• Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, 31, is the grandson of John F. Kennedy and the son of Caroline Kennedy.
• Schlossberg is on track to follow the family tradition of becoming a lawyer.
• He's also shown that he has a sense of humor and is an avid paddleboarder. 

There's a new Kennedy in town.

Jack Kennedy Schlossberg is the 31-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Caroline Kennedy.

He was recently the subject of internet rumors claiming he dated pop singer Selena Gomez, 31, between 2020 and 2021. 

"Never met this human sorry," Gomez, who is dating music producer Benny Blanco, commented on a post shared by a fan-made Instagram account.

Despite being known as a member of one of America's most iconic political families, Schlossberg has asserted he has no plans to enter a race of his own. However, he's already making a name for himself. 

Here's what you need to know about Jack Schlossberg.

John "Jack" Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg is the 31-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Caroline Kennedy.

He was named for his maternal grandfather, John F. Kennedy, and his maternal great-grandfather, John Vernou Bouvier III.

He is the youngest child of Caroline Kennedy and designer Edwin Schlossberg, who have been married since 1986.

Kennedy came from an Irish-Catholic background, while Edwin Schlossberg was raised Jewish. 

Jack Schlossberg was born in New York City on January 19, 1993.

In 2011, he graduated from The Collegiate School, a prestigious all-boys private school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg share two other children besides Jack: Tatiana Schlossberg, 33, and Rose Schlossberg, 35.

Schlossberg is the lone grandson of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy and the eldest surviving male descendant of the former president's immediate family.

Rose and Tatiana Schlossberg are both married, but Jack appears to be single.

When appearing on the "Today" show in 2022, Schlossberg shared that his sister Tatiana had recently welcomed a son named Edwin, after their father. Schlossberg also said he'd moved back to his "childhood bedroom" to be closer to his family after graduating from Harvard.

He bears a striking resemblance to his maternal uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., who died in a plane crash in 1999.

John F. Kennedy Jr. died after an aircraft he was piloting crashed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on July 16, 1999. His wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette also perished in the accident. 

The couple did not have any children together, so there were no surviving Kennedy heirs through Kennedy Jr.

Schlossberg is on track to follow the family tradition of becoming a lawyer.

After Schlossberg graduated from Yale University in 2015 with a history degree, he entered Harvard Law School in the fall of 2017 and Harvard Business School in the fall of 2018.

"I'm inspired by my family's legacy of public service," Schlossberg said in his first live interview on "Today" in 2017. "It's something that I'm very proud of."

He graduated from the university in 2022, and in April 2023 he shared that he had passed the New York State bar exam.

His mother, Caroline, passed the same bar exam in 1989. According to People, his uncle John F. Kennedy Jr. famously failed the New York bar exam twice before ultimately passing on his third try in 1990.

He appears to share his family's interest in politics and civic justice.

"I'm still trying to make my own way, figure things out, so stay tuned. I don't know what I'm going to do," he told "Today" in 2017. He again told Savannah Guthrie in 2022 that he had "no plans" to enter politics at the moment. 

While he hasn't committed to a career in politics just yet, Schlossberg has taken an increasingly public role with the family's Profile in Courage Awards, which honors world leaders, and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

According to People, Schlossberg has also worked as a Senate page and intern for former Secretary of State John Kerry.

Schlossberg spoke at the 2020 Democratic National Convention as a representative of his family and has appeared with his mother at many public events. In December 2022, the Harvard graduate was pictured alongside his mother and sister Tatiana meeting with Prince William at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Schlossberg has become the face of a new generation of Kennedys.

Schlossberg boasts over 101,000 followers on Instagram, where he often shares photos and videos related to his paddleboarding hobby. 

He's also shown that he has a sense of humor. In July 2023, a series of light-hearted videos Schlossberg posted to Instagram about the downsides of eating at restaurants went viral.

