Category: World

China’s tit-for-tat import taxes on some American goods came into effect on Monday, as the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies escalates and US President Donald Trump threatens to hit more countries with tariffs.

Beijing announced the plan on 4 February, minutes after new US levies of 10% on all Chinese products came into effect.

On Sunday, Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports into the US, with a full announcement to come on Monday.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to the Super Bowl, he also said he was planning reciprocal tariffs on other nations – but did not specify which ones would be targeted.

China’s latest tariffs on US goods include a 15% border tax on imports of US coal and liquefied natural gas products. There is also a 10% tariff on American crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars.

Last week, Chinese authorities launched an anti-monopoly probe into technology giant Google, while PVH, the US owner of designer brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, was added to Beijing’s so-called “unreliable entity” list.

China has also imposed export controls on 25 rare metals, some of which are key components for many electrical products and military equipment.

Trump’s announcement over the weekend of plans to impose a 25% tax on the US’s steel and aluminium imports comes days after he reached deals with Canada and Mexico to avoid 25% tariffs that he had threatened on all goods from the countries.

He introduced similar measures during his first term as president, imposing 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminium, but later granted several trading partners duty-free quotas – including Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

The EU import taxes were not resolved until the Biden administration took over the White House.

There was no mention on Sunday of which countries, if any, would be granted similar exemptions if these new tariffs are implemented in the following days.

His intention to implement reciprocal tariffs would fulfil an election campaign pledge to levy tariffs at the same rates that are imposed on US goods.

He also said import taxes for vehicles remained on the table after reports he was considering exemptions to universal tariffs.

Trump has repeatedly complained that European Union (EU) tariffs on imports of American cars are much higher than US levies.

Last week, Trump told the BBC tariffs on EU goods could happen “pretty soon” – but suggested a deal could be “worked out” with the UK.

The day after the latest US tariffs came into effect, Beijing accused Washington of making “unfounded and false allegations” about its role in the trade of the synthetic opioid fentanyl to justify the move.

In a complaint lodged with the World Trade Organization (WTO), China said the US import taxes were “discriminatory and protectionist” and violated trade rules.

But experts have warned China is unlikely to secure a ruling in its favour as the WTO panel that settles disputes remains unable to function.

Trump had been expected to speak to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in recent days but the US president has said he was in no hurry to hold talks.

Some of the many measures brought in by Trump since he took office on 20 January have been subject to change.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg8zg7ll09o

It was a warm February night when an ominous message popped into Hannah Grundy’s inbox in Sydney.

“I will just keep emailing because I think this is worthy of your attention,” the anonymous sender wrote.

Inside was a link, and a warning in bold: “[This] contains disturbing material.”

She hesitated for a moment, fearing it was a scam.

The reality was so much worse. The link contained pages and pages of fake pornography featuring Hannah, alongside detailed rape fantasies and violent threats.

“You’re tied up in them,” she recalls. “You look afraid. You’ve got tears in your eyes. You’re in a cage.”

Written in kitschy word art on some images was Hannah’s full name. Her Instagram handle was posted, as was the suburb she lived in. She would later learn her phone number had also been given out.

That email kicked off a saga Hannah likens to a movie. She was left to become her own detective, uncovering a sickening betrayal by someone close to her, and building a case which changed her life – and Australian legal standards.

It’s a chilly mid-winter afternoon in Segovia, in central Spain, and tourists are gathered at the foot of the city’s Roman aqueduct, gazing up at its famous arches and taking selfies.

Many of the visitors are Spanish, but there are also people from other European countries, Asians and Latin Americans, all drawn by Segovia’s historic charm, gastronomy and dramatic location just beyond the mountains north of Madrid.

“There was a moment during Covid when I thought ‘maybe tourism will never, ever be like it was before’,” says Elena Mirón, a local guide dressed in a fuchsia-coloured beret who is about to lead a group across the city.

“But now things are very good and I feel this year is going to be a good year, like 2023 and 2024. I’m happy, because I can live off this job I love.”

Spain received a record 94 million visitors in 2024 and is now vying with France, which saw 100 million, to be the world’s biggest foreign tourist hub.

And the tourism industry’s post-Covid expansion is a major reason why the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy has been easily outgrowing the likes of Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, posting an increase in GDP of 3.2% last year.

By contrast, the German economy contracted by 0.2% in 2024, while France grew by 1.1%, Italy by 0.5%, and the UK by an expected 0.9%.

This all helps explain why the Economist magazine has ranked Spain as the world’s best-performing economy.

“The Spanish model is successful because it is a balanced model, and this is what guarantees the sustainability of growth,” says Carlos Cuerpo, the business minister in the Socialist-led coalition government. He points out that Spain was responsible for 40% of eurozone growth last year.

Although he underlined the importance of tourism, Mr Cuerpo also pointed to financial services, technology, and investment as factors which have helped Spain bounce back from the depths of the pandemic, when GDP shrank by 11% in one year.

“We are getting out of Covid without scars and by modernising our economy and therefore lifting our potential GDP growth,” he adds.

That modernisation process is being aided by post-pandemic recovery funds from the EU’s Next Generation programme. Spain is due to receive up to €163bn by 2026 ($169bn; £136bn), making it the biggest recipient of these funds alongside Italy.

Spain is investing the money in the national rail system, low-emissions zones in towns and cities, as well as in the electric vehicle industry and subsidies for small businesses.

“Public spending has been high, and is responsible for approximately half our growth since the pandemic,” says María Jesús Valdemoros, lecturer in economics at Spain’s IESE Business School.

Other major European economies have seen their growth stymied by their greater reliance than Spain on industry, which, she says, “is suffering a lot at the moment due to factors such as the high cost of energy, competition from China and other Asian countries, the cost of the transition to a more sustainable environmental model and trade protectionism”.

Since Covid, the other major economic challenge for Spain has been the cost-of-living crisis triggered by supply-chain bottlenecks and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Inflation peaked at an annual rate of 11% in July of that year, with energy prices hitting Spaniards particularly hard, but by the end of 2024 it had fallen back to 2.8%.

Madrid believes that subsidies it introduced to cut the cost of fuel consumption and encourage public transport use were key in mitigating the impact of the energy price rises, as well as several increases to the minimum wage.

At the height of the European energy crisis, Spain and Portugal also negotiated with Brussels a so-called “Iberian exception”, allowing them to cap the price of gas used to generate electricity in order to reduce consumers’ bills.

Mr Cuerpo argues that such measures have helped counter Spain’s traditional vulnerability to economic turmoil.

“Spain is proving to be more resilient to successive shocks – including the inflation shock that came with the war in Ukraine,” he said. “And I think this is part of the overall protective shield that we have put in place for our consumers and for our firms.”

Spain’s economy outperforms its major European neighbours

The country’s green energy output is seen as another favourable factor, not just in guaranteeing electricity, but also spurring investment. Spain has the second-largest renewable energy infrastructure in the EU.

The latter is a boon for a country that is Europe’s second-biggest car producer, according to Wayne Griffiths, the British-born CEO of Seat and Cupra. Although Spanish electric vehicle production is lagging behind the rest of Europe, he sees enormous potential in that area.

“[In Spain] we have all the factors you need to be successful: competitive, well-trained people and also an energy policy behind that,” he says. “There’s no point in making zero-emission cars if you’re using dirty energy.”

Despite these positives, a longstanding weakness of Spain’s economy has been a chronically high jobless rate, which is the biggest in the EU and almost double the block’s average. However, the situation did improve in the last quarter of 2024, when the Spanish jobless unemployment rate declined to 10.6%, its lowest level since 2008.

Meanwhile the number of people in employment in Spain now stands at 22 million, a record high. A labour reform, encouraging job stability, is seen as a key reason for this.

This reform increased restrictions on the use of temporary contracts by companies, favouring greater flexibility in the use of permanent contracts. It has reduced the number of workers in temporary employment without hindering job creation.

Also, although the arrival of immigrants has driven a fierce political debate, their absorption into the labour market is seen by many as crucial for a country with a rapidly ageing population.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y7jmlyx02o

A nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka has been blamed on a monkey that intruded into a power station south of Colombo.

Power is gradually being restored across the island nation of 22 million people, with medical facilities and water purification plants being given priority.

“A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system,” Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody told reporters.

The blackout started at about 11:00 local time (05:30 GMT) Sunday, forcing many to rely on generators. Officials say it may take a few hours to get power back.

On social media, people criticised the authorities while making fun of the incident.

“A rogue monkey knocked out Sri Lanka’s entire power grid after triggering a total failure at a substation in Colombo,” X user Mario Nawfal wrote.

“One monkey = total chaos. Time to rethink infrastructure?” he added.

Another X user, Sreeni R, posted an illustration of Hanuman, a Hindu god with the face of a monkey.

“Sri Lanka tasted monkey business in the past,” he wrote.

“Only in Sri Lanka can a group of monkeys fighting inside a power station cause an islandwide power outage,” wrote Jamila Husain, editor-in-chief of local newspaper Daily Mirror.

In a report published on Monday, the newspaper said engineers have been warning consecutive governments “for years” to upgrade its power grid or face frequent blackouts.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d92n28pqjo

Kendrick Lamar showed out during his performance during the Super Bowl Halftime Show, enlisting SZA, Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams and Mustard for an ode to Compton on the biggest stage in the world.

The set, with its American flag color palette, largely consisted of tracks from his freshly released album “GNX” as well as a few loosies from his deeper catalog. With Jackson serving as a master of ceremonies (dressed as Uncle Sam, naturally), Lamar led a robust team of backup dancers who slipped in and out of formation as he toured his discography, giving renditions of “DNA,” “Peekaboo,” “Squabble Up” and “Humble.”

The million-dollar question leading into the Super Bowl: Would he, or wouldn’t he, perform “Not Like Us,” the song where he accuses his foe Drake of pedophilia, on the biggest stage in the world? Counterpoint: Why wouldn’t he? “Not Like Us” was the most culturally important song of 2024, with continued dominance into this year after winning five Grammys including song and record of the year.

And thus, he did, and then some. Prior to ripping through “Not Like Us,” the massive hit from last year’s back-and-forth with Drake, he stood in an X on the field and stated, “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” gesturing towards the legal action that Drake took against Universal Music Group over releasing and promoting “Not Like Us.”

Which led to the victory lap, the moment to solidify the conclusive winner in the ongoing war of words with Drake, turning the Super Bowl field into a block party as scores of dancers — plus Serena Williams — moved to the tune. (The implication, of course, being that Williams was rumored to have dated Drake in the past.) Though he left out the word “pedophile” during the track, Lamar let the crowd ring out as they shouted “A minor,” adding insult to injury. To conclude? Lamar signed off with “TV Off,” grinning into the camera as “Game Over” illuminated the crowd behind him.

Though the beef has largely dominated much of the cultural conversation over the last year, it was only a piece of the larger pie of Lamar’s Halftime Show, a ceaseless, finely executed performance. The focus largely stayed on Lamar — in the past, musicians have turned the Super Bowl stage into a parade of surprise guests — as he set off the show with an unreleased song featured in a teaser posted to YouTube just hours before “GNX” dropped.

Lamar continued by holding steady in the center of dancers to form the American flag during “Humble.” He made his way across the stage, a long rectangular block dotted with lamposts, for “Man at the Garden” and “Peekaboo,” rapping in front of a group of men perched around one of the posts. SZA soon emerged for “Luther” and “All the Stars” before Lamar hit his slide toward the end zone.

This isn’t Lamar’s first Super Bowl rodeo, as he appeared during the 2022 Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show alongside a coterie of hip-hop and R&B legends. During the 15-minute performance, he graced the stage alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Anderson Paak, making for a widescreen spectacle that bridged generations.

