A Cybertruck ‘blew up’ outside Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas


A Tesla Cybertruck appeared to explode outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday morning. A video shared on X shows the truck engulfed in flames just outside the hotel’s lobby, with the person who captured it saying the Cybertruck “blew up.”

It’s still not clear what caused the fire, or if there were any injuries. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said they are “investigating” and that the fire had been put out. Local news station KSNV News 3 Las Vegas said a vehicle fire was first reported at 8:41AM local time and that police and firefighters were responding.

The news of the fire comes amid numerous reports about Tesla CEO Elon Musk getting closer to President-elect Donald Trump. Musk spent New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago and reportedly sat in during Trump’s dinner with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Musk has also been staying at a cottage on Trump’s Florida property since around Election Day, according to a report from The New York Times.

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Author: Emma Roth

US sanctions Russian group over AI-generated election disinformation

Graphic photo illustration of “I Voted” stickers.
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

The US has issued sanctions on organizations in Russia and Iran for attempting to interfere with the 2024 presidential election. The Treasury Department said on Tuesday that the groups tried to “stoke socio-political tensions” and influence voters.

One group, the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise, has ties to Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and built a server to host its own AI tools “to avoid foreign web-hosting services that would block their activity.” The organization then used these tools to “quickly create disinformation” that it spread across dozens of fake online news outlets, while also providing US-based companies with money to maintain its AI server and operate a network of “at least 100 websites” used in its campaign.

Additionally, the Russian organization manipulated a video to “produce baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate”. In October, the US accused Russia of creating a video that attempted to smear Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned the Cognitive Design Production Center, a subsidiary of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for planning to interfere with the election “since at least 2023.” In the weeks leading up to the election, the US Department of Justice indicted Iranian nationals accused of waging a cyberattack against President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, while OpenAI reported banning ChatGPT accounts linked to an Iranian influence operation.

“The Governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” Bradley Smith, the Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in the press release.

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Author: Emma Roth