category known as memecoins — digital assets that use blockchain technology similar to bitcoin. 

Because there is no asset like underlying cash flows backing memecoins like $TRUMP and $MELANIA, anyone who owns them will only make money if they sell them at a higher price than at which they bought them. 

That includes the coin creators — and Trump and his family — themselves. 

Though long a part of the crypto universe, memecoins have in recent months enjoyed a resurgence after Trump emerged victorious in November and promised to embrace blockchain technology and crypto markets. 

In the case of $TRUMP and $MELANIA, the coins were launched on Solana, a blockchain that collects fees to process transactions and is known for faster throughput, meaning it is less prone to seizing up when transaction volumes are high. It is not clear who knew about their launch before it occurred aside from the coins’ developers and the Trump Organization. 

The slew of recent memecoin launches have triggered fresh skepticism and warnings about scams due to the freewheeling nature of memecoins. Because they are not formal investment vehicles, they are almost entirely unregulated, and anybody can start one under any name at any time, often for free. Platforms like CoinMarketCap that track digital tokens showed dozens of duplicate TRUMP coins. 

Bloomberg News summarized memecoin sales as “the crystallization of ‘greater fool’ investing, of an asset that’s only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it at a given moment in time.”

“I’m not sure people quite grasp how much of the crypto world is reacting to the Trump memecoin launches,” Molly White, a software engineer and cryptocurrency chronicler, posted on X alongside screenshots from reactions that ranged from frustration to anger.

White later told NBC News that the launch of the coins seemed to dash hopes from some that Trump would help further legitimize the crypto industry.

“There’s now a fear that people who are not super familiar with this industry will see it as a cash grab and not see all the good uses of crypto that exist,” she said. “They worry this will give crypto a bad name.”

Part of that frustration centered on Trump’s recent emergence as a champion for all things crypto. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump made clear his support for crypto, speaking at the annual Bitcoin Conference and pledging to consider creating a “strategic bitcoin reserve” that would see the U.S. purchase billions’ worth of the cryptocurrency in a bid to encourage price support and adoption. Trump has also launched a line of NFTs, and his family launched a crypto banking platform last year. 

And Trump’s memecoin looked poised to be a major success, at least at first. The price of $TRUMP took off almost immediately, and by Saturday morning a single coin was trading at $75 — a 650% rise, at least, from its Friday launch price. Crypto enthusiasts who track transactions — many blockchains, including the one used by $TRUMP, are public-facing — reported some holders who had bought in early holding millions of dollars’ worth of the token. 

A Trump transition team spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The $TRUMP surge suddenly reversed when another coin came on the scene — from Trump’s own spouse.

On Sunday afternoon, Melania Trump’s X account posted that her $MELANIA memecoin was live. Donald Trump’s X account reposted that message.

The price of $TRUMP immediately plunged upon $MELANIA’s appearance, with some suggesting demand for one would eat into interest in the other.

“$MELANIA coin is being viewed as a competitor against $TRUMP coin,” market commentary group The Kobeissi Letter wrote on X. “This has resulted in a sharp drop in demand for $TRUMP.”  

Later Sunday, a $BARRON coin also started to trade, further adding to the market concerns. However, $BARRON’s connection, if any, to Trump’s youngest son, Barron, or the Trump family was not clear. No official Trump social media accounts have posted about it.

As the price of $TRUMP began falling, backlash ensued. 

“Dear @realDonaldTrump : Please fire whoever recommended going forward with the Melania launch today,” Ryan Selkis, a longtime crypto advocate and political conservative, wrote on X on Sunday as the price of $TRUMP began to fall. “1. They don’t know what they’re doing. 2. They cost you a lot of $ and goodwill. 3. They don’t have your interests in mind.”

By Tuesday, the price of $TRUMP had not recovered from the decline. Still, shortly after Trump’s swearing-in, the combined holdings among the Trump- and Melania-related corporations that launched the coins were worth tens of billions, at least on paper, according to crypto news website CoinDesk — and possibly worth more. 

Because all holders’ wallets, including those of Trump and the coin’s creators, are visible on the blockchain, any transactions they’re involved in will be closely watched. And a large sell-off from those wallets would likely trigger a major price fall, according to Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs, a firm that monitors crypto projects.

But Redbord said Trump’s celebrity adds a factor that’s worth watching.

“Obviously Trump, because of who he is, elevates a memecoin launch like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” he said. 

