Arizona attorney general sues Chinese online retailer Temu over data theft claims

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By SEJAL GOVINDARAO

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Tuesday that Arizona is the latest state to sue Temu and its parent company PDD Holdings Inc. over allegations that the Chinese online retailer is stealing customers’ data.

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Mayes said the app deceives customers about the quality of its low-cost products and collects what she described as a shocking amount of sensitive data without the consent of users, including GPS locations and a list of other apps on users’ phones.

According to the lawsuit, prosecutors are concerned about Temu being subject to laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government, and that its code is designed to evade security reviews.

“It can detect everywhere you go, to a doctor’s office, to a public library, to a political event, to your friends’ houses,” Mayes said during a news conference. “So the scope of this invasion of privacy is enormous, and that’s why I consider it possibly the gravest violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act that we have ever seen in Arizona.”

Arizona’s top prosecutor also said the state wants to protect businesses from being “ripped off” by the online retailer, alleging the company has copied the intellectual property of brands that include the Arizona Cardinals and Arizona State University.

Attorneys general in Kentucky, Nebraska and Arkansas have filed similar lawsuits in recent years.

There have been legislative efforts at the federal level to counter China’s influence, especially when it comes to technology and intellectual property. But Mayes suggested there should be greater intervention by the federal government to protect consumers.

Mayes called the allegations against Temu more egregious than those that have been made against TikTok.

Through a forensic review, investigators in Arizona found the app’s code has portions recognized by experts as malware or spyware and allows exfiltration of data from a user’s mobile device while concealing that the app is doing so. The review also found in the app “large swaths” of previously banned code from the platform’s precursor version.

Mayes urged Arizonans to delete their Temu accounts, uninstall the app and scan their devices for malware.

A day after leaving Vikings, Adam Thielen signs with Steelers

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — Adam Thielen didn’t stay out of work long.

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed the veteran wide receiver to their practice squad on Tuesday, a day after the 35-year-old was released by the Minnesota Vikings so he could pursue more playing time elsewhere.

Thielen had just eight catches for 69 yards in his return to Minnesota, where he starred from 2014-22 before a two-year stint with Carolina.

It might not take Thielen long to find his way onto the field in Pittsburgh. The Steelers (6-6) have struggled to do much in the pass game of late with neither Roman Wilson nor Calvin Austin III becoming consistent contributors alongside DK Metcalf.

Thielen is the second experienced wideout to join Pittsburgh’s practice squad in recent weeks. The Steelers signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling last month, though he has yet to find his way onto the 53-man roster on gamedays.

Pittsburgh also promoted Asante Samuel Jr. from the practice squad and released six-time Pro Bowler Darius Slay, who had been a healthy scratch in recent weeks.

Samuel made his first appearance with the Steelers in Sunday’s loss to Buffalo, finishing with three tackles in his return to action after undergoing neck surgery last spring. Tomlin saw enough of Slay to sign him to the active roster rather than risk someone poaching Slay from the practice squad late in the season.

“We certainly wanted to have an opportunity to see him in stadium before we maybe had to make a decision on him, before someone else forced our hand regarding decisions,” Tomlin said, later adding, “we liked some of the things we saw.”

Slay, signed to a one-year deal in March, had essentially been benched by Tomlin in favor of less experienced players, including James Pierre.

Doodling, drowsiness and a conspicuous misspelling highlight Trump’s last Cabinet meeting of 2025

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By WILL WEISSERT and MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — With Tuesday’s White House Cabinet meeting chugging past the two-hour mark, President Donald Trump ‘s eyes fluttered and closed. His budget director busied himself doodling a fluffy cloud. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was lucky enough to speak early, but the title on his nameplate was misspelled.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s name card is seen misspelled during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

The sleepy, and occasionally slipshod, gathering nonetheless ended with a flurry of news. Trump declared that he didn’t want Somalis in the U.S. and Hegseth cited the “ fog of war ” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.

The president started things off by noting that it was the last time his Cabinet would gather until 2026. And, though marathon sessions with his top advisers lavishing praise have become a Trump trademark since he returned to the White House, this latest installment felt at times like a holiday break was needed.

Trump offered lengthy opening comments largely rehashing his key previous policy announcements from recent months. He also repeated old grievances, going back to his falsehoods about having won the 2020 election.

‘Go quickly’

The president then gave each Cabinet member a chance to speak, declaring, “We’re gonna go quickly.” That did little to stop most Cabinet members from offering long presentations.

Hegseth went first and praised the Trump administration’s move to rename his agency the Department of War — something that can’t be officially done without an act of Congress. But the nameplate in front of Hegseth labeled him the “ssecretary of war,” including a mistaken double “S” that quickly became the source of searing online ridicule.

After that, as each official took turns speaking, a TV camera trained on Trump showed him struggling to stay alert. The president sat back in his chair with his eyes occasionally drooping and sometimes shutting completely.

President Donald Trump closes his eyes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump’s apparent sleepiness followed his criticism of a recent New York Times story examining his schedule and stamina at age 79. Trump again slammed the Times story early in Tuesday’s meeting and even slipped into the third person to assure all involved that “Trump is sharp.”

Another indication that things were dragging came from budget director Russell Vought, who was spotted sketching a bucolic scene on White House letterhead.

Vought drew mountains framed by pine trees topped by the kind of friendly-seeming clouds that public television legend Bob Ross preferred to crowd his serene landscape paintings with. The budget chief also sketched an arrow underneath his mountain. Where it was supposed to be pointing was not clear.

Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, attends the Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Clashing affordability messaging

Just as Trump’s admonishments to keep things tight were flouted, some of the Cabinet members also defied the president in their presentations when it came to the issue of affordability.

