Good morning. In this edition:

• 📝 Epstein files set for release
• 🖼️ Most expensive artwork ever
• 🏢 Jeff Bezos’ new startup

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.29-minute read (874 words).

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"Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker."

–Hilary 'Zig' Ziglar (1926-2012)

Yesterday, the House and Senate both overwhelmingly voted to compel the Justice Department to release all of its case files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The votes were held after a group of Republican lawmakers bucked party leaders and joined with Democrats to force the matter.

• President Trump, who socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, had blasted the Democrat-led effort to release the Epstein case files for months, framing it as a campaign to embarrass Republicans and distract from recent GOP policy wins.
• But he abruptly reversed course late Sunday, saying he now supports passage of the bill and would sign it into law if it reaches his desk (though still calling it a “Democrat Hoax”).

How we got here

After years of promising to release the “Epstein files”—an all-encompassing term covering files, images, and documents related to federal investigations and probes into Epstein and associates—the DOJ in July said there was nothing to release.

• The agency also concluded that Epstein died by suicide, and that there’s no evidence he ever blackmailed powerful figures or kept a secret "client list" of people to whom he trafficked young girls.
• The DOJ’s findings run counter to the belief among many Americans that Epstein’s crimes also implicated some of the world’s most influential people, and that he was killed to cover it up.

A group of House lawmakers introduced a petition to force the DOJ to disclose the full Epstein files soon after. But it didn’t garner enough support until last week, when Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) was sworn in nearly two months after winning her special election. Democrats allege the extended delay by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was meant to forestall a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

Looking ahead…President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law shortly, which would give the DOJ 30 days to make public all files related to Epstein's case.

📊 Flash poll: Do you think the DOJ’s upcoming release of its Epstein files will reveal that Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, and/or kept a secret client list?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🧑‍⚖️ Meta defeats FTC’s antitrust case; the unsuccessful suit had sought to force Meta to unwind its Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions.
• 🤖 Nvidia and Microsoft agree to invest a combined ~$15 billion in fellow AI giant Anthropic, while Anthropic agrees to buy $30 billion of computing capacity from Microsoft Azure running on Nvidia AI systems.
• 🖼️ Gustav Klimt painting “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” sells for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s, becoming the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🚨 R&B singer D4vd identified as suspect in the death of a 15-year-old girl whose body was discovered in the trunk of his car.
• 🏛️ Senate Commerce Committee opens investigation into alleged corruption in Major League Baseball following its recent gambling scandal; the same committee also has an ongoing probe into sports corruption in basketball following similar scandals.
• 🏈 Browns QB Shadeur Sanders had his home broken into during Sunday’s loss against the Ravens, with police saying ~$200,000 in property was stolen; it makes the latest in a series of burglaries targeting pro athletes.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 Jeff Bezos reportedly launches startup called Project Prometheus that’s focused on AI applications in engineering and manufacturing; he’ll serve as co-CEO alongside former Google scientist Vik Bajaj.
• 🐜 Parasitic ant queens can manipulate a colony into killing its own queen using chemical warfare, allowing the invading queen to take control and trick workers into raising her offspring, new research shows.
• 💋 Mouth-on-mouth kissing first evolved over 21 million years ago, and was likely something the common ancestor of humans and other great apes indulged in, new research shows.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🧑‍⚖️ Three-judge panel blocks Texas from using new congressional map drawn by Republicans seeking to secure five additional House seats; 2-1 ruling finds the map appears to constitute an illegal race-based gerrymander.
• 🏛️ President Trump hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House, where the two announce plans for Saudi Arabia to invest $1 trillion in the US economy and purchase F-35 jet fighters; Trump also says MBS “knew nothing about” the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, contrary to the CIA’s assessment.
• 🌍 UN Security Council approves Trump’s proposed 20-point peace plan for Gaza; the move establishes a legal mandate for an international stabilization force and transitional government in Gaza.

☝️ The Wicked Witch of the West’s hat, along with props and memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz and other famous films, are hitting the auction block next month as part of Heritage’s Hollywood Signature Auction. Bidding for the hat starts at $100,000, with similar props having blown away auction expectations in the past.

🤔 Did you know? We only see one side of the Moon from Earth, regardless of where we are in the year or lunar cycle. The moon is tidally locked with Earth, meaning it rotates on its axis in the same amount of time it takes to orbit Earth (just over 27 days).

📰 Worth a read: At the mysterious boundary between waking life and sleep, what happens in the brain?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• The 100 must-read books of 2025
• Americans are heating their homes with bitcoin this winter
• The world’s ’most desirable’ countries to visit, according to 200,000+ travellers

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How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Your challenge is to guess whether the actual number is over or under the given value.

• 🐍 6 feet: Longest recorded rattlesnake
• 🌞 15,000°F: Temperature of the Sun’s surface
• 📚 300 words/minute: Average adult reading speed

🎁🏔️ This holiday season, you can “Adopt a Ranger” as part of a new program helping fund gear and essentials for park staff hit by recent NPS layoffs.

1. 🐍 Over; almost 8 feet long
2. 🌞 Under; about 10,000°F
3. 📚 Under; around 238 words/minute

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