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Dec. 11 (UPI) — The Powerball jackpot has jumped to $1 billion after no one stepped forward with the winning ticket in Wednesday night’s drawing.

It’s the second time the prize has climbed to a billion dollars this year, and the seventh biggest prize in the history of the game, Powerball said.

Powerball said the jackpot is worth an estimated $461.3 million in cash value. Winners have a choice between annual payments worth an estimated $1 billion, or receiving a lump sum cash prize.

The largest ever prize in the game’s history, $2.04 billion, was claimed on Nov. 7, 2002.

Since two tickets in Missouri and Texas split the $1.787 billion dollar prize on Sept. 6, there have been 40 consecutive drawings with no winner.

The next Powerball drawing is scheduled for Saturday.

The odds of winning are one in 292. 2 million, according to Powerball. Tickets are $2 each.

Walt Disney Co. agreed to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and license iconic characters like Mickey Mouse and Cinderella to Sora, OpenAI’s short-form, artificial intelligence video platform.

As part of the three-year licensing pact, Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing from a library of more than 200 animated and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, according to a statement from Disney on Thursday. The deal doesn’t cover any talent likenesses or voices.

At the same time, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its tools to build new products and experiences and deploying ChatGPT for its employees.

“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said in the statement.

Hollywood studios have been reluctant to get into business with an AI company, wary of how it might use their data and of angering the labor unions with which they work every day. But OpenAI has been talking to the industry’s largest studios, including Disney, Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., about the creative and commercial potential of Sora, Bloomberg News has previously reported.

The AI developer unveiled a new version of Sora in September as a standalone social app, available by invitation. As with the original Sora, released last December, users can generate short clips in response to text prompts, but the new app allows people to see videos created by others. Beyond that, users can create a realistic-looking AI avatar and voice of themselves, which can be inserted into videos made with the app by the user or their friends, with the avatar owner’s permission.

Schuetz writes for Bloomberg.

Brookfield, a New York-based investment firm, has agreed to invest $12 billion in green energy projects in Andhra Pradesh (AP), India, over the next three years, including a clean energy-powered 3-gigawatt (GW) data center.

Brookfield’s investment, announced at the 2025 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit held in AP, is the biggest foreign investment in India’s green energy sector. It surpasses commitment from ReNew Energy Global ($6.7 billion).

This is among the largest recent investments in AP, second only to Google’s $15 billion plan to build an AI hub and India’s largest data center with Adani Group from 2026 to 2030—the biggest such project outside the US.

As a part of Brookfield’s investment commitment, in November, Evren, a clean energy platform in India, a joint venture between Brookfield and Axis Energy, launched a hybrid project. The initiative combines 640 megawatts of wind and 400 megawatts of solar capacity to form a 1.04-GW project worth $1.12 billion at Kurnool in AP.

Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC), a public-sector and non-banking finance company, sanctioned $846 million in funding for the project. It was the single largest sanction by REC for a private project.

Brookfield is focusing on investments across the value chain in the green energy sector. It is likely to invest in the integrated manufacturing facility of Indian solar manufacturer Indosol, India’s Navayuga renewable energy portfolio, and green hydrogen projects.

Brookfield is also planning to invest in other sectors in the state, like a satellite township and hotels under its Leela brand, and aims to expand its Indian portfolio from $30 billion to $100 billion by 2030. The company will increase investments beyond the $12 billion pledged to invest in the real estate and hospitality sectors.

The summit attracted a total of $149.83 billion in investments. AP has become the best business destination for foreign investors and multinational corporations among the southern Indian states, due to its investor-friendly government policies, including escrow account facilities and sovereign guarantees, real-time land and clearance processing, sector-specific incentives for data centers and green energy, and single window clearance.

ONE of the country’s busiest airports has started work on its $6 billion renovation project.

The expansion and enhancement plan includes rolling out a new vertical takeoff facility, facial recognition and other technological improvements, and putting customers first.

Orlando International Airport’s 10-year “Visioning Plan” which officially began on Wednesday, will see travelers impacted over the coming years but all for the greater good.

The project aims to see the airport more readily meet demand as it breaks passenger records year on year by focusing on customer experience, community, infrastructure, and people.

“This vision focuses and unites everything we do around one core purpose: delivering an exceptional experience for everyone who passes through our airports,” said the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) CEO Mr. Lyttle.

“We’re creating spaces that are more welcoming, efficient, and enjoyable, from the parking areas to the gate, so that every step of the journey feels seamless.”

