REGULATORS BLOCK ALIBABA'S MONEYGRAM PURCHASE: U.S. regulators are blocking the sale of MoneyGram, a money transfer firm, to a subsidiary of the Chinese company Alibaba.

The chiefs of MoneyGram and Ant Financial said Wednesday the sale was canceled after opposition from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

The CFIUS is as an interagency group of regulators based out of the Treasury Department that reviews pending foreign purchases of U.S. businesses for national security concerns.

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Ant Financial had been in talks to buy MoneyGram for "nearly a year" before the CFIUS blocked the deal, said MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes.

"The geopolitical environment has changed considerably since we first announced the proposed transaction," Holmes said. "Despite our best efforts to work cooperatively with the U.S. government, it has now become clear that CFIUS will not approve this merger."

Alibaba, Ant Financial's parent company, is one of the world's most valuable businesses, worth nearly $500 billion. Doug Feagin, president of Ant Financial International, said the company was "excited and encouraged" about its future and said the company would partner with MoneyGram under a "new strategic cooperation."

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FCC CHIEF PULLS OUT OF CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW: Ajit Pai, the Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission, is pulling out of his scheduled appearance at the popular Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a trade group that hosts the annual convention did not give a reason for the cancellation. Pai, who is missing the show for the first time in five years, was slated to appear weeks after his agency scrapped the popular Obama-era net neutrality rules.

"Unfortunately, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is unable to attend CES 2018," Gary Shapiro, CTA's president and CEO, said in a statement. "We look forward to our next opportunity to host a technology policy discussion with him before a public audience."

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INTEL REVEALS VULNERABILITY NOT LIMITED TO ITS CHIPS: The massive cyber-vulnerability revealed this week in Intel's chips goes beyond the firm and affects other companies' chips as well, according to Intel.

The chip flaw leaves many computer processors created over the last 10 years, according to some reports, open to potential attacks from malware.

The issue is particularly difficult to resolve because most cybersecurity vulnerabilities happen on software, which is easier to fix than hardware flaws.

Intel said in a statement on Wednesday that it had planned to disclose the flaw next week and notes that the bug is not unique to its products, as previously reported.

"Intel and other technology companies have been made aware of new security research describing software analysis methods that, when used for malicious purposes, have the potential to improperly gather sensitive data from computing devices that are operating as designed," the company said. "Intel believes these exploits do not have the potential to corrupt, modify or delete data."

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NET NEUTRALITY ACTIVISTS LOOK TO PRESSURE LAWMAKERS IN MIDTERM YEAR: A pro-net neutrality group is launching a new campaign to pressure members of Congress into saving the Federal Communications Commission rules from repeal.

Fight for the Future announced a new website on Wednesday to turn up the heat on lawmakers ahead of the midterm elections later this year.

"It's 2018. If they don't vote for net neutrality this spring, we can vote them out in November," reads a banner on votefornetneutrality.com.

The FCC voted to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules in December, prompting a massive outcry from internet users and Democrats. The rules required internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally.

Democrats in the House and Senate have promised bills to block the FCC's move using the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress the ability to kill recently passed regulations with a simple majority in both chambers and the president's signature. Those bills have been backed by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has vowed to force a vote on his chamber's legislation.

Fight for the Future plans to keep a scorecard documenting where lawmakers land on the issue. Its new site helps supporters target those who are against the bill or on the fence with calls and tweets.

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TWITTER SAYS TRUMP TWEET DIDN'T VIOLATE CONTENT POLICIES: Twitter said on Wednesday that President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE did not violate the platform's policies against violent threats when he raised the possibility of nuclear war with North Korea in a tweet late Tuesday.

Trump in a post directed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wrote, "I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

A spokeswoman for Twitter told The Hill that the tweet did not violate its terms of service.

Many of the president's critics had complained that the social media company was failing to uphold its policies against making "specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people."

On Tuesday night, protesters in San Francisco accused Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey of being "complicit" and called on the company to suspend Trump's account.

Read more here.

ON TAP:

The Federal Communications Bar Association will hold a brown bag lunch discussing net neutrality at 12:15 p.m.

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