"We have to wait there to eat something that we don't get to choose, really, what it is," Schlossberg said to the camera in one video. "We only get a few choices and you don't know what any of them are gonna taste like or what's good … and we're gonna sit there and wait for some guy to ask us a question. And we're gonna have to talk to some guy about what we wanna eat."

Secretary of State John Kerry once said of him, "A sense of humor is not genetic, but apparently in the Kennedy family, it can be inherited. In President Kennedy's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, this quality seems to abide."

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• The Burj Al Babas is an abandoned ghost town in Turkey filled with Disneyland-like castles.
• Construction of the luxury community began in 2014 and cost $200 million.
• When Turkey's economy fell, the project halted. Today, 587 castles remain empty.

A town of castles called the Burj Al Babas in northwest Turkey was originally designed to draw foreign vacationers.

After more than 500 were built and $200 million was invested in the property, Turkey's economy fell, and so did the Burj Al Babas, The New York Times reported. 

Today, 587 villas sit empty, forming a ghost town, Yes Theory reported. Take a look inside. 

Near the small town of Mudurnu in Turkey's northwest region sits Burj Al Babas, a ghost town filled with castles.

Today, there are more than 500 vacant identical homes, Yes Theory reported. Their blue-gray steeples and Gothic fixtures call to mind the castles found in Disney parks.

But the property lacks Disneyland's crowds. Instead, the more than 500 villas sit empty, and Burj Al Babas stands as a symbol of the nation's economic plight.

The project got its start in 2014 when the Yerdelen brothers and Bulent Yilmaz, construction entrepreneurs from Istanbul, Turkey, drafted plans for a $200 million luxury community, The New York Times reported.

When creating the design, the trio pulled inspiration from their home city. The buildings mimic Istanbul's Galata Tower and Maiden's Tower, as well as British and American architecture, Mezher Yerdelen told the Times in 2019.

They also picked a strategic location. Mudurnu is a Roman spa town, according to Condé Nast Traveller. So, the region's nearby hot springs would fill hot tubs in every home and provide warmth for underfloor heating.

Source: Condé Nast Traveller

The original plan included 700 buildings that the group hoped would attract foreign buyers, who, according to the Times, vacation in Turkey for its Mediterranean climate.

The homes were sold for $370,000 to $500,000 each, depending on the location — a price tag that catered to a wealthier Middle Eastern clientele, according to the Times.

The group also planned for a shopping mall in the development's center, along with gardens and lakes throughout the 250-acre property.

The project was initially successful. Of the 732 planned villas, about 350 were sold to customers from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported.

Source: Bloomberg

As construction started in a valley outside Mudurnu, not everyone was happy with the project, the Times reported.

Some locals were frustrated that the castles strayed away from Mudurnu's traditional Ottoman-style architecture, Condé Nast Traveller reported. Others worried that the development would damage nearby forests.

Then oil prices plunged. Potential buyers backed out of their agreements, and others stopped making payments on their future vacation homes, the project's architect told the Times.

That, coupled with Turkey's soaring inflation, political turmoil, and an economic downturn led the developers to file for bankruptcy, placing the project at a standstill in 2018, Newsweek reported.

Source: Newsweek

What remained was 587 completed homes and $27 million in debt.

In 2019, the brothers were granted permission to complete the construction of the contracted houses when their bankruptcy ruling was overturned, according to the Hurriyet Daily News. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the project again.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

According to Atlas Obscura, the entire project was then acquired by NOVA Group Holdings, a multinational American corporation, which may attempt to salvage the development.

Source: Atlas Obscura

But for now, rows of abandoned, identical three-story castles remain, according to Yes Theory.

And since the property's infrastructure was never completed, the development is currently unlivable, Condé Nast Traveller reported.

Today, the abandoned ghost town attracts curious visitors seeking to explore the eerie destination.

And the Burj Al Babas remains one of the world's largest ghost towns.

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• The O.J. Simpson trial lives on infamy more than 30 years later.
• Maybe you remember where you were when the Bronco chase ensued, or the verdict was read.
• Here are some of the biggest moments from "the trial of the century."

