Axios

East Coast communities, local, state and federal authorities all are watching the skies as the drone conundrum deepens. As the White House works to quell concerns over the unmanned aerial vehicles spotted in several states, calls grow for more transparency and resources.

Here's what you may have missed when newsmakers hit the airwaves this Sunday, December 15.

The Biden administration asked Israel to approve U.S. military assistance to Palestinian Authority security forces for a wide-ranging operation the PA is conducting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian, U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios.

Why it matters: The security operation to regain control in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp from militants is the largest conducted by Palestinian security forces in years.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned that when a computer system reaches a point where it can self-improve, "we seriously need to think about unplugging it."

Why it matters: The multi-faceted artificial intelligence race is far from the finish line — but in just a few short years, the boundaries of the field have been pushed exponentially, sparking both awe and concern.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has become a voice of bipartisanship, making moves that he tells Axios are "responsible and completely appropriate" — but that are putting him on an island, apart from other Democrats.

• As the vast majority of Democrats on Capitol Hill fume over many of Donald Trump's Cabinet picks and his plans for a second term, Fetterman is showing a rare willingness to engage with parts of MAGA world.

Why it matters: It's easy to think Fetterman could be a new version of Democrat-turned-independent Joe Manchin, a West Virginian who occasionally has frustrated Democrats and the Biden administration with his legislative demands.

A handful of top U.S. universities are urging international students who travel home for winter break to be back in the country before President-elect Trump takes office.

The big picture: Trump has vowed to crack down on both illegal and legal immigration, and school leaders are worried one of his first actions could be an executive order limiting entrance to the U.S. like he did with the Muslim Ban in 2017.

ABC will pay $15 million to President-elect Trump's museum foundation and $1 million in legal fees to settle a suit over comments by anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Why it matters: The settlement is one of the biggest any media company has struck with the former (and pending) president, who has sued a number of publishers over the years.

Israel and Jordan conducted secret talks on Friday to coordinate about the situation in Syria, three Israeli officials told Axios.

Why it matters: The fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime has left a fragile state, a chemical weapons stockpile and numerous different armed rebel groups, some of them Islamist organizations once affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) became the latest elected official on Saturday to call on the Biden administration to direct federal law enforcement to her state over mysterious drone sightings across the region.

The big picture: While the White House has said the suspicious drones being reported are likely just planes, elected officials in states affected, including Hochul, have launched investigations and demanded federal probes.

President-elect Trump could resurrect his first-term goal to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service, which would influence how e-commerce giants operate, impact hundreds of thousands of government jobs and potentially undercut reliable delivery to more remote areas.

Why it matters: America's mail carrier is the second most-beloved federal agency behind the National Park Service, polling shows. Like many industries, the rise of the internet has hurt its bottom line — and its leadership has failed to reverse that financial trend in recent years.

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) underwent a hip replacement after falling during a congressional trip to Luxembourg, her office said Saturday.

What happened: The 84-year-old former speaker fell on Friday and sustained a serious injury to her hip, for which she was hospitalized, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the U.S. has been in direct contact with Sunni Islamist opposition group HTS, which led the revolution that toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

Why it matters: This is the first time the U.S. has publicly confirmed any direct contact with HTS, which it designates as a terrorist organization.

A Wall Street Journal headline calls this "The Week CEOs Bent the Knee to Trump."

Driving the news: Apple CEO Tim Cook dined at breezy Mar-a-Lago last night — a day after a pilgrimage to Trump's table on Thursday by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google cofounder Sergey Brin. Mark Zuckerberg flew in on Thanksgiving Eve. Jeff Bezos will sit down with Trump next week.

More than a dozen congressional Democrats plan to sit out President-elect Trump's inauguration. Many more are anxiously grappling with whether to attend, Axios' Andrew Solender and Erin Doherty report.

• Why it matters: Not every Democrat skipping the ceremony will do so to protest Trump. But a formal boycott is materializing as a first act of resistance against the incoming president.

For many Democrats, the scars of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol remain fresh.

A Wall Street Journal headline calls this "The Week CEOs Bent the Knee to Trump":

• Apple CEO Tim Cook dined at breezy Mar-a-Lago last night — a day after a pilgrimage to Trump's table on Thursday by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google cofounder Sergey Brin. Mark Zuckerberg flew in on Thanksgiving Eve. Jeff Bezos will sit down with Trump next week.
• Meta! Amazon! OpenAI! Rat-tat, each donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund. "President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement to Axios.

56-year-old Hot Wheels are the best-selling toys in the world.

• Why it matters: That's in part because both kids and adults — some of whom have 1,000-strong collections of the cars — are driving the sales, The Washington Post reports (gift link).

Adult collectors drive about a third of the revenue, Roberto Stanichi, who oversees Hot Wheels at Mattel, tells the Post.

• Mattel makes around 709 million cars every year. Last year, gross sales jumped 14%, to $1.43 billion.

At her core, Jemele Hill is an innovator and creative force, evolving from a journalist with a sports focus to a multimedia entrepreneur.

The big picture: Her latest projects — including "Above the Fold" for TNT Sports and Spolitics on iHeart — transcend content, becoming conversations that challenge traditional narratives and spotlight culture, identity and race.

More than a dozen congressional Democrats plan to sit out President-elect Trump's inauguration, and many more are anxiously grappling with whether to attend, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Not every Democrat skipping the ceremony will do so to protest Trump — but a formal boycott is materializing as a first act of resistance against the incoming president.

Some of America's closest allies are melting down politically and sputtering economically, even before President-elect Trump takes office promising tariffs and unpredictability.

The big picture: South Korea's president impeached, warnings of economic crisis in Germany, an unprecedented government collapse in France — and that was just last week.