Trump has released a voluntary ethics document designed to limit private financial interests from shaping his official policy agenda.  

But the president’s involvement in the crypto project also raises questions over potential use by illicit actors or foreign governments, Redbord said. 

Consumers need to realize that there are “far fewer” protections with memecoins than traditional stocks, he said.

“It’s highly volatile,’ Redbord added, saying ‘consumers really need to understand what they’re investing in, because you’re going to lose big and you could potentially win big.”

Mark Cuban, a technology investor and ardent Trump critic who has also been involved in crypto, warned on X that the Trumps’ direct foray into the industry would usher in a new era of fraudulent activity, with unsavvy investors the victims.

“Hello every scam targeted at everyone and anyone who has no clue about crypto,” Cuban said on X on Monday about the coins. “Good bye whatever hope the crypto industry had of legitimizing itself.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Republican senators are putting forth legislation that would ban China from buying U.S. land entirely. 

The Not One More Inch or Acre Act, led by Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Katie Britt of Alabama, would require the sale of land owned or ‘influenced’ by the CCP that is deemed a national security risk. It would direct the president to take action to prohibit the purchase of public or private real estate in the U.S. by Chinese citizens or companies.

China owned around 350,000 acres of farmland across 27 states as of last year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

As of 2022, foreign entities and individuals held 43.4 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, which is nearly 2% of all land in the U.S.

Lawmakers have argued that China’s land buys are a national security risk since many of them are near military installations. For years, Chinese nationals have attempted to breach U.S. military facilities, often through the use of surveillance drones or posing as tourists. 

‘For decades, the Chinese Communist Party has been gobbling up American farmland and real estate,’ Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

‘At best, this submits American land and resources to China’s best interests, not America’s—at worst, these purchases serve as outposts for Chinese espionage campaigns against American businesses and military bases. We can’t allow Chinese citizens, or anyone affiliated with the CCP, to own one more inch of American soil. And any American land exploited by current Chinese ownership should be sold.’

Some states have already barred foreign nationals from purchasing land.

Smithfield Foods, which has a Chinese parent company, makes up the largest share of Chinese-owned land with 110,000 acres. 

A 2022 Chinese land purchase brought concerns to a fever pitch when food producer Fufeng Group bought 370 acres for corn milling near a North Dakota Air Force base.

‘One acre of American farmland owned by the Chinese Communist Party is one acre too many,’ said Britt. ‘The CCP’s strategic acquisition of farmland, particularly near our military installations, isn’t just a national security risk, it is a threat to our economic and food security.’

That prompted the Biden administration to propose a rule requiring any foreign company or individual looking to buy land within 100 miles of certain U.S. military bases to get government approval.

Last month, a Chinese national was arrested at San Francisco International Airport before he could board a flight to China on accusations that he tried to fly a drone over Vandenberg Air Force base in California.

Efforts to thwart China from purchasing U.S. farmland near U.S. military installations have gained steam among Republicans in both chambers. 

‘It’s a major concern for me that countries like China have increased purchases of American farmland tenfold over the last decade to control our land and threaten our food, energy and national security,’ Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, who led efforts in the House to ban China from buying farmland suitable for energy production, told Fox News Digital. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

President Donald Trump revealed the contents of the letter that President Joe Biden left him upon leaving the Oval Office earlier this week exclusively to Fox News on Wednesday.

The letter, which Trump found inside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with a little help from Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, is addressed ‘Dear President Trump’ and reads as follows:

‘As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years. The American people — and people around the world — look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.

‘May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding.’

The letter was signed ‘Joe Biden’ and dated Jan. 20, 2025.

On Monday, Trump found the letter — a white envelope addressed to ’47″ — after Doocy asked if Biden left him a letter while he was signing a flurry of executive orders in the Oval Office in front of a gaggle of reporters.

‘He may have. Don’t they leave it in the desk? I don’t know,’ Trump told Doocy before discovering the letter. ‘Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this thing.’

On Tuesday, Trump responded to further questions from Doocy about the contents of the letter.

‘It was a very nice letter,’ Trump told reporters. ‘It was a little bit of an inspirational-type letter. Enjoy it, do a good job. Important, very important. How important the job is.’

Trump describes

‘It was a positive, for him, in writing it,’ Trump continued. ‘I appreciated the letter.’

The presidential tradition of leaving a letter to their successor began in 1989 when President Ronald Reagan left the White House after two terms in office, with former President George H. W. Bush taking over. The tradition has carried on to this day through Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Biden.