Nicknamed "the trial of the century," O.J. Simpson's 1995 murder trial captured public attention.

A former NFL player, Simpson was already a celebrity. The case touched on polarizing racial politics just a few years after Rodney King was brutally beaten by members of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The courtroom proceedings were also broadcast on live TV, a relatively new phenomenon that helped spawn unscripted reality shows and bolster cable news. Rupert Murdoch reportedly launched Fox News after seeing how lucrative the trial coverage was for CNN — around $200 million, CNN reported.

The trial still remains a cultural touchstone, with the Emmy-winning 2016 FX series "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Sarah Paulson, John Travolta, David Schwimmer, and Sterling K. Brown.

O.J. Simpson died on April 10 at age 76.

Here's a look back at some of the most iconic photos from the trial.

Coverage of O.J. Simpson's murder trial kicked off with a car chase on June 17, 1994, that was broadcast on live TV.

Days after Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found dead, Simpson failed to turn himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department to be charged with first-degree murder. Instead, he evaded authorities in a car chase on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles and Orange County.

Simpson sat in the backseat of a white Ford Bronco, holding a gun to his head as Al Cowlings drove away from the police vehicles in pursuit.

News channels interrupted their programming to broadcast live coverage of the chase, which ended with Simpson's surrender at his home.

Simpson's defense team was led by Johnnie Cochran, a prominent civil rights attorney.

Cochran developed a reputation for litigating high-profile cases related to police brutality.

In Simpson's trial, he argued that LAPD officer Mark Fuhrman planted evidence to frame Simpson for the murders, motivated by racism, CNN reported.

Simpson's defense also included Robert Kardashian, a friend of Simpson's and the father of the famed Kardashian siblings.

Kardashian's wife, Kris Jenner, was also close friends with Nicole Brown Simpson.

The media dubbed Simpson's defense team of high-powered lawyers "The Dream Team."

Marcia Clark served as lead prosecutor.

Clark's appearance, demeanor, and personal life, including an ongoing custody battle, were widely covered and criticized during the trial.

"That was the hell of the trial," Clark told Vogue in 2016. "There was no privacy. I was famous in a way that was kind of terrifying."

The trial became a media circus with live TV broadcasts covering every moment.

The Simpson trial occurred in the early 90s — long before today's saturated and fractured digital media environment, Business Insider's Peter Kafka reported Thursday.

As a result, the event drove massive viewership figures on TV, with even pre-trial moments like the Bronco chase nabbing Super Bowl-sized ratings. All three major broadcast networks cut into their regularly scheduled programming to cover the chase, which nabbed 95 million viewers.

In one of the most famous moments from the trial, Simpson appeared to struggle to put on a leather glove that was found bloodied at the crime scene.

A key piece of evidence in the trial was a pair of leather gloves that prosecutors alleged Simpson donned while committing the murders, and which were stained with the blood of the victims.

But when asked to try on the gloves in court, Simpson appeared to struggle, saying they were "too tight."

Prosecutors argued the gloves didn't fit because the blood had caused them to shrink, and because of the the rubber gloves underneath that Simpson was wearing to protect the evidence.

A 2016 documentary put forth another theory: that Simpson had stopped taking his arthritis medicine, which had caused his hands to swell.

The prosecution provided a new pair of gloves, but the damage was done.

After the first demo proved dubious, prosecutors asked Simpson to try on a new pair of gloves in the same brand and size, which appeared to fit well.

Nevertheless, the gloves inspired a quip in Cochran's closing argument that became synonymous with the trial: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."

In 2012, looking back at the case, one of Simpson's lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, said he couldn't imagine "anything stupider" than for prosecutors to have had Simpson try on the gloves. Prosecutor Christopher Darden responded at the time that the defense had "manipulated" the evidence.

When the verdicts were announced, viewers across the US stopped to watch the trial's dramatic end.

