Austin says he never told anyone to keep hospitalization a secret
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday he never told his staff to keep his cancer surgery and hospitalization secret from the White House, but acknowledged he should have handled it differently and he apologized for keeping President Joe Biden and others in the dark for weeks.
“We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right. I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I take full responsibility,” Austin told reporters in a lengthy Pentagon briefing. “I have apologized directly to President Biden and I’ve told him that I’m deeply sorry for not letting him know immediately that I received a heavy diagnosis and was getting treatment.”
Skyscraper-size asteroid will pass within 1.7 million miles
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday.
Don’t worry: There’s no chance of it hitting us since it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon.
NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies estimates the space rock is between 690 feet and 1,575 feet across. That means the asteroid could be similar in size to Chicago’s Willis Tower.
Big quarter for Meta
Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. tripled its profit and posted sharply higher revenue in the final quarter of 2023, boosted by a rebound in digital advertising as well as cost cutting and layoffs in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the “year of efficiency.”
“The company can talk all it wants to about AI and the metaverse, but it’s still a social media company that gets nearly all its revenue from advertising, and advertisers still clearly love Meta,” said longtime tech analyst Debra Aho Williamson.
Amazon has strong Q4
Amazon on Thursday reported better-than-expected revenue and profits for the fourth quarter. In a statement, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called it a “recordbreaking” holiday shopping season for the company.