Lamar’s performance at the Super Bowl comes on the heels of a year-long hot streak that started after his culture-shifting verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” which released last March. On the track, he took Drake and J. Cole to task for including him in the “big three” of hip-hop, a designation that he rebuffed and in turn set off a war of words between the trio.

While J. Cole swiftly bowed out of the line of fire, Lamar and Drake went tit-for-tat in the months that followed, releasing increasingly scathing diss tracks that lobbed accusations of infidelity and pedophilia. It all cumulated in May with the release of Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” the Mustard-produced track that swiftly became both a West Coast anthem.

With the sole hit from his tussle with Drake, Lamar became the arguable victor of the spar as “Not Like Us” was an immediate smash, breaking streaming records and earning his first solo record to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Earlier this month, he took a victory lap at the Grammy Awards where he took home both song and record of the year for “Not Like Us,” as well as three other wins in genre categories.

Source : https://variety.com/2025/music/news/kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-halftime-show-drake-1236301990/

Taylor Swift‘s Super Bowl appearance to cheer on her boyfriend Travis Kelce was met with some boos when she was shown on the jumbotron. Watch the moment below.

Swift laughed away the booing, perhaps thinking to herself, “Why you gotta be so mean?” (Get it?!)

Serena Williams also came to her rescue, writing on X, “I love you @taylorswift13 dont listen to those booo!!”

Williams was later seen in the game dancing in Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show. The tennis icon was once rumored to be an ex-girlfriend of Drake, which, considering Lamar’s current feud with the rap star, would be seen as another diss.

Despite the boos, Swift has been good for NFL business. Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt recently spoke to CNBC about how she has lifted the league.

“Well, I think indirectly, the NFL has seen an impact,” he said. “Certainly, our fan base took a big leap forward last year — particularly with female, specifically young female fans. I think we had something like a 30% growth in our fan base, which is pretty significant even for a team that won the Super Bowl. So you have to definitely give Taylor a little bit of credit for that… We still get a lot of eyeballs — this year, we’ve had several games and broken records, and I think Taylor is a little bit a part of that.”

Source : https://variety.com/2025/music/news/taylor-swift-booed-super-bowl-1236302140/

Sir Keir Starmer has taken an HIV test in an effort to help destigmatise checking for the sexually transmitted virus.

The prime minister took the home test at 10 Downing Street to mark the start of HIV Testing Week, and did so alongside soul singer Beverley Knight, who is a strong advocate for HIV awareness.

Sir Keir said: “It’s really important to do it and I’m really pleased to be able to do it. It’s very easy, very quick.”

Richard Angell, chief executive of HIV charity The Terrence Higgins Trust, said he believes Sir Keir is the first prime minister of a G7, European or NATO nation to take an HIV test.

After saying he was “surprised”, the PM added: “Let’s try to encourage other leaders to do the same thing because it’s really important, it’s easy, it’s convenient and it is much better to know.”

Mr Angell said: “It’s an important symbol for people who live with HIV, for fighting the stigma, and to let the public know that tests are free, confidential and easy and available for everyone during this week, and it will make a big difference.”

Around 107,000 people live with HIV in the UK, with approximately 4,700 thought to be unaware of their status.

There is no cure for HIV, which damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease. But there are very effective drug treatments that enable most people with the virus to live a long and healthy life.

As part of HIV Testing Week, which goes on until Sunday, people can order one of 20,000 free and confidential at-home tests, which provide a result in 15 minutes.

Sir Keir has pledged to end new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030, and on World Aids Day last year announced £27m for an expanded testing programme in NHS emergency departments.

Knight became a campaigner for the movement after her friend Tyrone Jamison died of an AIDS-related illness in 2003.

She said: “Living with HIV today is a world away from the experience that my late best friend Tyrone endured in the early 2000s.

“People living with HIV can now easily know their status, can access effective treatment and live a long, healthy life.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmer-takes-at-home-hiv-test-13306370

Protesters blocked roads across Serbia on Sunday, marking 100 days since the collapse of a canopy at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad.

Hundreds of students blocked a major highway and bridge in the capital, Belgrade, for seven hours.

The protest was accompanied by 15 minutes of silence for the victims, with protesters throwing 15 white roses that had been painted red into the Sava river that runs through Belgrade.

Also on Sunday, demonstrators blocked three major roundabouts in Novi Sad and threw roses into the Danube.

The protests are part of a campaign led by striking students who blame the November 1 collapse, in which 15 people were killed, on government corruption. The train station building had been recently renovated under unclear circumstances, with the involvement of Chinese companies and businesses believed to be close to the ruling Progressive Party.

Initially, Serbian officials claimed no work had been done on the canopy, but later admitted this part of the building was also altered during the reconstruction.

Near-daily protests challenge Vucic government

Tens of thousands have joined near-daily protests over the past weeks.

President Aleksandar Vucic has described the protests as an attempted “color revolution” and accused demonstrators of being supported from abroad.

Last week, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic submitted his resignation, saying he did not want to ” further raise tensions in society.” Novi Sad mayor Milan Djuric also resigned.

The resignations came a day after student protesters were attacked by young men coming out of the building that houses the offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Novi Sad.

On Saturday, Vucic’s car suffered a blown tire in an incident which has been described by officials and pro-government media as an assassination attempt against him.

The president was traveling in a motorcade as he visited various towns and villages in order to rally his own supporters.

German lawmaker calls for ‘stability’ in Serbia

On Saturday, German lawmaker Peter Bajer of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) told DW that he had spoken with Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali about the protests.

Bajer said that Berlin wanted to see “stability” and “democracy” in the southeastern European country. He said German firms were interested in investing in the Western Balkans, adding that instability in Serbia could affect the whole region.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz is currently the favorite to become Germany’s next chancellor in February 23 elections, according to polls.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/serbia-students-mark-100-days-since-deadly-canopy-collapse/a-71554521

Two weeks before national elections in Germany, the struggling Left Party (die Linke) has laid out a new tax plan targeting the superrich. The declared goal is to cut the wealth of billionaires in half within a decade.

“We believe there should not be any billionaires,” the paper from party co-chair Jan van Aken states, before going on to outline a five-point plan designed to make this position a reality.

Germany is due to hold a parliamentary election on February 23.

The Left is currently hovering around the 5% support which is legally required to enter the parliament. Even if they clear this obstacle, the larger parliamentary faction usually avoid working with the post-communist party, so the Left’s chances of actually implementing these policies seem slim.

What are the Left’s new tax plans?

The party proposes reintroducing Germany’s “wealth tax” which was abolished after the Constitutional Court deemed it unconstitutional in 1995.

This tax was not focusing on income, but on people’s accrued wealth.

The party proposes a sliding scale, 1% for fortunes in excess of €1 million ($1.03 million), 5% for those higher than €50 million, and 12% for those higher than €1 billion.

Next, the party calls for a one-off fee for the richest 0.7% of citizens, starting at 10% for those with more than €2 million, and rising as high as 30% for larger sums.

The party also aims for a higher inheritance tax for larger estates, and higher rates of income tax for top earners. This would include a 60% income tax on salaries above €250,000 and 75% for those over €1 million.

Finally, capital gains taxes should no longer be a flat 25% fee, but rather should operate on a sliding scale like income tax depending on the extent of the gains on assets.

Party co-leader van Aken draws parallels to new ‘super-rich’ US government

When launching the new proposal, van Aken alluded to Donald Trump’s new administration in the US.

“The new government is made up of the super-rich and the right, who are doing everything to secure their fortune and their power,” he said.

In Germany, too, van Aken argued, the very wealthy used their fortunes to secure unreasonable political influence.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-left-party-wants-to-halve-billionaires-wealth/a-71550347

Elon Musk demanded the impeachment of a federal judge after a ruling blocked his spending task force, DOGE, from accessing Treasury payment systems.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued the decision on Saturday, ruling that only designated Treasury officials should access sensitive information to prevent hacking and data breaches, reported The Daily Beast.

The ruling, part of a lawsuit filed by 19 Democrat state attorneys general, prevented Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team from receiving more than “read-only” access previously granted by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

At least one DOGE staffer, Marko Elez, was given access through a tech agreement to write code, reported Wired. Elez later resigned after racist social media posts resurfaced, but Musk vowed to rehire him.

Multiple sources claimed DOGE employees dumped sensitive data into AI and asked the software to slash the Education Department’s budget.

In a post published on X, Musk referred to Engelmayer as a “corrupt judge.”

“A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached now,” Musk wrote.

Source : https://www.latintimes.com/elon-musk-demands-judge-who-blocked-doge-accessing-treasury-payment-systems-impeached-now-575123

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has answered the question multiple times this week, just as he did in his previous two Super Bowls: When will his playing days come to an end?

And while the star player has spoken glowingly about his situation and how much football he no doubt still has in him, sources say Kelce still hasn’t made up his mind about whether or not he’ll play in 2025.

It is, in fact, possible that Super Bowl LIX on Sunday is the final game of Kelce’s 12-year professional career.

Kelce, who is in the conversation for greatest tight end to ever play in the NFL, is expected to take time after the Super Bowl, consider his future and make a decision before free agency, which officially begins March 12.

Sources informed of his thinking say Kelce’s decision could hinge on the results of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

During Super Bowl LIX Opening Night on Feb. 3, Kelce was asked where he’ll be in three years and said, “Hopefully still playing football. I love doing this. I love coming into work every day. I feel like I still got a lot of good football left in me.”

In the next breath, the 35-year-old noted, “We’ll see what happens. I know I’ve been setting myself up for other opportunities in my life. That’s always been the goal, knowing that football only lasts for so long.”

He concluded one of his answers this week with, “For the most part, I’m planning on being a Kansas City Chief and playing football.”

Consider the door open.

For most players, the kind of year Kelce had in 2024 would be a career goal. But for the 10-time Pro Bowler, it was a bit of a down campaign. He posted his lowest yardage total (823) and fewest touchdown catches (three) since his rookie season in 2013. Of course, he also had 117 yards and a TD against the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round, so when the lights get bright, he’s still Kelce.

If he did retire, he’d do so with a lot of game left in the tank. But unlike most players, Kelce, who carries a base salary of $4.5 million for 2025 and has an $11.5 million roster bonus due on March 14, would almost certainly make more money off the field after retirement than he would on the field playing.

His wildly popular New Heights podcast with his brother, Jason, has been beyond lucrative. In 2024, Kelce starred in the FX horror series, Grotesquerie. He hosted Saturday Night Live in 2023 and also hosts Are you Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a Prime Video game show.

Source : https://www.nfl.com/news/chiefs-star-te-travis-kelce-undecided-about-returning-for-2025-nfl-season

President Donald Trump said he is serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state in an interview that aired Sunday during the Super Bowl preshow.

“Yeah it is,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier when asked whether his talk of annexing Canada is “a real thing” — as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently warned.

“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen,” he said. “Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially a subsidy to Canada?”

The U.S. is not subsidizing Canada. The U.S. buys products from the natural resource-rich nation, including commodities like oil. While the trade gap in goods has ballooned in recent years to $72 billion in 2023, the deficit largely reflects America’s imports of Canadian energy.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada would be better off if it agreed to become the 51st U.S. state — a prospect that is deeply unpopular among Canadians.

Trudeau said Friday during a closed-door session with business and labor leaders that Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state was “a real thing” and tied to desire for access to the country’s natural resources.

“Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing. In my conversations with him on …,” Trudeau said, according to CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster. “They’re very aware of our resources of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those.”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday as he traveled to the Super Bowl game in New Orleans, Trump continued to threaten a country that has long been one of the U.S.’s closest allies. He claimed that Canada is “not viable as a country” without U.S. trade, and warned that the founding NATO member can no longer depend on the U.S. for military protection.

“You know, they don’t pay very much for military. And the reason they don’t pay much is they assume that we’re going to protect them,” he said. “That’s not an assumption they can make because — why are we protecting another country?”

In the Fox interview, which was pre-taped this weekend in Florida, Trump also said that he has not seen enough action from Canada and Mexico to stave off the tariffs he has threatened to impose on the country’s two largest trading partners once a 30-day extension is up.

“No, it’s not good enough,” he said. “Something has to happen. It’s not sustainable. And I’m changing it.”

Trump last week agreed to a 30-day pause on his plan to slap Mexico and Canada with a 25% tariff on all imports except for Canadian oil, natural gas and electricity, which would be taxed at 10%, after the countries took steps to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking.

Aboard Air Force One, Trump said that he would on Monday announce a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., including from Canada and Mexico, and unveil a plan for reciprocal tariffs later in the week.

“Very simply it’s if they charge us, we charge them,” he said.

Trump’s participation in the Super Bowl interview marked a return to tradition. Presidents have typically granted a sit-down to the network broadcasting the game, the most-watched television event of the year. But both Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, were inconsistent in their participation.

Biden declined to participate last year — turning down a massive audience in an election year — and also skipped an appearance in 2023, when efforts by his team to have Biden speak with a Fox Corp. streaming service instead of the main network failed. During his first term, Trump participated three out of four years.

Trump was the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl in person — something he told Baier he was surprised to learn.

“I thought it would be a good thing for the country to have the president at the game,” he said.

During his flight to New Orleans, Trump signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 9 “the first ever Gulf of America Day” as Air Force One flew over the body of water that he renamed by proclamation from the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump in the interview, also defended the work of billionaire Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been drawing deep concern from Democrats as he moves to shut down whole government agencies and fire large swaths of the federal workforce in the name of rooting out waste and inefficiency.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/canada-gulf-america-super-bowl-bret-baier-musk-7e1959c7d430899b01629c800db6f17b

Donald Trump filed an amended lawsuit against CBS late Friday, adding a series of new claims over the network’s edits in a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

Among other things, Trump is now claiming that CBS engaged in unfair competition, alleging that it deceptively edited the interview in a way that cost traffic and viewership to his own media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, which includes his social media platform Truth Social.

“As an owner of a significant interest in a media enterprise in competition with Defendants, President Trump was damaged by Defendants’ false advertising of the Interview and Election Special. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ misconduct, significant viewership was improperly diverted to Defendants’ media platforms, resulting in lower consumer engagement, advertising revenues, and profits by TMTG and President Trump’s other media holdings,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the new complaint, filed in federal court in Amarillo, TX.

His attorneys added, “The damages suffered by President Trump stem in substantial part from consumers’ withholding of trade by reduced engagement with content distributed by Truth Social and President Trump’s other media holdings, and was exacerbated by increased expenses associated with clarifying the true nature of the Interview and its content.”

Trump also upped the amount of claimed damages, with him now doubling the size of his claim to $20 billion, which exceeds the cost of all spending in the 2024 election.

Trump also added another plaintiff to the lawsuit: Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), the former White House physician, a move to try to address CBS’ argument that his filing of the case in Texas was an attempt at forum shopping.

Trump sued CBS in October, after it aired a 60 Minutes election special featuring an interview with Harris. At one point in the interview, correspondent Bill Whitaker asked Harris why Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not listening to the Biden administration.

Harris said, “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region. And we’re not going to stop doing that. We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”

In a Face the Nation promo for the interview, Harris was shown giving the first sentence in her answer. On 60 Minutes, she was shown answering with the last sentence. Trump pounced on the differences, claiming that it was an effort by the network to make Harris look better and tip the electoral scales in her favor.

The network released the unedited transcript this week and said that it showed that the interview was “not doctored or deceitful,” but an edit made because of time constraints. In fact, Fox News edited its interview with Trump from the previous June.

CBS has moved to dismiss the case, which it says is an effort to punish them for their editorial judgments, something that is barred by the First Amendment. It also argued that Trump’s lawsuit was merely “generalized grievance.”

Trump has targeted media outlets with numerous lawsuits, most of which have been dismissed. Many legal experts see his CBS lawsuit as frivolous, but it has landed just as CBS parent Paramount Global is seeking regulatory approval for its acquisition by Skydance. Sources say that Paramount Global and Trump’s team have engaged in settlement talks.

The FCC, which has to greenlight the transaction, also has opened an inquiry into the 60 Minutes edit, even though the current chairman, Brendan Carr, has previously warned against government officials targeting newsroom decision making.

Source : https://deadline.com/2025/02/trump-cbs-60-minutes-lawsuit-1236282589/

On a chilly January evening, Samira Shamoon, a 44-year-old health and beauty publicist, walked into an Italian restaurant to meet friends. They were stunned by the incandescence of her skin. Her cheekbones appeared more defined. After a flurry of questions about which dermatologist or plastic surgeon she had visited, she said, beaming, “I’m microdosing!”

Shamoon has joined the wave of people who are taking limited amounts not of psychedelics — to which the microdosing trend usually applies — but of the diabetes drug Ozempic (semaglutide), and other GLP-1 receptor agonists like Mounjaro. They are doing it not primarily for weight loss — the effect that has made Ozempic a Hollywood staple and a reliable awards-show punchline — but for the surprising and widely touted side benefits, particularly its anti-inflammatory properties. Rather than injecting the regular introductory weekly dose, people are only taking half that amount or less. As a runner, Shamoon was always fairly svelte, and though she didn’t mind the side effect of dropping 4 pounds, it was losing the puffiness in her face that drew her to the prescription drug. She also found intriguing the promise of increased mental clarity and a decreased risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s.

“I no longer wake up feeling like a puffer fish,” she says. And, she believes, the drug is increasing her mental clarity: “I just feel sharper.”

Dr. Caroline Messer, a top Manhattan endocrinologist, reported that many of the people asking her about microdosing have come in because they are genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s. “The key is not decreased blood sugar,” she says, “but decreased inflammation. In patients without diabetes, it doesn’t lower blood sugar but still has an anti-inflammatory effect.” And, it makes sense, she notes, because “Alzheimer’s is sometimes referred to as Type 3 diabetes. The brain in someone with Alzheimer’s exhibits insulin resistance, similar to what is seen in Type 2 diabetes.”

Microdosing can have a lasting effect in achieving a mental edge, says Dr. Anetta Reszko, a Park Avenue dermatologist. “Unlike traditional dosing, which primarily targets appetite suppression and glucose regulation, microdosing semaglutide may provide a more gradual, sustained effect on the brain, immune system and overall cellular health,” she notes. “By modulating these pathways, it may help reduce neuroinflammation, a key factor in cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.”

Dr. Amanda Kahn, an internist and longevity specialist, says her patients who are microdosing are reporting “more clarity and energy” as well as fewer aches and pains. “I have patients with rheumatoid arthritis that were never pain-free until trying this,” the doctor notes.

Dr. Babak Azizzadeh, a top Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon and co-founder of a medtech aesthetic concierge service, Persana, says L.A. in particular is seeing a surge in the trend. “Microdosing of GLP-1 receptor agonists is a huge thing in the SoCal community,” he notes. “It reminds me of Botox, which expanded from medical to cosmetic use, then began being used for headaches and depression. Initially people were using this for diabetes, then weight loss, and now are seeing other health benefits.”

The patients of Los Angeles internist and obesity specialist Pooja Gidwani are microdosing GLP-1s as part of a longevity approach. “It’s becoming more and more mainstream in the Hollywood community, and many want to do this in combination with peptides,” says Gidwani, who offers GLP-1s along with IVs of the co-enzyme NAD.

Addiction and obsessive behavior are other targets of microdosers, as the drugs seem to tame cravings for more than just food. Anyone on a GLP-1 inhibitor can tell you downing even one glass of wine can be a challenge, but Kahn says her patients have stopped everything from smoking to compulsive shopping. “It influences the brain’s desire and decreases cravings for substances,” she explains. “It helps dampen unhealthy impulses.”

Apart from enjoying a leaner body and less dependency, users of the decreased level seem more content. “Patients who microdose also report benefits in mood and emotional stability,” reports Reszko. “GLP-1 receptor activation has been linked to reduced anxiety and depression.”

Even for those who merely want to lose a few pounds, microdosing has its advantages, because the regular FDA starting measure can produce unpleasant side effects like burping, nausea and indigestion, along with muscle atrophy and the dreaded saggy or drawn “Ozempic face” that comes from rapid weight loss.

Source : https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/microdosing-ozempic-weight-loss-health-gains-1236126989/

Little Neon Pictures suddenly has the lead in the Oscar race.

Sean Baker’s indie creation, “Anora,” on Saturday night picked up prizes from the Directors Guild and the Producers Guild.

On Friday night, “Anora” won Best Drama at the Critics Choice Awards.

As Oscar ballots go out Tuesday, “Anora” is suddenly in the lead for Best Picture. Baker is in the front of the line for Best Director. Star Mikey Madison — who had the lead in the Best Actress race early in the season – is back in position to surprise everyone.

“Anora” is a wild romp through the wilds of Brooklyn’s strip clubs and the world of Russian oligarchs. It’s a wholly rounded and satisfying film that may overtake “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Wicked,” “Emilia Perez,” and the other nominated Best Films.

Usually we would also know the winners of the Screen Actors Guild awards before Oscar voting begins. But this year SAG doesnt come until February 23rd, after Oscar ballots are returned. We may learn something from the SAG winners, but they won’t influence the vote. These three — CCA, DGA, and PGA — are now the bellwethers of this season.

Source : https://www.showbiz411.com/2025/02/09/fave-indie-film-anora-leaps-to-front-of-oscar-race-with-cca-dga-pga-wins

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will introduce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., on top of existing metals duties, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way to the NFL Super Bowl in New Orleans, said he will announce the new metals tariffs on Monday.
He also said he will announce reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately, applying them to all countries and matching the tariff rates levied by each country.

“And very simply, it’s, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariff plan.
The largest sources of U.S. steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam, according to government and American Iron and Steel Institute data.
By a large margin, hydropower-rich Canada is the largest supplier of primary aluminum metal to the U.S., accounting for 79% of total imports in the first 11 months of 2024.

“Canadian steel and aluminum support key industries in the U.S. from defence, shipbuilding and auto,” Canadian Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne posted on X.
“We will continue to stand up for Canada, our workers, and our industries.”
Trump also said that while the U.S. government would allow Japan’s Nippon Steel (5401.T), to invest in U.S. Steel (X.N), it would not allow this to become a majority stake.

“Tariffs are going to make it very successful again, and I think it has good management,” Trump said of U.S. Steel.
Nippon Steel declined to comment on the latest announcements from Trump.

QUOTA QUESTIONS

Trump during his first term imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, but later granted several trading partners duty-free exemptions, including Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Mexico is a major supplier of aluminum scrap and aluminum alloy.

Former President Joe Biden later negotiated duty-free quota arrangements with Britain, the European Union and Japan. It was not immediately clear from Trump’s announcement what will happen to those exemptions and quota arrangements.
“Quebec exports 2.9 million tons of aluminum to (the U.S.), that is, 60% of their needs. Do they prefer to get supplies from China?” Francois Legault, premier of Quebec, said on X.
“All this shows that we must begin to renegotiate our free trade agreement with the United States as soon as possible and not wait for the review planned for 2026. We must put an end to this uncertainty.”
Steel mill capacity usage jumped to levels above 80% in 2019 after Trump’s initial tariffs, but has fallen since then as China’s global dominance of the sector has pushed down steel prices. A Missouri aluminum smelter revived by the tariffs was idled last year by Magnitude 7 Metals.