With the proceedings airing gavel to gavel, viewership culminated on Oct. 3, 1995 with the reading of the verdicts after just four hours of deliberations.

Time reports that a staggering 150 million people tuned in for the "not guilty" verdicts, amounting to roughly 57% of the US population.

If you were alive at the time, chances are you remember where you were. Some students at the time recall watching the verdicts during school hours, with televisions being wheeled into lunch and classrooms.

Goldman's family reacted in horror.

After the verdicts were delivered in a highly-charged courtroom, members of Goldman's family — including father Fred, stepmother Patti, and sister Kim — wept and comforted one another.

"This prosecution team didn't lose today," Fred Goldman said at a press conference, according to the Associated Press. "I deeply believe this country lost today. Justice was not served."

Simpson's relatives celebrated.

The defense, on the other hand, celebrated the jury's decision with relief.

Simpson smiled and mouthed "thank you" to the jury, according to the AP, while Cochran slapped Simpson on the back. Simpson's children Arnelle and Jason embraced, while the AP reported that another Simpson family member told Cochran, "We did it!"

The trial lives on in infamy.

After serving as a seminal event in the now-ubiquitous true crime genre and illuminating critical divisions around race in America, the "trial of the century" lives on in infamy over 30 years later.

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• Ted Cruz is in some hot water over his thrice-weekly "Verdict" podcast.
• He's been accused of violating the law by directing the podcast's ad revenue to a super PAC.
• In a break from his usual approach, he's declined to substantively address questions about it.

When I approached Sen. Ted Cruz at the Capitol this week, he appeared upbeat, quipping that he was "living the dream" when I opened our conversation.

The Texas Republican quickly turned combative, however, when I told him I had questions about a strange story that began bubbling up in recent weeks about his thrice-weekly "Verdict" podcast and a super PAC set up for the sole purpose of supporting his reelection.

"Of course you do," Cruz replied. "I understand you have a mission to write an attack piece."

It was similar to the approach he took when asked about the controversy by a local TV station in Houston, where he declined to substantively address the issue and instead accused a reporter of trying to "parrot left-wing Democrat attacks."

All of this began in late March when the Houston Chronicle reported that iHeartMedia — the company that hosts Cruz's podcast — had since the beginning of 2023 deposited more than $630,000 into "Truth and Courage," a super PAC set up to support Cruz's reelection.

iHeartMedia, which signed on as a corporate partner to the podcast in late 2022, has confirmed that the payments to the super PAC were derived from advertising revenue generated by podcast.

However, campaign finance laws forbid direct coordination between candidates and the super PACs that support them, and the payments raise the possibility that Cruz struck some sort of agreement with iHeartMedia to direct the ad revenue to the super PAC — an apparent violation of those laws.

When I asked Cruz if that was the case, he said his team had already put out a statement on the matter — though the only such statement I could find was the statement given to the Houston Chronicle, which accused the media of wanting to "stop" his podcast while noting that he makes the appearances "for free."

Cruz is usually eager to talk about both his podcast and campaign finance laws

On some level, it's not hard to see why Cruz is agitated — the brewing scandal is creating negative press as he faces a competitive reelection race against Democratic Rep. Colin Allred this November.

The Campaign Legal Center and End Citizens United have also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing Cruz of violating campaign finance laws.

BP America, an oil company, asked iHeartMedia to yank their ads from the podcast, saying that they "were never informed" that their advertising dollars were "going directly to a super PAC."

Yet Cruz's refusal to answer questions about the arrangement is a departure from his typical approach.

When Allred first tried to make an issue out of Cruz's podcast possibly distracting the senator from his responsibilities, the Texas senator confidently told me that his podcast was actually "integral to doing the job," even if it "takes quite a bit of time." Cruz has also been known to tell Capitol Hill reporters to listen to his podcast in order to get a fuller sense of his views on various topics.

He's also engaged with me before on campaign finance matters, explaining his opposition to a bill to disclose dark money spending in federal elections and speaking with me at length about his eponymous Supreme Court case.

