Axios World

President Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization voluntarily dismissed their $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department on Monday, according to a filing in a Miami federal court.Why it matters: The dismissal comes as Trump has reportedly considered launching a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded compensation fund for those who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, including Jan. 6 defendants.Multiple news outlets reported Trump was considerin

U.S. power giants NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy announced plans Monday to merge in the largest electricity deal — by far — since the mainstreaming of AI.Why it matters: The deal, if approved by regulators, would enable massive scale as the industry looks to expand generation and related infrastructure to meet rising demand.The all-stock merger "creates the world's largest regulated electric utility business by market capitalization and one of the world's largest energy infrastructure compan

Antisemitism is so resurgent in U.S. politics that some of the worst hate speech you've ever heard has become a part of day-to-day life for Jewish politicians.The big picture: Gone are the days of veiled insinuations and dog whistles. The hate is direct, explicit and shockingly casual, two dozen members of Congress and candidates told Axios.Editor's note: This story includes graphic and hateful language that was directed at lawmakers and their staff. Readers should be advised.The antisemitism is

A group of more than 60 loyal allies of President Trump is urging him to test and approve the most powerful AI models before they're released, according to a new letter shared first with Axios.Why it matters: The letter — signed by Steve Bannon and conservative anti-AI activists Amy Kremer and Brendan Steinhauser — puts a vocal faction of the MAGA base at odds with the White House's hands-off approach to AI.Inside the White House, the prevailing view is the opposite: that America will win the AI

President Trump talks sympathetically about the country's 500,000 Dreamers — but his administration is putting them in the crosshairs for deportation.Why it matters: The recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are finding it no longer reliably protects them from deportation or disruptions to their ability to work legally.Trump officials are slowing renewals, narrowing deportation protections and ramping up enforcement against some DACA recipients.And in

President Trump told Axios in a phone call that "the clock is ticking" for Iran and warned that if the Iranian regime doesn't come with a better offer for a deal, "they are going to get hit much harder."Why it matters: U.S. officials say Trump wants a deal to end the war, but Iran's rejection of many of his demands and refusal to make meaningful concessions on its nuclear program has put the military option back on the table.Trump is expected to convene his top national security team in the Situ

Veterans of Bernie Sanders' two presidential campaigns are splitting their allegiances between a pair of Democrats vying to inherit his progressive movement: New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and California Rep. Ro Khanna.Why it matters: Ocasio-Cortez and Khanna are deploying contrasting strategies to build momentum toward possible White House runs in 2028 — a split that reflects some of the tensions between Sanders' 2016 and 2020 campaigns.Khanna has taken a slightly more centrist view tha

Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and recently began discussing plans to use them to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West, Fla., 90 miles north of Havana, according to classified intelligence shared with Axios.Why it matters: The intelligence — which could become a pretext for U.S. military action — shows the degree to which the Trump administration sees Cuba as a threat because of developments in drone warfare and the presence of Iran

If AI were a candidate for political office, it would be losing in a landslide.Why it matters: The AI hype cycle would have you believe the technology is inevitable. But AI backlash is growing, as people worry it will steal their jobs, jack up electricity rates and further enrich the wealthy, all while hurting the environment. State of play: A commencement address went viral this week after Florida real estate executive Gloria Caulfield said "artificial intelligence is the next Industrial Revolu

Teens today are drinking less than their parents did — but the trends that may be supercharging their sobriety aren't all positive.The big picture: Researchers say there isn't one definitive reason for the shift. Some hypothesize it isn't solely a health kick, but that some teenagers have no one to say "cheers" with.The generation whose childhood was warped by a pandemic and the exponential acceleration in tech and social media is, perhaps unsurprisingly, isolated."The way that we socialize post

Some close advisers to President Trump fear the biggest substantive result of the China summit is heightened danger that Chinese President Xi Jinping will invade Taiwan in the next five years, potentially choking off the chips used to power AI to U.S. companies.What they're saying: Trump loved the pageantry and the special access Xi shrewdly rolled out during the Beijing visit. But the words didn't match the bonhomie. One Trump adviser told us Xi is "trying to move China to a new position where

Republicans have delivered major wins for the crypto industry in Washington — and they're increasingly frustrated that its biggest political spender isn't stepping up for them in the midterms.Why it matters: Crypto now commands the biggest political war chest of any industry in America — and how it deploys that cash could help decide the November elections.Zoom out: The pro-crypto Fairshake super PAC has a massive $165 million.But the organization — which receives the bulk of its funding from C

Empty nesters are sitting on America's family-size homes.Why it matters: The people who have the space aren't necessarily the ones who need it — and that's making a tight housing market even tighter.By the numbers: Compared to millennials with kids, boomer empty nesters own nearly twice the share of homes with three-plus bedrooms (28%).Millennial parents own 16% and Gen Z parents own less than 1% of large homes, according to a Redfin analysis of the latest census data, from 2024.Zoom in: The hig

Sen. Bill Cassidy failed to finish in the top two spots in Louisiana's Republican Senate primary on Saturday, AP projects. The race now goes to a June 27 runoff between Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming.Why it matters: It's a win for President Trump, who backed Letlow and urged voters to oust Cassidy, whom he's described as "very disloyal." Driving the news: Cassidy ran afoul of Trump when he voted more to convict the president during his Senate impeachment trial over the Jan. 6

Some college classes are seeing a boom in students earning A's — many with the help of AI.Why it matters: Universities and colleges were already concerned about how many students are earning A's and B's, but now must worry that graduates are leaving AI-proficient rather than knowledgeable about their subjects of study. The big picture: It isn't a case where A- students get a slight bump to an A or A+, says Igor Chirikov, a UC Berkeley professor who authored a study on AI and grade inflation."We

Farmers across the Midwest are entering planting season under mounting financial pressure, as the Iran conflict drives up diesel and fertilizer prices — deepening an agricultural downturn that some say is the worst since the crisis of the 1980s.Why it matters: Rising fuel and fertilizer costs threaten to push more family farms out of business, drive up food prices and further strain rural economies already battered by trade disruptions, inflation and extreme weather.The big picture: Mark Mueller

The era of ever-expanding workplace perks is ending. It's not just free kombucha and laundry — policies like paid parental leave and retirement matches are on the chopping block.Why it matters: Corporate America spent the labor-shortage years competing to offer the most generous workplace benefits. Now, with health-care cost soaring, workers leverage shrinking and an AI reckoning, some employers are rolling them back. The big picture: First it was the return to the office. Now benefits that beca

The Supreme Court denied an emergency effort from Virginia Democrats to revive their chances of redrawing the state's congressional maps before the November midterms.Why it matters: Virginia's redistricting push is officially dead.Driving the news: In a brief order on Friday, the justices declined state Democrats' emergency request to pause the Virginia Supreme Court's ruling — which struck down the voter-approved redistricting plan — to buy time to craft an appeal.The justices didn't give a rea

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday announced he's cutting disgraced election denier and former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters' sentence by half, making her eligible for release next month. Why it matters: The move comes after repeated calls from the Trump administration for Peters to be freed.President Trump pardoned her late last year despite having no jurisdiction over state-level cases.Driving the news: The development means Peters is expected to be released on June 1. She had been serving a

The House Ethics Committee is facing one of its busiest stretches in years as lawmakers confront a growing pileup of misconduct allegations."He has had a great challenge, the chairman of Ethics Committee, that committee is very busy right now," Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Axios on Friday.Why it matters: Pressure is growing on Congress to prove it can police itself amid a wave of misconduct allegations. But top lawmakers say the panel tasked with investigating those claims needs more resour