MATCHING RATES

Trump said he would hold a news conference on Tuesday or Wednesday to provide detailed information on the reciprocal tariff plan, adding that he first revealed on Friday that he was planning reciprocal tariffs to ensure “that we’re treated evenly with other countries.”
The new U.S. president has long complained about the EU’s 10% tariffs on auto imports being much higher than the U.S. car rate of 2.5%. He frequently states that Europe “won’t take our cars” but ships millions west across the Atlantic every year.
he U.S., however, enjoys a 25% tariff on pickup trucks, a vital source of profits for Detroit automakers General Motors (GM.N), Ford (F.N) and Stellantis’ (STLAM.MI) U.S. operations.

The U.S. trade-weighted average tariff rate is about 2.2%, according to World Trade Organization data, compared to 12% for India, 6.7% for Brazil, 5.1% for Vietnam and 2.7% for European Union countries.

BORDER STEPS

In a separate Fox News interview, Trump said Canada’s and Mexico’s actions to secure their U.S. borders and halt the flow of drugs and migrants are insufficient ahead of a March 1 tariff deadline.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 25% on all Mexican and Canadian imports unless America’s two largest trading partners take stronger actions. He paused the tariffs until March 1 after some initial border security concessions from the two countries, with Mexico pledging to add 10,000 National Guard troops to its border and Canada deploying new technology and personnel and taking new anti-fentanyl steps.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/trump-says-he-will-announce-25-steel-aluminum-tariffs-monday-2025-02-09/

The use of AI in best picture contender “The Brutalist” recently grabbed headlines and ignited controversy, but it isn’t the only Oscar contender to use the advancing technology. High-profile films such as “A Complete Unknown,” “Dune: Part 2” and “Emilia Pérez” have also used AI in large or small ways, and the growing popularity has led the Motion Picture Academy to actively explore changing its Oscar submission requirements so that films would have to disclose their use of AI, Variety has learned.

The Academy currently offers an optional disclosure form for AI use, but Governors and Branch executive committees are now investigating how AI is used in each branch with an eye toward making disclosure mandatory in the 2026 Oscars rules, which are expected to be published in April. The Academy’s SciTech Council is working on recommended language, Variety has also learned.

Development of visual effects tools and processes that take advantage of AI (including AI subset machine learning, or ML) isn’t a new concept. But for a look at the state of the art, this year, the Visual Effects Society Awards’ emerging technology category is packed with such nominees including Australia-based Rising Sun Pictures’ Revize machine learning toolset, which according to the company’s website, has been used for “a variety of digital ML augmentation, most notably face replacement, facial performance modification, deaging, body replacements and other likeness adaptations.”

The VES entry details its application in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and says that it was also used on “A Complete Unknown,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and series “Apples Never Fall.”

Jennie Zeiher, president of Rising Sun, acknowledged that “A Complete Unknown,” the best picture nominated Bob Dylan biopic, and “Deadpool & Wolverine” did utilize Revize but declined to offer additional details.

A spokesperson for Searchlight Pictures, which released “A Complete Unknown,” said, “The technology was used to assist in 3 brief wide shots on a motorcycle, not involving performance or creative enhancements. This technology is commonplace for making stunt people resemble their actor in films. The VFX facility implemented this specific methodology as a tool for the artists to use for only these 3 shots – these type of VFX stunt face replacement shots have been used for decades.”

For “Furiosa,” Rising Sun used the process on an estimated 150 shots to steadily transition the character Furiosa from child (actor Alyla Browne) to adult, played by Anya Taylor Joy. “We built controls that the artists could use … to essentially dial in the exact specific look and very quickly iterate,” Rising Sun’s machine learning 2D supervisor Robert Beveridge explains, adding, “It was a real fine balance of not introducing too many of [Taylor Joy’s] sharp adult features when we had this younger actress playing her.”

The toolset’s first use, says Zeiher, was on Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” to place Austin Butler into old Elvis footage in select shots. Zeiher notes that overall, the tools aim “to make [the VFX team] more efficient, to put the money on the screen.”

AI startup Metaphysic’s toolset is also nominated in the VES emerging tech category. It was used to age and de-age Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in Robert Zemeckis’ “Here,” and to bring the likeness of late actor Richard Carter, who played the Bullet Farmer in 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” to actor Lee Perry, who played the role in “Furiosa.” Both movies were shortlisted in the VFX race.

Metaphysic tech was additionally used by VFX nominated “Alien: Romulus” to help create the likeness of the late Ian Holmes, who appeared in 1979’s “Alien.”

AI tools can also be found in widely used content creation software such as CopyCat, a feature in compositing system Nuke, which was used on “Dune: Part Two.” In that case, a machine learning model was used to identify and replicate the blue tone in the eyes of actors playing the Fremens, and in doing so saved “hundreds of hours” of work, according to the VES entry.

When “The Brutalist” was identified for having used AI in post, director Brady Corbet issued a statement, a part of which explained that AI audio technology Respeecher “was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed.” He added of the film’s Oscar nominated Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own.”

Respeecher is also identified in the “Emilia Pérez” end credits. Another tool involving AI, AudioShake, contributing to isolating opera singer Maria Callas’ vocals in 1960s recordings, which were used in the mix for Callas biopic “Maria.”

Source : https://variety.com/2025/artisans/news/oscars-consider-requiring-films-disclose-ai-use-brutalist-1236299063/

A federal judge early Saturday blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the preliminary injunction after 19 Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump. The case, filed in federal court in New York City, alleges the Trump administration allowed Musk’s team access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system in violation of federal law.

The payment system handles tax refunds, Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits and much more, sending out trillions of dollars every year while containing an expansive network of Americans’ personal and financial data.

Engelmayer, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, also said anyone prohibited from having access to the sensitive information since Jan. 20 must immediately destroy all copies of material downloaded from Treasury Department systems.

He set a hearing for Feb. 14.

The White House previously did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit being filed.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, was created to discover and eliminate what the Trump administration has deemed to be wasteful government spending. DOGE’s access to Treasury records, as well as its inspection of various government agencies, has ignited widespread concern among critics over the increasing power of Musk, while supporters have cheered at the idea of reining in bloated government finances.

Musk has made fun of criticism of DOGE on his X social media platform while saying it is saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office filed the lawsuit, said DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s data raises security problems and the possibility for an illegal freeze in federal funds.

“This unelected group, led by the world’s richest man, is not authorized to have this information, and they explicitly sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans rely on, payments for health care, child care and other essential programs,” James said in a video message released by her office Friday.

James, a Democrat who has been one of Trump’s chief antagonists, said the president does not have the power to give away American’s private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.

Also on the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

The suit alleges that DOGE’s access to the Treasury records could interfere with funding already appropriated by Congress, which would exceed the Treasury Department’s statutory authority. The case also argues that the DOGE access violates federal administrative law and the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine.

It also accuses Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of changing the department’s longstanding policy for protecting sensitive personally identifiable information and financial information to allow Musk’s DOGE team access to its payment systems.

“This decision failed to account for legal obligations to protect such data and ignored the privacy expectations of federal fund recipients,” including states, veterans, retirees, and taxpayers, the lawsuit says.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said it’s not clear what DOGE is doing with the information in the Treasury systems.

“This is the largest data breach in American history,” Tong said in a statement Friday. “DOGE is an unlawfully constituted band of renegade tech bros combing through confidential records, sensitive data and critical payment systems. What could go wrong?”

The Treasury Department has said the review is about assessing the integrity of the system and that no changes are being made. According to two people familiar with the process, Musk’s team began its inquiry looking for ways to suspend payments made by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Trump and Musk are attempting to dismantle. The two people spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-doge-lawsuit-attorneys-general-5733f8985e4cf7ad5b233fddefef4d01

China on Friday lashed out at what it called U.S. “coercion” after Panama declined to renew a key infrastructure agreement with Beijing following Washington’s threat to take back the Panama Canal.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a briefing that China “firmly opposes the U.S. smearing and undermining the Belt and Road cooperation through means of pressure and coercion.”

Assistant Foreign Minister Zhao Zhiyuan also met Panama’s ambassador to China and lodged solemn representations on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

The Belt and Road Initiative is President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign police drive to bind China closer to countries in the region and beyond by building roads, railways, airports, power plants and other infrastructure. The program has completed some major projects but also raised concerns about debt and environmental impact.

Panama’s decision to walk away from it was seen as a concession to the U.S. over the canal after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Panamanian leader José Raúl Mulino on Sunday that Panama must immediately reduce what President Donald Trump says is Chinese influence over the canal area or face potential retaliation from the United States.

Mulino has rejected pressure from the new U.S. government to discuss ownership of a waterway that is vital to global trade.

Despite that, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company, which was given a 25-year no-bid extension to run them. An audit into the suitability of that extension is already underway and could lead to a rebidding process.

A drop in water levels in the canal due to drought has slowed transit through the canal, raising further complaints from Trump, although the delays appear to have nothing to do with China.

Lin said the Belt and Road Initiative has brought “active participation” from over 150 countries and that it has brought “fruitful results” to Panama and China, but gave no examples.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/china-us-panama-canal-belt-road-9452852d8e074902d3f2a75fa73f5060

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was captured on a hot-mic telling a gathering of business leaders that President Donald Trump’s comments about taking over Canada is a “real thing.”

Trudeau, who said he will step down after March’s elections, said Trump, who has suggested making Canada the “51st state” because he wants the country’s minerals, must be taken seriously.

“Mr Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing,” Trudeau said, the BBC reported.

Trudeau was speaking behind closed doors at a Canada-U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto but his comments were captured by a microphone, the report said.

Trump this week paused 25% tariffs on millions of dollars of Canadian and Mexican goods after the leaders of those two countries promised to increase border security.

Before slapping the tariffs on America’s top two trading partners, he needled Canada about becoming the 51st state, listing the advantages of doing so.

“We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason. We don’t need anything they have,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use.”

Source : https://www.latintimes.com/justin-trudeau-caught-hot-mic-warning-trump-plan-annex-canada-real-thing-575073

President Donald Trump said he has no plans to deport Prince Harry while taking a shot at the British royal’s wife, Meghan Markle.

“I don’t want to do that,” Trump told the New York Post. “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex live in Montecito, Calif., with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, after stepping back from their official royal duties in 2020.

The question about deporting Harry came about because the right-wing Heritage Foundation is in a legal battle with the Department of Homeland Security over his status.

Source : https://www.latintimes.com/trump-wont-deport-prince-harry-enough-problems-wife-575081

The parents of a young California tech whistleblower whose 2024 death was ruled a suicide are now suing the City and County of San Francisco, alleging they violated public records laws by refusing to fulfill their requests for information about their son’s death.

Suchir Balaji, 26, was an employee at OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, at the time of his Nov. 26, 2024, death. A San Francisco County medical examiner concluded the next day he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his apartment.

“In the two-plus months since their son’s passing, Petitioners and their counsel have been stymied at every turn as they have sought more information about the cause of and circumstances surrounding Suchir’s tragic death. This petition, they hope, is the beginning of the end of that obstruction,” the lawsuit states.

San Francisco City Attorney’s Office spokesperson Jen Kwart told Fox News Digital that once their office is served, they will review the complaint and respond accordingly.