In that case, Ted Cruz vs. FEC, the Texas senator deliberately challenged existing campaign finance laws, suing the FEC with the goal of getting the conservative Supreme Court to eliminate an existing $250,000 cap on the amount of money that a candidate can raise after their election to repay personal loans to their campaign.

That cap had been designed as an anti-corruption measure, limiting donors' ability to line the personal pockets of lawmakers.

Cruz made a relatively straightforward argument to me in May 2023 about why he disagreed with that, arguing that the cap was really an effort to "disincentivize any challenger from taking the risk and loaning their own money to their campaign."

I've since written about some of the fallout from that June 2022 Supreme Court decision, including both Cruz and Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin repaying themselves for years-old campaign loans and Sens. JD Vance of Ohio and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma doing the same as they accepted corporate PAC contributions.

So when I approached Cruz this week, I asked if he might be doing something similar here to what he did before: challenging existing campaign finance law with the intention of changing it. And I hoped he might be willing to explain his intentions, as he's done in the past.

"When you write a positive story on something I've accomplished here, on legislation I've passed, then I'll answer your questions," Cruz replied. "In the meantime, if you're just gonna do attack pieces, knock yourself out."

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• Retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan advocates for a change in Ukraine's war strategy.
• Ryan suggests Ukraine needs to push its narrative in Western media to counter Russia's influence.
• He highlighted the importance of Ukraine's drone development and Black Sea leverage.

A retired general and warfare strategist is pushing for a change in Ukraine's strategy after returning from a grim visit to the war-torn country.

"The most important insight from my visit was confirmation that Russia now has the strategic momentum in the war," explained Mick Ryan, a former Australian major general, in a Friday post for The Interpreter, a publication partnered with the Australia-based Lowy Institute.

Russia has gotten over the "shock of its early failures," he said, drawing his observations from recent conversations with government and military officials, think tanks, and journalists. The Russian military has changed its warfighting capabilities, and the defense industry has been kicked into gear.

"Now," Ryan said, "it appears capable of generating the human, materiel and informational resources to subjugate Ukraine in a way it was not capable of when it began its large-scale invasion in February 2022."

"Russia is now a more dangerous adversary than it was two years ago," he wrote. "This calls for change in how the war is fought."

For starters, Ukraine's partners need to shift their thinking, and for Ukraine, that means coming up with a vision for victory that it can implement.

Another issue is strategic communications. Ryan has noticed a major shift in attention from Ukraine to other conflicts. Ukraine, he argued, must push its narrative to get through to Western media and dispute Russia's declarations of expected victory.

The Kremlin has made a continuous effort to influence Ukrainian partner nations with its narratives and in doing so, it has caused some in countries like the United States to believe the war is a distraction from "real" problems the country should be dealing with instead of helping Ukraine, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported last month.

"Ukraine needs to discover a new voice that explains the importance of its defence, why Western support is vital, and that Russian narratives about inevitable victory are wrong," Ryan said, adding that "while confronting Russian misinformation activities is the responsibility of all democracies, Ukraine's strategic messaging must evolve."

He also detailed how during his trip, a Kyiv official told him how there was no clear plan as to how Ukraine would win the war.

A win for Ukraine is dependent on the aid it receives as well as its defense strategy. Ryan said NATO and other partner nations should consider switching their perception of providing support from "defend Ukraine" to "defeat Russia in Ukraine."

US officials have made it clear that Russia has the edge. It has rebuilt its wounded military and is cultivating clear battlefield advantages.

Earlier this month, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said that Russia has "almost completely reconstituted militarily" and US European Command's Gen. Chris Cavoli supported that assessment on Wednesday, adding that Russia's "overall capacity is very significant still, and they intend to make it go higher."

Cavoli also said that Russia's current artillery advantage compared to Ukraine is 5:1, but this could increase to 10:1 in a matter of weeks while Ukraine waits for US aid.