Biden, however, was the first president to find himself in the unique position of writing a letter to someone who is both his successor and the predecessor who left him a note four years earlier. Trump became the first president to serve nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s.

Biden has said Trump left him a ‘very generous letter,’ but has so far declined to share the content of what Trump wrote, deeming it private.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

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President Donald Trump’s first actions in the Oval Office included rolling back healthcare policies put forth by former President Joe Biden, including expansions to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as ‘ObamaCare.’  

Directly after he was sworn in on Monday, Trump moved quickly to revoke a long list of Biden executive orders covering a wide range of issues. Two of the orders that were revoked included efforts by Biden to expand access to the ACA and restore the federal program ‘to the way it was before Trump became president’ the first time around.

The move angered Democrats, who argued the action was an ‘attack’ on the federal health insurance program.

‘Donald Trump’s immediate priority as president is ripping away affordable health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans and screwing over people with preexisting conditions,’ the Democratic National Committee said in a Tuesday statement. 

Shortly after taking office in January 2021, Biden passed Executive Order 14009, titled the ‘Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.’ The move, which Trump rescinded as part of his Day One executive actions, doubled the window of time that uninsured Americans had to apply to participate in the federal insurance program. Under Trump’s first term, the ACA’s open enrollment period was six weeks long.  

In addition to expanding the open enrollment period, Biden’s January 2021 executive order also directed all relevant federal agencies to examine their policies and implement any necessary changes to help get more people covered under the ACA.

Meanwhile, in April of the following year, Biden signed a second executive order on ‘Continuing to Strengthen Americans’ Access to Affordable, Quality Health Coverage,’ which Trump also reversed on Monday. The April order from Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to analyze new policies aimed at ‘exploring how medical debts are collected from beneficiaries,’ in order to find new ways to reduce ‘the burden of medical debt on working families and individuals across the country.’ 

Consistent with both of these orders, agencies facilitated the expansion of the ACA through new eligibility provisions, increased funding to groups that help people sign up for the ACA, and more. 

Other changes enacted by Trump during his first days in office included the revocation of a Biden-era policy that directed Medicare and Medicaid to investigate how to lower drug costs. In response to that order, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a $2 cap for certain generic drugs, ensured Medicare beneficiaries did not overpay for drugs that received accelerated approval, and helped state Medicaid programs pay for certain high-cost, cutting-edge therapies. Biden’s policy that capped insulin costs at $35 and implemented a $2,000 out-of-pocket maximum for prescription drug costs went unaffected by Trump’s Day One orders.

Trump also acted during his first day in office to rescind several of Biden’s COVID-19 health orders, such as directives to ensure equity in the pandemic response and COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers. He withdrew the U.S. from its participation in the World Health Organization, as well.

The Democratic National Committee argued Tuesday that Trump was ‘screwing over people with pre-existing conditions.’ 

‘Donald Trump’s immediate priority as president is ripping away affordable health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans,’ the DNC said in a Tuesday statement. ‘Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration, more Americans have health coverage than ever before, and Trump wants to unwind this progress even though the American people overwhelmingly support the ACA. Trump’s plans will do nothing but raise costs and make Americans sicker.’

Yet, according to a health policy expert from Vanderbilt University, the moves Trump made on health policies will likely not be consequential when it comes to how much Americans are paying for their healthcare. 

‘When administrations change over, many of them want to undo some of the actions of other presidents, even when those are more symbolic,’ Dr. Stacie Dusetzina, a professor at Vanderbilt’s Department of Health Policy told NBC News. ‘It could mean that the Trump administration is not interested in pursuing any of the work that has since developed out of these executive orders.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump administration for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

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More than 32,000 people have fled to towns in northeast Colombia as they attempt to escape a sharp rise in fighting between militant factions, according to the country’s ombudsman.

Iris Marín said the violence escalated last week in the Catatumbo region, displacing tens of thousands of people. Hundreds more remain confined to their homes and are unable to evacuate due to the ferocity of the clashes, Marín warned Tuesday in a video statement.

Colombian authorities say 80 people have been killed in the fighting.

Almost half of those displaced have flocked to the city of Cúcuta near the Venezuelan border. Officials there have launched a major campaign to shelter the more than 15,000 people who have arrived in recent days.

In Cúcuta, the city’s football stadium has been turned into a large welcome center, with thousands of displaced victims lining up to receive food, water and clothing from locals.

Many are also sheltering in hotels and the homes of relatives, Cúcuta Mayor Jorge Acevedo said, pledging to support those in need.