“Mr. Balaji’s death is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to his family,” Kwart said.

“It’s really been a nightmare for the last three months for them,” one of the family’s attorneys, Kevin Rooney, told Fox News Digital.

Just days before he died, Balaji was “upbeat and happy” during a trip to Catalina Island with his friends for his 26th birthday, the complaint filed Jan. 31 says.

The lawsuit describes Balaji as a “child prodigy with a particular interest in and talent for coding.” He attended the University of California at Berkeley, and, upon graduating, was hired as an AI researcher at OpenAI.

“In that position, he was integral in OpenAI’s efforts to gather and organize data from the internet used to train GPT-4, a language model used by the company’s now-ubiquitous online chatbot, ChatGPT,” the complaint says.

By August 2024, however, Balaji “had become disillusioned with OpenAI’s business practices and decided to leave to pursue his own projects.” In October, he was featured in a New York Times article titled “Former Open AI Researcher Says the Company Broke Copyright Law,” with his photo.

Balaji alleged that “OpenAI violates United States copyright law because ChatGPT trains on copyrighted products of business competitors and then can imitate and substitute those products, running the risk of reducing the commercial viability of OpenAI’s competitors to zero,” according to the lawsuit.

In a Jan. 16 statement, OpenAI described Balaji as a “valued member” of the company’s team, and its employees are “still heartbroken by his passing.”

Balaji’s parents, Poornima Ramarao and Bajami Ramamurthy, allege their requests for more information about their son’s death were denied unfairly under the California Public Records Act. They further alleged in the lawsuit that investigators did not take their concerns about Balaji’s whistleblower status seriously.

Rooney said there are good reasons for investigators not to disclose certain information about a criminal case to the public.

“But you should at least communicate with them and let them know generally what’s being done to investigate the case,” Rooney said. “And if that hasn’t been done here because they’ve made a conclusion that Suchir died by suicide and that the investigation is closed, well … then we do have a right under the law [to view police records].

“When Ms. Ramarao informed the representative that her son had been a whistleblower against OpenAI and had been featured in the New York Times regarding his whistleblower allegations, the representative declined to follow up or seek any additional information,” the lawsuit alleged.

“Instead, the [medical examiner’s office] representative handed Ms. Ramarao Suchir’s apartment keys and told her she could retrieve her son’s body the following day. The representative also told Ms. Ramarao that she should not be allowed to see Suchir’s body and that his face had been destroyed when a bullet went through his eye.”

Source : https://www.foxnews.com/us/big-tech-whistleblowers-parents-sue-sound-alarm-over-sons-unexpected-death

A traffic accident involving a bus in southern Mexico, which took place in the early hours of Saturday morning, killed 41 people, the government of Tabasco state said in a statement, adding that recovery work was still ongoing.
The bus, which was carrying 48 people, collided with a truck, resulting in the deaths of 38 passengers and two of the drivers, the local authorities said, adding that the driver of the truck also died.

Reuters images show the bus completely burned out after it was engulfed by flames following the collision, with just the skeletal remains of the metal frame left standing.
“So far, only 18 skulls have been confirmed, but much more is missing,” sources for the security of Tabasco said on condition of anonymity, adding that recovery work continued.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/more-than-three-dozen-killed-bus-accident-southern-mexico-local-media-says-2025-02-08/

Sri Lanka police said Saturday that they have opened an investigation into the deaths of two female tourists.

A 24-year-old British national, along with a 26-year-old German, were feeling sick at their hostel in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, and then taken to the hospital.

The family of the British woman, Ebony McIntosh, said she had experienced symptoms of vomiting, nausea and difficulty breathing.

McIntosh passed away in the Sri Lankan hospital where she was being treated on February 1. It was the same day she entered the facility for treatment.

The German woman passed away later. She was staying at the hotel with a German man, who is still hospitalized.

What could the cause of their deaths be?

Sri Lankan authorities are seeking to determine whether the deaths of the tourists can be linked to their rooms being cleansed for insects on January 30. The police say toxic pesticides may have been used in the rooms to control bed bugs and other pests.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/sri-lanka-investigates-deaths-of-british-and-german-tourists/a-71546541

Hamas has freed three Israeli hostages in Gaza, while Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners in the latest exchange as part of an internationally brokered ceasefire deal.

The three hostages – Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy – were handed over to the Red Cross on Saturday morning before reuniting with their families in Israel.

Concerns have been raised about their wellbeing, with Mr Sharabi’s family – who live in the UK – describing their shock at his “gaunt” appearance.

Returning Palestinian prisoners were greeted with scenes of celebration at Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Representatives claimed they all needed “medical care”, without giving specifics.

So far, 21 hostages and 566 prisoners have been freed since the ceasefire began on 19 January.

By the end of the first stage of the ceasefire in three weeks time, 33 hostages and 1,900 prisoners are expected to have been freed. Israel says eight of the 33 are dead.

As Mr Sharabi, Mr Ben Ami and Mr Levy were handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, crowds lined up, cordoned off by a row of armed fighters, to watch and film on mobile phones, as Hamas and Palestinian flags flew.

A Hamas official and Red Cross representative signed paperwork on a stage to complete the handover. The hostages were then paraded on stage, flanked by men with guns. The three men posed holding certificates and answered questions into a microphone, before waving as they were ushered into Red Cross vehicles.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed horror at the physical state of the men who he said were “returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also criticised the men’s state, saying “we have seen again what the monsters of Hamas are”.

He also accused Hamas of “repeated violations” of the ceasefire deal, without providing specifics.

Speaking to BBC Arabic on Saturday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the latest release of Israeli hostages had been carried out in a “civilised manner”.

He also accused Israel of “dragging its feet” on implementing humanitarian relief agreed as part of the ceasefire.

Netanyahu’s co-ordinator of prisoners and missing persons said Israel treated the issues with “great severity” and would raise them with ceasefire mediators and take action.

Mr Sharabi’s brother-in-law, Steve Brisley, told the BBC that having confirmation he is alive is “what we’ve been working toward for the last 16 months”.

It was “incredibly difficult” to see him “thin, gaunt” and being paraded by Hamas, Mr Brisley said. “It’s the light that’s gone from his eyes that’s really struck home for me.”

Eli Sharabi, 52, was taken from Kibbutz Beeri with his brother, Yossi, whose death has since been confirmed. Eli’s British-born wife, Lianne, and two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were murdered in the attack.

During his release, Mr Sharabi was filmed saying he was “very happy today to return to…my wife and daughters”, adding to concerns he was unaware his family had been killed.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement that “the disturbing images” of the release “serve as yet another stark and painful evidence that leaves no room for doubt – there is no time to waste for the hostages! We must get them all out, down to the very last hostage”.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which facilitated the handover, said it was “increasingly concerned about the conditions surrounding release operations”.

“We strongly urge all parties, including the mediators, to take responsibility to ensure that future releases are dignified and private,” it said.

Later on Saturday, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners. More than 70 are serving life or long sentences, and 111 are Gazans detained during the war. Seven are due to be deported.

Seven of the released prisoners were admitted to hospital in Ramallah because of poor health, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club told AFP.

“All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care, treatment, and examinations as a result of the brutality they were subjected to during the past months,” the group’s Abdullah al-Zaghari said.

One of those released was Jamal al-Tawil, 61, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank and former mayor of the village of al-Bireh, who has spent more than 19 years in and out of Israeli prisons.

His daughter Bushra al-Tawil was freed in an earlier prisoner release in January.

Both father and daughter were most recently held without charge, media reported.

Khadra al-Daghma, the mother of another released Palestinian prisoner, described feeling “so happy, overjoyed” having seen her son for the first time in 15 years.

“My heart is filled with happiness,” she told a reporter in Gaza, adding that her son, Ammar Fadel al-Daghma, had “changed a lot” and was “not the same”.

According to the Israeli Prison Service, he was detained for offences including arson, attempted murder and service to an illegal organisation.

Hamas seized 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people when it attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, triggering the war.

At least 47,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. About two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israel’s attacks, the UN says.

Ohad Ben Ami, 56, was also taken from Kibbutz Beeri, along with his wife, Raz. She was later released by Hamas.

Mr Ben Ami, an accountant, is “known for his good judgment and sense of humour”, according to the Hostages Families Forum.

Or Levy, 34, a computer programmer from Rishon LeZion, a city south of Tel Aviv, fled the Nova festival with his wife Eynav, when gunmen attacked the event.

Mr Levy was taken hostage and Eynav’s body was found in a bomb shelter where the couple had been hiding.

In a statement, Mr Levy’s family said: “Our hearts tremble and our minds struggle to comprehend the sight of Or, who has returned to us in such a devastating state. His face bears witness to the hell he endured during 491 days in the hands of Hamas monsters.

“After an unbearable period of darkness, we can finally embrace him again and begin healing his body and spirit,” the statement said.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g9vyz747eo

The four British families suing TikTok for the alleged wrongful deaths of their children have accused the tech giant of having “no compassion”.

In an exclusive group interview for BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the parents said they were taking the company to court to try to find out the truth about what happened to their children and seek accountability.

The parents believe their children died after taking part in a viral trend that circulated on the video-sharing platform in 2022.

TikTok says it prohibits dangerous content and challenges. It has blocked searches for videos and hashtags related to the particular challenge the children’s parents say is linked to their deaths.

The lawsuit, filed in the US on Thursday, claims that Isaac Kenevan, 13, Archie Battersbee, 12, Julian “Jools” Sweeney, 14, and Maia Walsh, 13, died while attempting the so-called “blackout challenge”.

The complaint was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware by the US-based Social Media Victims Law Center on behalf of Archie’s mother Hollie Dance, Isaac’s mum Lisa Kenevan, Jools’ mother Ellen Roome and Maia’s dad Liam Walsh.

In the interview, Ms Kenevan accused TikTok of breaching “their own rules”. In the lawsuit, the families claim that the platform breached the rules in a number of ways, including around not showing or promoting dangerous content that could cause significant physical harm.

Ms Dance said that the bereaved families were brushed off with “the same corporate statement” showing “no compassion at all – there’s no meaning behind that statement for them”.

Ms Roome has been campaigning for legislation that would allow parents to access the social media accounts of their children if they die. She has been trying to obtain data from TikTok that she thinks could provide clarity around his death.

Ms Kenevan said they were going to court to pursue “accountability – they need to look not just at us, but parents around the world, not just in England, it’s the US and everywhere”.

“We want TikTok to be forthcoming, to help us – why hold back on giving us the data?” Ms Kenevan continued. “How can they sleep at night?”

Acrobatic catches and thumping hits are why American football fans watch the Super Bowl but for others the non-sporting spectacle is much more interesting.

We’ve selected a few things to look out for during the contest between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, which kicks off at 23:30 GMT (18:30 EST) on Sunday, 9 February at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Kendrick Lamar will be the star turn during the half-time show and the unlikely ties binding David Beckham and Matt Damon will be revealed – oh, and Taylor Swift might be showing off a new ring too.

At least 30 people have been reported missing after a landslide in south-western China, according to Chinese state media.

The landslide struck Jinping village in Sichuan province at 11:50 local time (03:50 GMT) burying 10 houses and trapping several residents. Two people were rescued.

A command centre has been set up at the scene according to a statement by the county’s emergency management bureau.

China’s President Xi Jinping has ordered an “all-out” rescue of those trapped.

Images from state media show a huge collapse of mud and rock from a steep mountainside, cutting through what appears to be a small village.

Hundreds of emergency workers are searching for survivors, according to a statement from China’s Ministry of Emergency Management. Around 200 people have been evacuated.