Trump made a point in his opening remarks to call concerns that Democrats have raised about rising costs a “con job.” That didn’t stop many of his administration’s top voices from earnestly detailing how they were indeed seeking to reduce prices nationwide.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins talked about economic pressures on farmers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called affordability a “crisis,” and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said that hundreds of thousands of Americans becoming first-time homebuyers was an example of how the administration was making strides to achieve greater affordability.

The final speaker was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke for several minutes and acknowledged: “I know I’m last, so I wanted to be fast. But there’s a lot to cover.”

All told, Tuesday’s gathering lasted more than two hours. That fell short of Trump’s Cabinet meeting record: an August marathon that stretched to a whopping three hours and 17 minutes.

Still, even the president acknowledged that the latest meeting was going long. “We’re spending a lot of time in here,” he said.

President Donald Trump stands up to depart following a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump wrapped things by taking questions from reporters, but only after jokingly asking, “After that, do you WANT to ask any questions?” He also pointed at a journalist holding a boom mic to capture sound from the Cabinet meeting and playfully offered, “How strong are you?”

“You’ve been holding that for two hours,” the president continued, drawing laughs from Cabinet members. “There are very few people who could do that. I’m very proud of you.”

A newsy Q&A

Reporters’ questions shook off the doldrums.

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Hegseth said he did not see that there were survivors in the water when the second strike on the boat off Venezuela was ordered and launched in early September. He said “the thing was on fire” and cited the “fog of war” in defending what occurred. He also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the Sept. 2 mission following the initial strike.

In response to a later question, Trump declared he didn’t want Somali immigrants in the U.S., adding that residents of the war-ravaged eastern African country should stay there and try to fix their homeland. He also accused Somalis of being too reliant on U.S. aid programs while offering little to the nation in return.

That drew applause from his Cabinet, though the questions ended abruptly with journalists soon hustled out of the room. Trump punctuated the conclusion by slapping his hand twice on the table, pushing his chair back, standing up and thumping Hegseth on the shoulder.

Edmonton means home, and hockey, for Jared Spurgeon

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While he and his family are settled into year-round life in Minnesota after spending his entire NHL career with the Wild, captain Jared Spurgeon admitted trips to Edmonton are always special.

Spurgeon, 36, is originally from the home of the Oilers, playing youth hockey there and cheering for the team before major junior hockey in Spokane, Wash., brought him to the United States.

He caught up with friends and family Monday after the Wild arrived in Edmonton, and said he’s embraced the challenge of facing the Oilers, who are off to a slower-than-expected start, but are always dangerous with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl moving pucks and keeping opposing defenders like Spurgeon busy.

“They’re obviously pretty special players, so it takes a full five-man unit out there to stop those guys,” said Spurgeon, who is in his sixth season as the Wild’s captain. “Just working together and trying to play down in their end as much as possible to keep them out of ours.”

After two straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final (which both ended in losses to the Florida Panthers), the Oilers were a pedestrian 11-10-5 coming into Tuesday’s meeting with Minnesota. Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch had broken up McDavid and Draisaitl, putting them on different lines for now. Wild coach John Hynes joked Spurgeon would be getting four-minute shifts to try and thwart both Oilers stars.

In an era where the prototypical NHL defenseman is well over six feet tall before putting on skates, Spurgeon — all 5-foot-9 of him — will hit the 1,000 games milestone this season if he stays healthy, and has never been limited by his stature.

“When you see him play and you coach him every day, he’s a great competitor, his skating, he’s fearless,” Hynes told reporters in Edmonton. “But his hockey sense and his ability to play as a smaller defenseman, whether it’s going back for pucks on breakout and knowing when he’s gonna get hit, when he’s not going to get hit. His ability to defend hard, you watch him in the corners and at the net-front, as a smaller guy, he uses his leverage.”

Spurgeon entered Tuesday’s matchup with a goal and three assists in his first 26 games this season.

Wallstedt honored by NHL

With one-fourth of the regular season concluded, NHL.com convened a 16-person panel a few weeks ago to vote on who would win NHL rookie of the year after 20-some games. Not surprisingly, players from three of the league’s biggest media markets — New York, Montreal and Los Angeles — got the nods with Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer first, Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov second and Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke third.

But perhaps those voters are paying a bit more attention to the State of Hockey today, after Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt was named the NHL’s rookie of the month for November on Tuesday.

Wallstedt was 6-0-0 with a NHL-leading 1.14 goals-against average, a .967 save percentage and three shutouts in his six wins in November to help Minnesota climb back into the Central Division race.

Wallstedt, who struggled last year in Iowa after getting sent down early in the 2024-25 season, has seen his game flourish this season in part because he uses his big frame to play positionally sound.

“I’m just going to try to play high-percentage hockey,” he said. “Make sure I have as much of the net covered and try to just make it look as simple as possible.”

Wallstedt starting in Edmonton on Tuesday was a tough pill for some Oilers fans to swallow. Part of the Oilers’ early season mediocrity has been due to uneven play in goal, and many on social media are quick to point out that Minnesota selected Wallstedt with the 20th pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. That pick belonged to Edmonton, until the Wild — picking 22nd — gave the Oilers a third-round pick (90th overall) to move up two spots.

Picking at No. 22 after the trade, Edmonton selected forward Xavier Bourgault, who was later traded to Ottawa and has yet to make his NHL debut. With that third-round pick acquired from Minnesota, the Oilers selected defenseman Luca Munzenberger, who played four years of college hockey at Vermont, and is now toiling in the pro leagues back in his native Germany.

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