“We are going to address the emergency that is occurring. Total solidarity, respect, affection and love for these human beings who are arriving in the city of Cúcuta,” Acevedo said.

Violence in strategic drug production territory

The humanitarian crisis is a direct result of increased clashes between the National Liberation Army – ELN – and spin-off groups of the disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Both factions were founded around the 1960s and ‘70s as left-wing guerrilla groups, but are now mostly involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities, according to Elizabeth Dickinson, Colombia senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.

The Catatumbo region in northeastern Colombia, where the crisis originated, is a strategic territory for both drug production and trafficking due to its proximity with Venezuela. The region has seen some of the highest levels of violence in modern Colombian history.

In response to the violence, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has suspended peace talks with the ELN, whose actions he described as criminal. On Monday, he said he would declare a state of internal unrest, but that decree has yet to be published or signed.

The Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday reactivated arrest warrants for 31 ELN members who were involved in peace negotiations. The judicial body said the move was due to “the evidence and the seriousness of the criminal acts” in the Catatumbo region.

The arrest warrants had been suspended since 2022, when Petro restarted the peace process with that armed group.

Some have criticized Petro’s “total peace” initiative which has attempted to reduce violence partly through negotiations.

“The crisis in Catatumbo should be a wake-up call for the Petro administration. Its ‘total peace’, coupled with the lack of effective security and justice policies, have allowed armed groups to expand their presence and brutal control over remote communities across Colombia,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

Evacuation efforts

The Colombian cities of Ocaña and Tibú have also received 11,503 and 5,300 displaced people respectively, Colombia’s ombudsman Marín said Tuesday.

Other victims have fled to neighboring Venezuela, a country that in recent years has seen far more people leaving its borders than entering due to spiraling economic and political insecurity.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said the country has implemented a humanitarian operation to help Colombian families that have arrived in the municipality of Jesus Maria Semprún near the border in recent days.

Colombia’s defense ministry said more than 400 evacuations have been carried out in the Catatumbo region since the uptick in fighting last week, while more than 5,000 soldiers and special forces unit have been deployed to Cúcuta.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, on Wednesday unveiled a lengthy report that he says serves as a ‘roadmap’ to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ and points to how the flawed American healthcare system impacts ‘national defense.’ 

The 47-page report – titled ‘The Case for Healthcare Freedom’ – is a ‘painstakingly researched’ summary of ‘America’s health crisis and how to address it,’ Roy said.

Its findings include that U.S. healthcare spending had reached $4.9 trillion in 2023. 

As a share of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), health spending accounted for 17.6%, and costs are growing around 1% faster than the annual GDP, the report says.

The report argues that ‘if conservatives care about a strong national defense and low taxes, these trends have to be reversed.’ 

‘The Case for Healthcare Freedom lays out a detailed roadmap for how Congressional Republicans can help President Trump deliver on the promise to address America’s health crisis,’ Roy said in a statement. ‘The problem isn’t just health insurance, or Big Pharma, or food additives that are making us unhealthy; it’s the fact that politicians, bureaucrats and corporations are all benefitting from a broken, cronyistic system that lets them put profits over patients with impunity.’ 

Roy argued that right now, Congress has ‘a tremendous opportunity to put American healthcare back on track by embracing the empowerment of patients and doctors through the promotion of expansive health savings accounts in the budget reconciliation process, and we need to take full advantage.’ The congressman went on to say, ‘giving the same actors more power and money won’t work; if we want to Make America Healthy Again, the answer is healthcare freedom. If we want to control our budgets and healthcare spending, the answer is healthcare freedom.’

The wide-ranging report comes just two days after President Donald Trump was sworn into a second term. The pledge to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ became a focal point of Trump’s campaign when Democrat turned Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the race and backed him. Trump tapped Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, but his confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled. 

The report includes criticism of the program providing food welfare assistance for low-income households. 

‘While chronic food illness kills up to 678,000 Americans per year, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will likely pay over $250 billion on junk food for the next 10 years,’ Roy’s office notes.

The report also targets the coveted weight loss and diabetes drugs championed as ‘miracle medication,’ which has even used by celebrities to drop pounds in recent months. It found the Danish pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, ‘spent at least $25.8 million over the past decade on U.S. medical professionals to promote two of its obesity drugs, Wegovy and Saxenda.’