President Xi has ordered authorities to do “everything possible to search and rescue missing people, minimise casualties and properly handle the aftermath”, according to the official Xinhua state news agency.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang additionally asked for an investigation into potential geological hazard risks in nearby areas.

According to local media reports, villagers have said large rocks had been frequently seen rolling down the mountain over the last six months.

Li also said residents who were under threat should be evacuated to prevent another disaster, the AP news agency reports, citing Xinhua.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czep9d9p8kzo

The parents of two of the girls murdered at a dance class in Southport have spoken of the moment they were told “something awful has happened” to their children.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, the parents of Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe paid tribute to their daughters, while recalling what happened on 29 July 2024.

Describing the moment she dropped her daughter off at the two-hour workshop at Hart Space studio, Jenni Stancombe said she watched Elsie run inside, excited to show her friend her newly pierced ears.

“I watched her sit down and waved her off and I left her,” she said.

Just before midday, Ms Stancombe got a call from another mother, telling her: “Something awful has happened. Somebody’s stabbed the kids.

“I said, ‘What do you mean?'” Ms Stancombe said. “She went, ‘It’s really bad. You need to get here’.

“I just ran. I left the whole house open and got in the car.”

Bebe King’s parents – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had been busily preparing for a wedding the following day.

Her mother remembers being in Marks & Spencer when she received a phone call from her husband, who had arrived early to collect Bebe.

“I was about to put my card in the machine, and he called. ‘I can’t believe I’m telling you this but somebody has gone into the dance class with a knife’,” she said.

She ran outside and jumped into a taxi. The driver dropped her off at the end of the street – “and I just ran”.

Parents’ tributes to children

Bebe’s parents came up with her name after a trip to Hollywood, where they saw the blues guitarist BB King’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bebe King’s mother said of her daughter: “She would come out with the most random stuff. She would do it and look at you and laugh as if to say, ‘I’m dead funny, aren’t I?’ She would give you this hug and say, ‘I love you, momma’.

“She was the best. She was just … Me and her had our own little language. Sometimes we would just look at each other and know what each other was thinking.”

She said Bebe “had this innate kindness. She had a spark”.

Ms Stancombe said it was an honour to be Elsie’s mother. “Everything she did was pure enthusiasm. It could be the most boring thing – even, like, David taking the bins out – and it was like, ‘I’ll come!’ She was grateful for life.”

She described her daughter as “highly intelligent” but said she struggled with reading and writing. Leanne Lucas, who ran the dance workshop, had been Elsie’s private tutor for 18 months.

She had originally missed out on a spot at the dance workshop, which had quickly sold out. One of her school friends was going to the class and her mother messaged Ms Stancombe saying, “Have you got her a space?”

“And I was like, “Oh no’. I knew it had sold out, so I messaged Leanne saying, ‘Aw, I totally forgot to pay for Elsie’. And she messaged saying: ‘No problem. I’ll always have a place for Elsie.’ And she kept one. I just always think if she’d given it away…”

Rioting in Southport

The families were told to come off their social media accounts after riots broke out in Southport, and Elsie’s father and uncle Chris visited the wreckage of the riots the following day.

Neither wanted to comment on the rioting that followed their children’s deaths. Instead, both families paid tribute to the community that rallied around them in the wake of the tragedy.

“It’s about this community. It has brought light in the darkness, these little moments. And that’s what we’re constantly looking for right now.”

Bebe’s family spent the following week with her in a bereavement suite at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool. On the last day, her mother and father did a final bedtime routine, reading her Jack and the Beanstalk before they left.

No funeral director would accept money, while donations and support flooded in for the families.

Bebe had a white horse and carriage. “It’s not very us,” her parents told the Sunday Times while laughing, “but it was for her and we knew she would want that.”

Royal Family brought ‘genuine comfort’

The efforts of the Royal Family brought “genuine comfort” to both families, they told the Sunday Times.

Mr Stancombe said the visit by the Princess of Wales – her first public engagement since finishing chemotherapy – “meant a great deal to Jenni”.

“I won’t say what they said to us, but what they shared with us was really, really powerful, and it was a powerful message and heartfelt, and it meant a lot,” he said.

The families also met the King at Clarence House in August.

“We could see how much he cared,” Mr Stancombe said, laughing about the moment Elsie’s sister offered the King a biscuit.

‘Highly likely’ killer will never be released

Axel Rudakubana was jailed in January for a minimum term of 52 years after he pleaded guilty to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe, six, and Elsie, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

Rudakubana also admitted trying to murder eight other children, as well as instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes, on 29 July last year.

He was 17 years old when he walked into the dance studio, indiscriminately stabbing his victims with a 20cm blade he had bought on Amazon.

He was given 13 life sentences, with Mr Justice Goose saying the killings had caused “shock and revulsion” around the nation and said it was “highly likely” he would never be released.

During sentencing he was twice ordered out of the dock after trying to disrupt proceedings, by shouting that he “felt ill”.

The court heard emotional statements from victims and families, with Ms Lucas who was stabbed in the back, saying she couldn’t give herself “compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died?”.

The incident was not labelled a terror attack, although officers later found a plastic box containing the toxin ricin under his bed in the village of Banks, Lancashire, along with other weapons including a machete and arrows.

His devices revealed an obsession with violence, war and genocide, and he was found to be in possession of an al Qaeda training manual. It fell outside the definition of terrorism because police couldn’t identify the killer’s motive.

Families did not want sentencing televised

Neither family was in court when Rudakubana suddenly changed his plea to guilty.

Both families did not want the sentencing televised, while Bebe’s family believe details about her injuries went beyond what was necessary.

“The sentencing shouldn’t have been televised,” Elsie’s uncle Chris says. Bebe’s father agreed: “We know it has to be heard in court but why did the whole nation need to see it on television?”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/parents-of-southport-victims-pay-tribute-to-daughters-and-describe-moment-they-were-told-something-awful-has-happened-13305399

Apple has reportedly been ordered by the UK government to allow it access to encrypted data stored by the company’s users worldwide in its cloud service.

At the moment, only the Apple account holder can access such data – not even the US technology giant can see it.

Apple, which makes iPhones, iPads and iMacs, has been issued with a Technical Capability Notice (TCN), the Washington Post and BBC are reporting.

This order, which does not get published, is said to require a blanket ability for the government to view people’s encrypted data – both in the UK and abroad.

The Home Office will not confirm or deny the existence of the order. Apple has been approached for comment.

Getting technology companies to break encryption has long been a contentious issue in the UK government.

Ministers have argued they want to use it for purposes like protecting children, identifying criminals and keeping the public safe.

What are the concerns?

Opponents say it is a breach of privacy. They also highlight the risk to whistleblowers and journalists, and point out that any tool the government has to break into people’s information has a danger of being hijacked by bad actors.

There are also concerns that, if implemented, the UK’s order could lead nations like China to force Western companies to break their users’ privacy.

‘Advanced Data Protection’

On Apple products, users have the option to use Advanced Data Protection (ADP).

The UK government’s demand applies to all content stored using ADP, which means certain data can only be decrypted by the user.

Apple promises that even a cloud data breach would not make the information readable.

Users are also told that Apple cannot see the data due to the end-to-end encryption used to share the information.

End-to-end encryption means that messages and data sent between two devices can only be read by the person they are sent to – and are scrambled if anyone else tries to intercept or access them.

The debate stretches as far back as 2017, when then home secretary Amber Rudd stated that “I don’t need to understand how encryption works” to want it broken.

The order from the UK government was made under the UK Investigatory Powers Act 2016, according to The Washington Post. The act says the orders can be applied to companies outside the UK.

There are avenues for Apple to appeal against the TCN, but this process would not be made public.

The Labour government has been outspoken in its desire to target social media and technology companies while in power.

This includes recently trumpeting its plans to be the first country in the world to create a new AI sexual abuse offence to punish those generating and facilitating the creation of AI child sexual abuse images.

And Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has criticised social media companies for not being fast enough to take down videos previously viewed by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana.

Last year, Apple provided written evidence to MPs on its many oppositions to the Investigatory Powers Act and TCNs.

It noted that the law gives the UK government the power to “act as the world’s regulator” of security technology – something which could put it at odds with authorities like the European Union and the United States.

Order would ‘undermine human rights’

The American company also said that an order to force decryption would “undermine fundamentally human rights” and potentially put the UK at odds with the European Court of Human Rights.

“There is no reason why the [UK government] should have the authority to decide for citizens of the world whether they can avail themselves of the proven security benefits that flow from end-to-end encryption,” Apple said.

It added: “Moreover, any attempt by the [secretary of state] to use its extraterritorial powers to compel technology companies to weaken encryption technology will only strengthen the hands of malicious actors who seek to steal and exploit personal data for nefarious purposes.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/apple-ordered-by-uk-government-to-let-it-access-users-encrypted-data-reports-13304724

At St Jude children’s research hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, an unusual clinical trial is under way that, if successful, could have wider ramifications for the vast field of age-related chronic diseases. At first glance, childhood cancer survivors may seem like an unusual population in which to study ageing, but as Greg Armstrong, principal investigator of St Jude’s Childhood Cancer Survivorship Study, explains, we now know they represent a group of individuals who are ageing unusually quickly.

For while modern chemotherapies and radiotherapies have become increasingly efficient at curing childhood cancers, this comes at a great cost, owing to the corrosive impact of such treatment on these children’s bodies, something that becomes more apparent when they reach middle age.

“Of these children, 85% are going to beat their cancer, but it’s a win at a cost,” says Armstrong. “We know that these kids will have shortened lifespans. They often die young of chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke or secondary cancers which present much earlier. And we discovered about a decade ago that this is because they’re ageing much faster than their chronological age.”

In particular, this is reflected not just in their biology, but in physical frailty. When Kirsten Ness, a physical therapist and clinical epidemiologist at St Jude, assessed a group of childhood cancer survivors aged 24-41, she noted that when it came to heart function, flexibility, respiratory capacity and range of motion, they resembled people decades older. “We showed that at 30, they have physiological frailty that resembles people in their 70s and 80s, and it’s getting worse over time,” says Ness.

The underlying cause of this is senescence, a state in which cells cease to continue dividing as normal, but instead simply linger, refusing to die. Because of this quality, senescent cells have sometimes been described as “zombie cells” and they are now regarded as a driving force and a reflection of ageing. Over the course of a lifetime, our bodies incur increasing amounts of damage which in turn makes many of our cells, distributed throughout our body, more likely to become senescent.

For childhood cancer survivors, it appears that the consequence of undergoing such radical treatments at a young age leaves them with abnormally large populations of senescent cells, which would normally take decades to accrue. Ness explains that this drives loss of function and disease risk, and not only because senescent cells cease to function as they normally would. Senescent cells also generate a stream of inflammatory molecules, something known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). “If we look at data from our childhood cancer survivors, we can see that they have this low-grade inflammation,” says Ness. “And so they don’t feel great, they don’t move great.”

Over the past decade, interest has steadily grown in a class of drugs known as senolytics, so called because they have been shown to be capable of eliminating senescent cells in mice by disabling certain pathways, causing them to self-destruct. One of the most well-studied senolytics is actually a chemotherapy drug called dasatinib, while others include the natural chemicals quercetin and fisetin, which are found in various fruits and vegetables.

Now, Armstrong is leading a trial of 50-60 childhood cancer survivors with signs of frailty, along with blood-based markers that indicate a significant amount of senescence. Aged about 40, on average, the participants will receive oral doses of either dasatinib and quercetin, or fisetin, to see whether it can improve their physical function over the course of six months. These individuals will then be tracked every five years to assess whether this treatment can help extend their life expectancy.

