Axios

Hackers in underground cybercriminal forums are on shopping sprees for new AI tools, according to research shared first with Axios.

Why it matters: AI is making once-specialized hacking capabilities cheaper and easier to buy, potentially transforming far more criminals into dangerous hackers.

Paramount Skydance on Tuesday closed its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, ending a dramatic, yearlong process that rattled Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington.

Why it matters: The deal creates one of the largest entertainment behemoths in the world and makes David Ellison — a lesser-known figure outside of Hollywood — one of the most powerful people in culture and business.

California leaders blasted President Trump after he said during a Monday rally about Iran, "Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego."

The big picture: The backlash — and the White House's insistence that Trump was misunderstood — underscored the ambiguity of his meandering speech: An argument that the war was worth enduring to protect Americans came out sounding like an invitation to attack two U.S. cities.

• An administration account posted on X that Trump meant that the U.S. was fighting Iran to "STOP Iran from having the ability to take out LA and San Diego."