Axios

The "60 Minutes" segment pulled from air by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss did not include new comments from Trump administration officials, according to a copy of the segment viewed by Axios.

Why it matters: The segment, anchored by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, caused uproar internally over whether it was pulled for political reasons.

The U.S. will build "Trump-class" military vessels that the president on Monday suggested are new-age battleships, inching the country closer to construction of what the administration is advertising as "the Golden Fleet."

The big picture: President Trump has in his second term obsessed over seapower — long a sign of a country's strength. Here, he again inserts himself.

Bipartisan talks to overhaul federal agencies' permitting efforts are dead unless the Trump administration reconsiders its halt of offshore wind projects, two key Democrats said Monday.

Why it matters: Revamping the process for green-lighting industry projects is of paramount importance for many business groups.

Alphabet will acquire Intersect Power, a data center and power infrastructure firm, in a deal valued at $4.75 billion plus debt, the companies said Monday.

Why it matters: Tech giants are aggressively hunting for power to serve energy hungry data centers that train AI models and handle queries.

This holiday season, JPMorgan Chase appears to be having a change of heart on crypto.

Why it matters: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has long derided cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, famously calling it a "fraud," "stupid" and "worthless" — and even saying he'd fire any employees found trading it.

Erebor, a new digital bank co-founded by Anduril's Palmer Luckey, has quietly raised $350 million at a $4.35 billion post-money valuation, Axios has learned from multiple sources.

Why it matters: Investor excitement in the stablecoin banking startup is reaching AI levels.

It will be a challenging 2026 for American workers, even as overall growth remains solid. That, in a nutshell, is the Axios Macro Consensus.

The big picture: About 500 of you entered projections in the last several days. The median entrant saw the unemployment rate surging to 5%, with still-elevated inflation and continued GDP growth.

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss told top "60 Minutes" producers Sunday afternoon, after pulling a controversial news segment, that the team didn't do enough to get Trump administration officials on the record and that data presented in the piece "paints an incongruent picture."

Why it matters: Her decision has caused uproar internally, with at least one correspondent arguing the call was politically motivated.

Private equity firms Permira and Warburg Pincus have agreed to acquire Clearwater Analytics, a Boise, Idaho-based investment and accounting software maker, for $8.4 billion (including assumed debt).

The big picture: It's a boomerang buyout for Permira and Warburg Pincus, which both invested in Clearwater in 2020 and helped take it public one year later.

Instacart said on Monday that it's discontinuing a recently exposed program that offered some customers different prices for the same items.

Why it matters: The controversial program called attention to the concept of dynamic pricing, in which businesses set variable price points for goods and services based on different factors.

Trian Fund Management and General Catalyst agreed to acquire asset manager Janus Henderson for $7.4 billion, the companies announced Monday.

Why it matters: It's a culmination of Trian's five-year effort to turn around Janus' operations.

Washington ranks among the top 10 destinations for people who moved in 2025, according to an analysis of interstate moves by Atlas Van Lines.

Why it matters: Despite the Seattle area's high cost of living, constrained housing supply and a softening job market, Washington remains a lure for movers — underscoring the state's continued appeal even as migration slows nationwide, according to the analysis.

Paramount on Monday updated its takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with a guarantee from Oracle chair Larry Ellison to provide an "irrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4 billion of the equity financing" for its offer.

Why it matters: When rejecting Paramount's hostile bid last week, the Warner Bros. board said that Paramount "misled shareholders" about the reliability of its backstop from Paramount CEO David Ellison's family because the backstop funding was coming from a revocable family trust that could be amended before the deal closed.

Congratulations to Bobbi Magdaleno, the first reader to give us the correct location for Friday's "Where in the Valley?" photo.

The big picture: The house in the photo is at the Manistee Ranch Historic Site at 51st and Northern avenues in Glendale.

Flashback: Herbert Hamilton, a Wisconsin lumberman, built the house for his family in 1897 after moving to the Salt River Valley, per the Glendale Arizona Historical Society.

• In 1907, Hamilton sold the ranch to Louis Sands, also a lumberman, who'd moved from Michigan to Flagstaff, where he became involved with the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company. He named the ranch for his hometown in Michigan.

Declines in tech stocks? Healthy movement. Local officials stopping data centers? Prevents overbuild. Valuations high? Well, they deserve to be.

Why it matters: Every risk for the AI trade is framed as a positive by Wall Street bulls who are adamant we are in the early stages of the AI revolution.

'Tis the season to put a ring on it — and thanks to lab-grown diamonds, those rings are bigger and cheaper than ever.

Why it matters: Lab diamonds continue to reshape the engagement ring market, with the prices of all diamonds dropping and more fingers dripping in multiple carats.

By the numbers: A natural 3-carat diamond could cost an average of 16 times the cost of a lab-grown version, according to data from independent diamond industry analyst Paul Zimnisky.

• The Knot's latest study found more than half of engaged couples (52%) had rings with lab-grown stones — a first for the annual survey.
• And the stones went from an average of 1.5 carats in 2021, to 1.7 carats in 2024. According to Zimnisky, demand has particularly spiked for 2- to 3-carat natural diamonds and 3- to 5-carat lab diamonds.

Meanwhile, December (and Christmas Day, specifically) remains the most popular time of year to pop the question, per The Knot.

• It's part of "engagement season" which goes from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day, when The Knot says almost half of couples get engaged.

Between the lines: The most reliable way to know whether a diamond was mined is with a report from an authority like the Gemological Institute of America.

• To the naked eye, lab and natural diamonds look nearly identical — even gemologists need special instruments to tell them apart — though Zimnisky says that most lab diamonds lack the yellow tint that natural diamonds have from the presence of trace nitrogen.

What they're saying: "I think we will eventually get to a point where most lab diamonds sell for under $1,000," Zimnisky tells Axios.

What we're watching: Vintage, old mine cut diamonds have gotten more popular — and can be replicated in lab versions.

High-level delegations from at least nine countries descended on the same locale for parallel negotiations this weekend on Ukraine and Gaza.

Setting the scene: That location was not Geneva or Paris, but a sprawling country club outside Miami, co-owned by Steve Witkoff — President Trump's lead negotiator on both of those conflicts.

CBS News pulled a segment on Trump administration deportations of Venezuelan immigrants to an El Salvador prison from "60 Minutes," causing staffers and media onlookers to question whether the decision was politically motivated.

Why it matters: The decision comes days after President Trump publicly complained the show was treating him even worse since CBS' parent company was acquired earlier this year.

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel will deliver a "deeply personal" 2025 Alternative Christmas Message for viewers on Channel 4 in the U.K., the British network announced Sunday.

The big picture: He'll reflect on the past few months that saw his show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" briefly pulled from the air following outcry from President Trump and others in response to his comments on the ABC program about the killing of Charlie Kirk, per a Channel 4 statement.