For researchers into ageing around the world, such data represents a first tentative step towards indicating whether senolytics could one day be used as a way of extending healthy lifespan in all older adults.

At September’s British Society for Research on Ageing conference, Johannes Grillari, director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Traumatology in Vienna, discussed the future of senolytics in front of an intrigued audience of gerontologists.

As Grillari explained, while scientists continue to assess the long-term safety profile of these drugs, they will mostly be used in trials of patients with advanced illnesses, where the accumulation of senescent cells is thought to be a significant contributing factor.

“It’s all about the risk-benefit ratio, and if you’re considering giving them to healthy individuals then the risk must be close to zero,” Grillari later told the Observer. “But the promise is that these cells seem to be a common denominator in every age-associated disease that has ever been looked at: cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, lung fibrosis, chronic kidney disease, you name it. And if we use senolytics, we see that the inflammation goes away and the regenerative capacity of the surrounding tissue is restored – well, at least if you’re a mouse.”

Based on dozens of preclinical studies in which rodents have been manipulated to develop various chronic diseases before being cured, senolytics are now starting to reach humans. The data so far is limited but clinical trials are under way to see whether dasatinib and quercetin can modulate disease progression in patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, while this same combination has previously been shown to alleviate some physical dysfunction in people with chronic lung disease.

Grillari – who is also co-founder of Rockfish Bio, a company that has developed its own senolytic – is now hoping to launch trials in other disease states, as well as using the company’s senolytic to try to rejuvenate organs from older donors. While the NHS says there is no age limit for becoming an organ donor, research has previously shown that recipients of organs donated by the over-60s tend to have poorer outcomes because the organ is more likely to have existing damage, while the rejection rate is also much higher.

“There was a study in the 2000s that showed that the more senescent cells you have in a human transplant organ, the worse the outcome of the transplantation,” says Grillari. “Because the senescent cells are pro-inflammatory, they attack the recipients’ immune system, and seem to attack the donor organ more frequently. The hope is that senolytics can help, because kidney transplant organs, for example, are so rare.”

All of this will provide more data on the safety and efficacy of various senolytics, while many studies are continuing to focus on their potential benefit in relatively young people with advanced disease. Dutch government agencies are funding a trial where dasatinib and quercetin will be offered to patients aged 18-65 with a diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a diet-related chronic illness where senescent cells are believed to be driving fibrosis, or scarring, throughout the organ, impairing its ability to function. According to Stijn Meijnikman, a gastroenterology and hepatology doctor leading the trial, the hope is that removing these cells will enable the liver to repair itself.

“In mice, you see that if you get rid of the senescent cells, you get rid of the fibrosis,” says Meijnikman. “So we’re looking to see indications of that in humans. It’s a very short trial, but we’re hoping that briefly disrupting the pathways that allow senescent cells to persist will enable them to be cleaned up by the immune system.”

The wider community of longevity scientists and investors remain intrigued as to whether these drugs can ultimately help reverse some of the signs of ageing in mid to later life, and perhaps even extend human lifespan.

“More people are becoming familiar with the concept of senescent cells and how you can maybe positively influence this,” says Marc Bernegger, founder of Longevity Investors, a funding network.

Glancing at a photo that Grillari pulls up on our Teams call, it’s easy to understand the excitement. It shows an elderly mouse of 34 months – equivalent to 90 in human years – its fur thinning and grey. “Just like us, they get bald patches as they age,” laughs Grillari.

In another picture, after being treated with a senolytic, the same mouse appears visibly younger. Its fur has grown back and regained its original pigmentation. If such a drug were to achieve similar results in humans, it would undoubtedly be a blockbuster.

But many are urging caution. Prof Tohru Minamino of Juntendo University in Japan, who has studied cellular senescence for two decades, points out that some senescent cells are beneficial to our body, playing important roles in key physiological functions such as wound healing. Simply clearing away everything could have negative long-term consequences.

Minamino believes that he may have the answer. In 2021, he and his colleagues unveiled an “ageing vaccine” that uses a protein called GPNMB to selectively remove senescent cells that contribute to inflammation. “We’re trying to specifically target the bad guys,” he says.

Once again, this has been shown to work remarkably well in mice, with older rodents showing fewer functional impairments after receiving the vaccine and living substantially longer. Minamino is now hoping to develop this as an RNA-style vaccine, similar to the Covid jab, which trains the immune system to remove inflammatory senescent cells and could be used in patients with Alzheimer’s, chronic lung disease or frailty.

“One of the challenges at the moment is that we don’t have particularly good tools to estimate the number of senescent cells in the human body and the extent to which this changes with treatment,” says Minamino. “But if we can develop better imaging systems for measuring how these cells are accumulating, you can envision a future where this could be part of an annual medical check.”

Ultimately though, researchers caution that senescent cells are still only one piece of the ageing puzzle. As Meijnikman points out when I ask whether senolytics could be used to revive the livers of 80-year-olds, which have been weathered by decades of heavy drinking or a bad diet, this isn’t only about clearing senescence.

Source : https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/feb/08/anti-ageing-jabs-they-can-rejuvenate-mice-but-will-they-work-on-humans

A magnitude 7.6 quake struck the Caribbean Sea late on Saturday evening, US monitoring agencies reported.

The earthquake hit at 6:23 p.m. local time (0123 GMT) in the middle of the sea about 130 miles (209 kilometers) off the coast of the Cayman Islands.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (six miles).

This is the largest earthquake in the region since 2021, when a 7.2 magnitude quake hit southwestern Haiti, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Tsunami advisories for Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands

A tsunami advisory issued for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands has been lifted, according to the US National Tsunami Warning Center.

There were no alerts issued for the mainland US coast.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/caribbean-hit-by-76-magnitude-earthquake/a-71551216

Billionaire Elon Musk said that he was not interested in purchasing TikTok, the popular short-video app that the United States has been trying to ban over national security concerns with its Chinese owner ByteDance.
Musk’s comments, made in late January, were released online Saturday by The WELT Group, a part of the German media company Axel Springer SE, which hosted a summit, where the Tesla (TSLA.O), chief joined the conference via video.

“I have not put in a bid for TikTok,” Musk said a week after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was open to Musk buying the ByteDance-owned app if he wanted to do so.
“I don’t have any plans for what I would do if I had TikTok,” Musk said, adding that he does not use the short video app personally, and was not familiar with the app’s format.
“I’m not chomping at the bit to acquire TikTok, I do not acquire companies in general, it’s quite rare,” Musk said, adding that his billion-dollar acquisition of social media platform Twitter, now called X, was unusual.

“I usually build companies from scratch,” Musk said.
The Republican president signed an executive order seeking to delay the enforcement of a ban on the popular short-video app that was slated to be shuttered on January 19.
ByteDance was given the January deadline to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok or face a U.S. ban, following lawmakers’ concerns that the app poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its U.S. users. TikTok has denied that it has or ever would share U.S. user data.

Apple and Google have not reinstated TikTok to their app stores since a U.S. law took effect. TikTok said on Friday that it was allowing U.S. Android users to download and connect to the app through package kits on its website, in an effort to circumvent restrictions on the popular platform in the country.
Trump has said that he was in talks with multiple people over TikTok’s purchase and would likely have a decision on the app’s future this month. It has about 170 million American users.

This week, the president signed an executive order to create a sovereign wealth fund within the year, saying it could potentially buy TikTok.
ByteDance has previously denied any plans to sell TikTok.
Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office when he unsuccessfully sought to ban the app over concerns the company was sharing Americans’ personal information with the Chinese government.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/billionaire-musk-says-not-interested-acquiring-tiktok-2025-02-08/

In Ghana and Kenya, insecticide and mosquito nets sit in warehouses because U.S. officials haven’t approved urgent anti-malaria campaigns.
In Haiti, a group treating HIV patients awaits U.S. permission to dispense medicines that prevent mothers from giving the disease to their children.
In Myanmar, where famine looms and the U.S is the single largest aid donor, one humanitarian worker described the situation as “mayhem.”

Nearly three weeks into U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, life-saving programs across the globe remain shut as humanitarian workers struggle to secure U.S. government waivers meant to keep them open, dozens of aid workers and U.N. staff told Reuters.
After Trump announced the 90-day freeze on January 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued waivers for what he called “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” which included “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance.”

But aid workers and U.N. officials said the waivers had sparked widespread confusion, along with fears that their U.S. funding would never be restored.
They said they couldn’t restart work without first confirming with their U.S. counterparts whether specific programs qualified for exemption. This was proving nearly impossible, they said, due to a communication breakdown with U.S. officials, some of whom had been fired or barred from talking.

The breakdown appeared partly by design. On January 31, staff at the United States Agency for International Development, once the main delivery mechanism for American largesse, were told not to communicate externally about the waiver and what it may or may not include, according to a previously unreported recording of the meeting reviewed by Reuters.
The U.S. State Department and White House did not respond to requests for comment.

The spiraling consequences of the aid freeze in developing countries underline the real-world harms from Trump’s upending of decades-old U.S. initiatives designed to build global alliances by making America the world’s most generous superpower and largest single aid donor.
Aid workers had a list of urgent questions going unanswered. Among them: Which programs could continue? What qualifies as life-saving aid? Food? Shelter? Medicine? And how do they keep people from dying when almost every aid service has been shut at once?
With little guidance from U.S. officials, aid workers said their organizations erred on the side of caution and closed programs rather than incur expenses that the U.S. government might not reimburse, the aid workers said. Some described how U.S partners – often people they had worked with for years – no longer answered their phones or emails.
One Geneva-based aid official who reached U.S. officials was stunned by their response. “We asked: Can you tell us exactly which programs we need to stop? Then we got a message saying ‘no more guidance is forthcoming’. This leaves us in a situation where you have to make a choice of which program is ‘life-saving’,” the official said. “We don’t have money to pay for it ourselves. We can’t spend money we don’t know if we have.”
The turmoil was particularly acute at USAID, now in disarray and targeted for closure as a “criminal organization” by Trump’s government efficiency tsar, the billionaire Elon Musk.
In his executive order, Trump said the U.S. “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy” were “in many cases antithetical to American values.” He ordered the 90-day pause pending a review on whether aid was consistent with his “America First” foreign policy.
Most of those who spoke to Reuters requested anonymity, fearful of antagonizing the Trump administration and jeopardizing the possible restoration of aid.
Two workers with aid organizations in Myanmar told Reuters they didn’t know whether U.S.-funded food distribution in the country was covered by a waiver and would continue. One of the workers described the situation as “mayhem.” Myanmar faces a severe food crisis due to natural disasters and a spiraling civil war. An estimated two million people in the country are on the brink of famine, according to the U.N.
Refugees also bore the brunt of the aid freeze in Bangladesh, where the U.S funds about 55% of assistance to more than a million Rohingya from Myanmar living in squalid camps. “Some essential and life-saving services” had been interrupted by the freeze, said the Inter Sector Coordination Group, an international relief organization that oversees the camps, in a previously unreported draft statement to local aid groups. The group didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A U.N. official in Bangladesh seeking clarity on which programs could remain open said U.S. counterparts were “not answering the phones.”
In Africa, humanitarian workers were due to start anti-malaria spraying campaigns this month in Ghana and Kenya before mosquito populations explode during the rainy season, but insecticide and mosquito nets are stuck in warehouses, said a USAID contractor.
A USAID memo, dated February 4 and seen by Reuters on Saturday, said “life-saving activities” to address malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases and conditions would be exempt from the freeze. But campaigns to protect millions of people appeared on hold as aid workers sought clarification on when funding would resume and specific malaria programs in Africa could restart, the contractor said.
Malaria, a preventable disease, is caused by parasites transmitted to people by the bites of infected mosquitoes. The vast majority of the world’s 597,000 malaria deaths in 2023 were African children aged under five years old, the World Health Organization said in December.
“There is a small window to do those campaigns which is going to close rapidly,” said the USAID contractor.
Millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars already spent on supplies to fight malaria in Africa could go to waste, aid workers said. Malaria No More, a global nonprofit based in Washington, said the freeze could prevent the distribution of 15.6 million life-saving treatments, nine million nets and 48 million doses of preventative medicine.
The U.S. is the top donor in the global fight against malaria, mostly through the President’s Malaria Initiative, known as PMI, set up under former President George W. Bush in 2005. PMI’s website – which included information on populations at risk of malaria – has been taken down and replaced with a brief statement: “In order to be consistent with the President’s Executive Orders, this website is currently undergoing maintenance as we expeditiously and thoroughly review all of the content.”
“It’s as if all the work . . . has just been erased,” said Anne Linn, a USAID staffer who worked remotely from Montana as a technical advisor and was fired on Jan. 28. “It’s so cruel and senseless,” she said. “The wastefulness of it is staggering to me.”
In Haiti, a program that provides treatment to AIDS patients was supposed to be exempt from the aid freeze under a State Department waiver but remained shut because it hadn’t received specific written instructions to open, said a worker at the nonprofit program. She said funding for the program came from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, the world’s leading initiative to combat HIV.
The State Department, which manages PEPFAR, said on February 1 that the program was covered by the waiver for life-saving humanitarian assistance. But the aid worker said she hadn’t received paperwork confirming that they could continue to distribute medicine.
“Everything is closed until further notice,” she said. Pregnant women were at risk because the program provides medication that can prevent HIV transmission to their infants, she added. She said more than half of Haiti’s 150,000 AIDS patients received treatment through PEPFAR.
In 2024, the U.S. provided 60% of Haiti’s humanitarian funding, totaling $208 million, according to the U.N.’s Financial Tracking Service.