The report assesses that families and their employers on average in 2024 spent $25,000 annually, or nearly the cost of a company car, for health insurance, and that’s despite ‘the false promise of Obamacare to lower premiums by $2,500 a year.’ The cost of premiums has increased at least 100% since 2010, according to the report. 

‘Obamacare has made healthcare so expensive that it now subsidizes households earning up to $600,000 per year for their health insurance,’ the report says.

In 2024, the report found, four of the top five American industries by revenue were healthcare-related. Those were hospitals, which came in first; drug, cosmetics and toiletry wholesaling, which came second; health insurance, which earned the third place slot; and pharmaceutical wholesaling, which came in fifth. 

The report also discusses how 47% of hospital cash prices are lower than the insurer-negotiated price ‘that people pay hundreds of dollars a month for the privilege of having.’ 

The report argues multiple insurance companies, including UnitedHealth, Anthem/Elevance, and Humana, ‘earn’ a majority of their revenue from taxpayers.

‘We do not have a free market in the healthcare system. The government controls more than 80% of health spending,’ according to a summary of the report provided by Roy’s office. ‘The Left’s solution to fix our healthcare system is spending even more money and giving the government even further control over the healthcare system. ‘Medicare for All’ would cost an additional $33 trillion over 10 years, and it would leave 70% of Americans financially worse off.’ 

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Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has released the crew of a cargo ship more than a year after its fighters hijacked the vessel in the Red Sea, as part of its campaign of attacks in support of Hamas in its war against Israel.

The Galaxy Leader’s 25-strong crew – comprising 17 Filipinos, three Ukrainians, two Bulgarians, two Mexicans and a Romanian – has been handed to mediators from Oman, the Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV reported Wednesday.

The crew’s release comes just days after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, bringing a reprieve to Palestinians in Gaza after 15 months of war. The Houthis had long said they would only wind down their campaign in the Red Sea once Israel halted its offensive in Gaza.

The crew had been held hostage since November 2023, when armed Houthis – descending from a helicopter bearing Yemeni and Palestinian flags – stormed the ship off the coast of Yemen.

The Houthi attacks forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through the Red Sea, one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, said the crew’s release was a “profound relief.”

“Today’s breakthrough is a testament to the power of collective diplomacy and dialogue, recognizing that innocent seafarers must not become collateral victims in wider geopolitical tensions,” he said.

Hans Grundberg, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, welcomed the “heartwarming” reports that the Houthis had “put an end to the arbitrary detention” of the ship’s crew for 14 months.

The Galaxy Leader sails under the flag of the Bahamas and is usually used to transport vehicles worldwide. It was among dozens of vessels targeted by the Houthis during their Red Sea campaign.

Eduardo de Vega, a Filipino foreign affairs official overseeing millions of Filipino migrant workers, said in March last year that little could be done to influence the Houthis except the end of hostilities in Gaza.

The Houthis – one side of Yemen’s civil war that has raged for more than a decade – played an outsized role during the past year of conflicts in the Middle East. As well as targeting ships, the Houthis fired a series of missile attacks at Israel.

Although most of the attacks were intercepted by Israeli air defense, Israel’s military responded with airstrikes of its own against Houthi targets in Yemen. The United States and United Kingdom, both allies of Israel, also carried out rounds of strikes against the Houthis.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Shares of Netflix soared more than 13% Tuesday after the company posted fourth-quarter results that beat on the top and bottom lines.

The company surpassed 300 million paid memberships during the quarter, adding a record 19 million subscribers. Netflix said the growth was driven by its content slate, improved product and typical fourth-quarter seasonality.

The company also shared that including “extra member accounts,” its global audience is estimated to be exceed 700 million.

Here’s how Netflix performed for its most recent quarter, ended Dec. 31, compared with Wall Street estimates:

Earnings per share: $4.27 vs. $4.20, according to LSEG

Revenue: $10.25 billion vs. $10.11 billion, according to LSEG

Paid memberships: 301.63 million vs. 290.9 million, according to StreetAccount

Net income for the period was $1.87 billion, or $4.27 per share, up from $938 million, or $2.11 per share, during the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue in the fourth quarter jumped 16% year-over-year, reaching $10.25 billion, higher than the $10.11 billion Wall Street had predicted.

For the full year 2025, Netflix raised its revenue expectations to a range of $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion, around $500 million higher than its previous forecast to reflects improved business fundamentals and the expected carryover benefit of its stronger-than-expected fourth quarter performance.