Although Ukraine and its international partners have more work to do, Ryan said Kyiv has made immense progress over the course of the war especially in targeting Russian ships in the Black Sea and oil refineries at home.

Ukraine's ability to adapt to new threats and emerging challenges has allowed it focus on new research and manufacturing capabilities. Ryan noted in his article the importance of Ukraine's drone development and use.

"Ukraine now produces hundreds of thousands of small drones as well as thousands of large drones with increasing range and larger warheads," he said.

Commenting on the strategic strikes, Ryan said that "this capacity, which is improving in its reach and effectiveness, will be a key part of future Ukrainian operations."

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In the span of a few years, lionfish spread from the coast of the US to the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean. The invasive species is devastating ecosystems, eating everything in its path.

Now, divers in places like Colombia are spearing as many lionfish as they can — and chefs are finding ways to add these venomous creatures to their menu. But will it be enough to curb the population?

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• Russian and Chinese hackers have been getting past Microsoft security.
• In the latest attacks, Russians compromised the emails of multiple federal agencies, watchdog group says.
• Another watchdog group published a report last week detailing Microsoft's "inadequate" security culture.

China and Russia keep finding ways to get past Microsoft's security systems.

In an emergency directive made public on Thursday, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed that Russian-backed hackers stole emails that had been sent between federal agencies and Microsoft — emails that may have contained users' login credentials.

CISA's directive requires the affected agencies to take immediate action to determine the extent of the breach. Specifically, they must analyze the stolen emails for signs that sensitive data or login information was leaked. The agencies whose logins were exposed have until April 30 to reset their passwords and authentication tokens. CISA did not specify which agencies were included in the breach.

The hackers, a group known as Midnight Blizzard that's sponsored by the Russian state, first gained access to the Microsoft accounts in November 2023 through a password-spraying attack, Microsoft announced in a January press release. The group increased their attacks 10-fold in February, and by the following month, had accessed some of Microsoft's core software systems, the company said in a March press release.

"Midnight Blizzard's successful compromise of Microsoft corporate email accounts and the exfiltration of correspondence between agencies and Microsoft presents a grave and unacceptable risk to agencies," CISA wrote in its emergency directive.

"For several years, the U.S. government has documented malicious cyber activity as a standard part of the Russian playbook; this latest compromise of Microsoft adds to their long list," CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a press release on Thursday. "We will continue efforts in collaboration with our federal government and private sector partners to protect and defend our systems from such threat activity."

Microsoft wrote in its January press release that the Midnight Blizzard attacks were "not the result of a vulnerability in Microsoft products or services."

The company has been under fire recently for its security practices, which one government watchdog group says are "inadequate" and in need of an "overhaul."

Last week, the US Department of Homeland Security released a report from the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) detailing a "cascade" of "avoidable errors" in the company's security systems. And those errors, which the CSRB attributed to Microsoft not adequately protecting its customers' sign-in keys, allowed a Chinese hacking group to access the emails of senior US officials last summer, the report said.

In reference to the Chinese hacking incident, a spokesperson for Microsoft previously told Business Insider that "recent events have demonstrated a need to adopt a new culture of engineering security in our own networks."

A Microsoft spokesperson told BI of the latest Russian attack: "As we discover secrets in our exfiltrated email, we are working with our customers to help them investigate and mitigate. This includes working with CISA on an emergency directive to provide guidance to government agencies."

When asked if the Russian hacking incident was caused by the same security vulnerabilities that enabled the Chinese incident, the spokesperson only said that the two "are not related."

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• Fans and investors are hoping that AI might help save what's shaping up to be a bad year for Apple.
• On Thursday, Apple shares rose more than 4% on news it plans to revamp Macs with an AI-focused chip.
• Apple watchers have been seeking some good news amid its antitrust and China sales issues.

It looks like Apple investors will jump at any sign of good news on the AI front after the company's rough start to the year.

On Thursday, Apple rose more than 4% after Bloomberg reported that it will overhaul its Mac lineup with new M4 processors focused on AI.