The renovation will take place in five-year and 10-year phases, with completion scheduled for 2035.

For example, by 2030, The GOAA hopes to have developed at least one cargo processing facility and an FAA-approved on-airport AAM vertiport serving various commercial operators.

A vertiport allows for vertical take off and landing from electrical aircraft such as drones and air taxis.

“The development of vertiports will play a pivotal role in the advanced air mobility (AAM) transformation,” said Steer, an infrastructure and critical services global consultancy firm.

“These facilities aim to enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and safety of urban air transport, making it a viable alternative to traditional ground-based transportation.”

Meanwhile, it will also add an extra 8,000 parking spaces to the airport, install a new baggage handling system, and finish Airside 2 gate expansions by 2030.

The completion of Terminal C Phase 2 construction is scheduled for 2035.

Other elements of the renovation plan include the roll out of facial recognition technology rather than boarding passes, smart restrooms, improved lounges, including VR experiences, and enhanced wayfinding and flight information displays.

All of these changes should greatly improve the experience of all travelers, especially those visiting Walt Disney World.

However, as work begins on the refurbishment of the airport’s Gate Link vehicles, including to the tracks and electrical equipment, travelers have already been warned about disruption.

Passengers set to travel through terminals A or B can expect delays between the TSA checkpoint and their gate, the airport has said.

Gates 70 to 129 are affected with only one tram operating between them and the two terminals from December 7.

These gates are used by major airlines including Avelo, Southwest, Delta, Frontier, and Spirit.

The repairs and upgrades will last until fall 2027 with passengers having to wait longer for a tram or even use shuttle buses during overnight hours when no trams are running.

“While this project requires some temporary adjustments, the long-term benefits will enhance safety and ensure our Gate Link system serves passengers reliably for decades to come,” Lyttle said.

“Please allow additional time when arriving or departing MCO from these gates, and follow the directional signage, and information from our airport ambassadors,” the airport tells passengers.

It comes after another US airport has opened its brand new $1.7 billion departures terminal in time for the holidays.

WASHINGTON — President Biden asked Congress on Thursday for another $33 billion to support Ukraine in its defense from Russia’s invasion and for the authority to make it easier to seize and sell the assets of Russian oligarchs, vowing anew that the U.S. was committed to ensuring Ukraine’s victory in a war likely to drag on for months.

The funding request — which earmarks $20 billion for military assistance, $8.5 billion in economic assistance to help Ukraine’s government continue to function and $3 billion in humanitarian aid — is what the U.S. believes will be necessary over the next five months as the war becomes a protracted conflict.

“We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom,” Biden said during a speech from the White House. “The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is more costly.”

Biden also wants lawmakers to make it a crime for a person to “knowingly or intentionally possess proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government,” double the statute of limitations for foreign money laundering offenses to 10 years, and expand the definition of racketeering under U.S. law to include efforts to evade sanctions.

“These are bad guys,” Biden said.

The president asked Congress to allow the federal government to use the proceeds from selling the seized assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs to help the people of Ukraine. That proposal was already gaining bipartisan support in Congress, with Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) introducing legislation last month that would allow the Justice Department to liquidate confiscated assets and direct the funding toward a new State Department relief fund for Ukraine.

The U.S. has already spent $14 billion to bolster Ukraine.

The latest White House push to broaden its support for Ukraine follows Biden’s announcement earlier this month of $1.6 billion in new defense aid, a tranche that included offensive weapons — howitzers, drones and helicopters — that Ukraine’s military desperately needs as the conflict shifts to a brutal ground battle in the country’s eastern Donbas region. And it comes just days after Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III traveled to Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The increasing willingness of the U.S. and other NATO allies to heavily arm Ukraine marks a clear strategic shift away from the war’s initial phase, when allies had been more hesitant to send weapons and munitions that Russian President Vladimir Putin might view as an escalation.

In recent days, Moscow has reiterated threats that it may resort to more direct attacks against the West if it continues its support of Ukraine but those threats have not deterred the U.S. and other allies.

Biden, however, scoffed at claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, that Western support for Ukraine amounted to aggression against Moscow.

“We’re not attacking Russia. We’re helping Ukraine defend itself,” Biden said. “Russia is the aggressor. No if, ands or buts about it.”

He said Putin’s recent bluster was, in his view, “a reflection of [Russia’s] failure” on the battlefield.