The fourth quarter was the last for which Netflix will report quarterly paid subscriber counts, as previously announced. Instead, it will start reporting a bi-annual “engagement report” alongside its second- and fourth-quarter releases.

The streamer on Tuesday touted the success of its fourth-quarter slate, which included the release of season 2 of the hit series “Squid Game” as well as live sporting events like the record-breaking Jake Paul and Mike Tyson boxing match and National Football League games on Christmas Day.

This year, the company said it plans to improve its core business with more series and films, enhance its product experience and continue to grow its ads business. Netflix is expected to delve further into the live event space and games, as well.

The company also has the return of “Strangers Things” and “Wednesday,” two of its biggest hits, ahead for 2025. Additionally, the streamer will release a collection of new films from top directors and actors including Daniel Craig and Rian Johnson’s third “Knives Out” film, a Russo Brothers project called “The Electric State” starring Millie Bobby Brown, “Happy Gilmore 2” with Adam Sandler and a new take on Frankenstein from Guillermo del Toro.

“We’re fortunate that we don’t have distractions like managing declining linear networks and, with our focus and continued investment, we have good and improving product/market fit around the world,” the company said in its earnings report Tuesday.

Netflix also announced it would raise prices on some streaming tiers between $1 and $2 per month.

Netflix’s cheaper, ad-supported tiers accounted for more than 55% of sign-ups in countries where the option is offered, the company said. Netflix also noted that memberships on its ad-supported plans grew around 30% quarter-over-quarter.

“We’re on track to reach sufficient scale for ads members in all of our ads countries in 2025,” the company said. “A top priority in 2025 is to improve our offering for advertisers so that we can substantially grow our advertising.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

President Donald Trump has promised to usher in a new era in America’s top investigative unit — the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — with day one changes being implemented as key senior roles were reassigned.

The agency’s shakeup began when former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was nominated by Trump in his first administration, announced last month that he would step down from his post. Hours before Trump was sworn in, acting director Paul Abbate similarly stepped down.

The Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that the longtime head of the Justice Department’s office of international affairs, Bruce Swartz, was reassigned along with as many as 20 other staffers. 

On Monday, the White House announced Brian Driscoll as acting director of the FBI. Driscoll’s time as acting director will presumably end when Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel is confirmed as the FBI’s next director by the U.S. Senate.

Throughout former President Biden’s term, the FBI was entangled in repeated scandals, prompting President Trump to promise to root out corruption in the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Former FBI agent and Fox News contributor Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital that Abbate’s retirement was a ‘good idea.’ 

‘He had to have known that his days were likely very much numbered,’ she said. ‘It’s been widely publicized and well known that Paul Abbate was involved in pushing the raid at Mar-a-Lago. Also, he was very involved in pushing the Jan. 6 misdemeanor cases that were worked rigorously at the FBI.’

‘I imagine that he knew, rather than being removed upon Trump’s arrival, that it might be best in his interest to just move on. And I think that probably was a good idea on his part,’ she said.

On day one, President Trump signed a memorandum titled ‘Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives.’ He asserted that federal employees are able to be fired. 

‘I came from the private sector before the FBI, and I noticed such a contrast. The private sector, if you’re not doing your job, of course you’re going to get fired. But when you come to the federal government, there was almost this mood of, you know, we’re untouchable,’ Parker said. 

‘And I really believe that those days are over. You are working for the American taxpayers. It is their taxpayer dollars that need to be put to good use. And if you’re not doing your job, you really should be removed,’ she said. ‘I do believe that there will be people who may not be on board with Trump’s plans, and they’ll choose to walk away on their own.’

Driscoll is now heading the agency as Patel begins his Senate confirmation process. Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Jan. 29. 

Driscoll, a veteran of the agency, joined in 2007, according to a statement on the White House’s website. Robert Kissane, the top counterterrorism agent in New York, will serve as acting deputy director, the White House said.

Retired FBI agent discusses the agency new acting director, Brian Driscoll:

Prior to being appointed as acting director, Driscoll most recently served as the special agent in charge of the Newark Field Office. He also previously served as the commander of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) and Critical Incident Response Group’s (CIRG) Tactical Section chief.

‘I think it’s good for the FBI, for somebody who has such an amazing background with tactical experience and HRT,’ retired FBI agent Scott Duffey told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s a tall order, and I wish him well.’

Before his career in the FBI, he was a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the agency said in a release. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Villanova University and a master’s degree in public policy and international relations from Pepperdine University.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI and the Department of Justice for comment.

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

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