It was the best day for Apple's stock since May and a welcome boost after a number of setbacks this year have weighed on the shares. It's also a sign that investors are watching very eagerly for even the smallest signal that Apple is taking steps toward an AI-led future.

The company has reportedly suffered a drop in iPhone sales in one of its biggest markets, China, and has been unseated as the country's best-selling smartphone maker. In February, it abandoned its decadelong project to build an electric vehicle.

Apple has also faced heightened scrutiny from regulators in 2024.

Last month, the US Justice Department sued Apple, alleging the company is using anticompetitive tactics to illegally maintain a monopoly in the smartphone market by "making it harder or more expensive for its users and developers to leave than by making it more attractive for them to stay."

Apple said in a statement to BI at the time that the lawsuit "is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it."

Weeks before that, the European Commission had slapped the company with a fine of 1.8 billion euros, or roughly $1.9 billion, related to App Store restrictions around music streaming apps. The Commission, part of the European Union, alleged Apple "bans music streaming app developers from fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services." Apple has said it plans to appeal this decision.

Investors' reaction to the M4 processor news shows just how crucial the company's future AI plans are. Some investors and analysts already believe Apple is lagging behind competitors in AI. But despite reportedly dropping the electric car project to refocus on AI, it hasn't really revealed any concrete details.

And a lot of people are waiting for them. After Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the company was exploring home robots as its next big thing, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said spending money on such efforts "would be a horror show."

"They need to focus on AI," Ives said on CNBC at the time. "For Cook, his legacy is going to be AI. If they went after robots, that would be a black eye moment for Apple." 

Apple's annual WWDC event is set to be held June 10 to 14 this year, and all eyes will be on the company to announce some solid AI developments then.

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• Ukraine lawmakers are pushing a bill to allow prisoners to serve in the military.
• The bill aims to boost combat manpower while excluding people imprisoned for certain severe crimes.
• The move comes amid Ukraine's struggle with soldier shortfalls in the face of Russia's larger military.

Ukrainian lawmakers are advancing a bill that would allow prisoners to serve in Ukraine's military and take on Russia in front-line combat.

The first draft of the bill, which was submitted to Ukrainian Parliament on Wednesday, calls for prisoners to be released on parole for military service under contract during period of martial law and mobilization, reports Army Inform.

This bill was approved on first reading with the support of 281 officials in the hopes of bolstering recruitment and giving people in prison the opportunity to "correct and fulfill the duty to repel armed aggression against Ukraine."

However, not every prisoner is qualified to mobilize.

Those who are in prison must undergo a mental health assessment and medical exam. They cannot participate if they are convicted of crimes such as terrorism, murdering two or more individuals, sexual violence, drunk driving with vehicular homicide, or national security crimes.

"These changes make the state more stable and the army stronger in confronting the enemy," said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in February. The bill has gone through numerous revisions since it was first submitted in December, and more are expected.

Lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak told Reuters that to avoid corruption, there will likely be additional changes before the final reading.

Ukraine's military has been experiencing a dangerous shortage of available soldiers on the battlefield. It has had difficulty maintaining a strong position against Russia's much larger military as more soldiers are wounded and killed while fewer potential replacements enter the recruitment pipeline. The Ukrainian parliament took several steps this week to address that.

Lawmakers passed measures simplifying conscription ahead of a possible mobilization, and demobilization plans that would have allowed soldiers to return home after extended deployments were slashed by Ukraine's parliament this week.

"This is demotivating and demoralizing for the military," one artillery soldier told CNN.

In addition to key manpower advantages, Russia also has an edge in industrial capacity and war materiel. US diplomatic and military officials have said that Russia has almost "completely reconstituted" its armed forces and nearly "grown back" it's capability to what it started the invasion with, even after suffering severe losses.

Ukraine is now not only waiting for critical aid to arrive from the US, but it is also waiting for more recruits as the bill granting people who are incarcerated the ability to join the military works its way through parliament.

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