TURMOIL AT USAID

The problems were exacerbated by turmoil at USAID, whose leaders Trump has described as “radical left lunatics.”
Trump’s administration plans to keep 611 staff at USAID out of its worldwide total of more than 10,000, according to a notice sent to the agency on February 5 and reviewed by Reuters.
Washington’s primary humanitarian aid agency has been a target of a government reorganization program spearheaded by Musk, a close Trump ally, since the Republican president took office on January 20. Staff have been shut out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Rubio has appointed himself the agency’s acting administrator.
An expert in water and sanitation spoke of “mass confusion” at the USAID’s global health bureau after she and dozens of others were fired on January 28. “It happened so quickly that I had no way of saving emails, contacts,” she said. “We were all just thrown away and bulldozed over.”
‘PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE’
In Thailand, the aid freeze forced the International Rescue Committee, which funds health clinics with U.S. support, to quickly shut down the hospital and clinics it ran in seven refugee camps on the Myanmar-Thai border. IRC was told by U.S. officials they couldn’t reopen before receiving another notification, which hasn’t arrived, said an aid worker.
Many were discharged from the IRC facilities, leaving people including pregnant women and children unable to access medication or medical equipment, said Francois Nosten, director of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, a field station in the border camps run by Bangkok’s Mahidol University.
An elderly woman, who had been hospitalized with lung problems and was dependent on oxygen, died four days after being discharged, according to her family. Reuters couldn’t independently confirm her cause of death.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-aid-freeze-keeps-life-saving-programs-shut-sparks-mayhem-2025-02-08/

When Donald Trump’s fortunes took a downturn in the 90s and he needed to raise cash fast, he sailed his 282ft (85m) superyacht, the Trump Princess, to Asia hoping he could attract Japan’s wealthy.

It wasn’t the first time the businessman had sought out Japanese buyers or lenders for his projects.

In the cut-throat world of New York real estate, Trump had a front-row seat from his Fifth Avenue skyscraper of Tokyo’s buying spree in the 80s of iconic US brands and properties, including Rockefeller Center.

It was then that his worldview on trade and America’s relations with its allies was formed, and his fixation on tariffs, a tax on imports, began.

“He had a tremendous resentment for Japan,” says Barbara Res, a former executive vice-president at the Trump Organization.

He watched with jealousy as Japanese businessmen were viewed as geniuses, she says. He felt America wasn’t getting enough in return for assisting its ally Japan with military defence.

Trump often complained that he had difficulties doing deals with large groups of Japanese businessmen.

“I’m tired of watching other countries ripping off the United States.”

That Trump quote could’ve been pulled from 2016, but it’s actually from the late 80s when he made an appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live, around the time he first floated his name as a potential presidential candidate.

Fresh from sharing his business philosophy in his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, Trump went on a tirade against America’s trade policies in national interviews.

In an animated interview with Oprah Winfrey before a live studio audience on The Oprah Show, he said he would handle foreign policy differently by making the country’s allies “pay their fair share”.

He added that there wasn’t free trade when Japan was “dumping” products into America’s market but making it “impossible to do business” there.

Jennifer Miller, an associate professor of history at Dartmouth College, said others shared his concerns about the economy at the time.

Japan provided competition for US manufacturing, particularly in consumer electronics and cars. As US factories were shuttering and new Japanese brands entered the market, pundits were talking about Japan surpassing the US as the world’s leading economy.

“Trump is sort of symbolic of a lot of people who were kind of questioning American leadership in the American-led international order, and whether it actually served the United States,” Prof Miller says.

Before his Oprah appearance, Trump had spent almost $100,000 to release an “open letter” in full-page ads in three major US newspapers.

The headline read: “There’s nothing wrong with America’s Foreign Defense Policy that a little backbone can’t cure.”

In it, he said Japan and other nations had been taking advantage of the US for decades. He claimed “the Japanese, unimpeded by the huge costs of defending themselves (as long as the United States will do it for free), have built a strong and vibrant economy with unprecedented surpluses”.

Trump believed the obvious solution was to “tax” these wealthy nations.

“The world is laughing at America’s politicians as we protect ships we don’t own, carrying oil we don’t need, destined for allies who won’t help,” he wrote.

The third week of Donald Trump’s second term has been marked by more major action from the US president and his team.

From announcing US goals on the future of Gaza and massively slashing the US agency for foreign aid to intervening in a golf dispute and banning transgender women from female sports competitions, Trump, his adviser Elon Musk and the rest of his team have pressed on with their agenda.

There’s a lot to keep up with – so here’s a reminder of 15 moves this week.

“If the island sinks, I will sink with it,” Delfino Davies says, his smile not fading for a second.

There is silence, except for the swish of his broom across the floor of the small museum he runs documenting the life of his community in Panama, the Guna.

“Before, you could hear children shouting… music everywhere, neighbours arguing,” he says, “but now all the sounds have gone”.

His community, living on the tiny low-lying island of Gardi Sugdub, is the first in Panama to be relocated because of climate change.

The government has said they face “imminent risk” from rising sea levels, which scientists say are likely to render the island uninhabitable by 2050.

In June last year, most of the residents abandoned this cramped jumble of wooden and tin homes for rows of neat prefabricated houses on the mainland.

The relocation has been praised by some as a model for other groups worldwide whose homes are under threat, but even so, it has divided the community.

“My father, my brother, my sisters-in-law and my friends are gone,” says Delfino. “Sometimes the children whose families have stayed cry, wondering where their friends have gone, he says.

House after house is padlocked. About 1,000 people left, while about 100 stayed – some because there was not enough room in the new settlement. Others, like Delfino, are not fully convinced climate change is a threat, or simply did not want to leave.

He says he wants to stay close to the ocean, where he can fish. “The people that lose their tradition lose their soul. The essence of our culture is on the islands,” he adds.

The Guna have lived on Gardi Sugdub since the 19th Century, and even longer on other islands in this archipelago off Panama’s northern coast. They fled from the mainland to escape Spanish conquistadors and, later, epidemics and conflict with other indigenous groups.

They are known for their clothes called “molas”, decorated with colourful designs.

The Guna currently inhabit more than 40 other islands. Steve Paton, a scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, says it is “almost a certainty” that most, if not all, of the islands will be submerged before the end of the century.

As climate change causes the Earth to heat up, sea levels are rising as glaciers and ice sheets melt and seawater expands as it warms.

Scientists warn that hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas around the world could be at risk by the end of the century.

On Gardi Sugdub, waves whipped up during the rainy season wash into homes, lapping below the hammocks where families sleep.

Mr Paton says, “it is very unlikely that the island will be habitable by 2050, based on current and projected rates of sea level rise”.

However, the first discussions about relocation began, more than a decade ago, because of population growth, not climate change.

The island is just 400m long and 150m wide. Some residents see overcrowding as the more pressing problem. But others, like Magdalena Martínez, fear the rising sea:

“Every year, we saw the tides were higher,” she says. “We couldn’t cook on our stoves and it was always flooded… so we said ‘we have to get out of here’.”

Magdalena was among those who clambered into motor boats and wooden canoes last June, bound for new homes.

“I brought just my clothes and some kitchen utensils,” she says. “You feel like you are leaving pieces of your life on the island.”

The new community, Isberyala, is – weather permitting – just 15 minutes by boat, followed by a five-minute drive, from Gardi Sugdub. But it feels like another world.

Identical white and yellow homes line tarmacked roads.

Magdalena’s eyes light up as she shows off the “little house” where she lives with her 14-year-old granddaughter Bianca and her dog.

Each house has a small area of land behind it – a luxury not available on the island. “I want to plant yucca, tomatoes, bananas, mangoes and pineapples,” she enthuses.

“It is quite sad to leave a place you’ve been in for so long. You miss your friends, the streets where you lived, being so close to the sea,” she says.

Isberyala was built with $15m (£12m) from the Panamanian government and additional funding from the Inter-American Development Bank.

In its new meeting house, which is roofed with branches and leaves in the traditional style, waits Tito López, the community’s sayla – or leader.

“My identity and my culture aren’t going to change, it’s just the houses that have changed,” he says.

He is lying in a hammock, and explains that as long as the hammock keeps its place in Guna culture, “the heart of the Guna people will be alive”.

When a Guna dies, they lie for a day in their hammock for family and friends to visit. It is then buried next to them.

In the state-of-the-art new school, students aged 12 and 13 are rehearsing Guna music and dances. Boys in bright shirts play pan pipes, while girls wearing molas shake maracas.

The cramped school on the island has closed now, and students whose families stayed there travel each day to the new building with its computers, sports fields and library.

Magdalena says conditions in Isberyala are better than on the island, where she says they had only four hours of electricity a day and had to fetch drinking water by boat from a river on the mainland.

In Isberyala, the power supply is constant, but the water – pumped from wells nearby – is only switched on for a few hours a day. The system has at times broken down for days at a time.

Also, there is no healthcare yet. Another resident, Yanisela Vallarino, says one evening her young daughter was unwell and she had to arrange transport back to the island late at night to see a doctor.

Panamanian authorities told the BBC that construction of a hospital in Isberyala stalled a decade ago over lack of funding. But they said they hoped to revive the plan this year, and were assessing how to create space for remaining residents to move from the island.

Yanisela is delighted that she is now able to attend evening classes in the new school, but she still returns to the island frequently.

“I’m not used to it yet. And I miss my house,” she says.

Communities around the world will be “inspired” by the way the residents of Gardi Sugdub have confronted their situation, says Erica Bower, a researcher on climate displacement at Human Rights Watch.

“We need to learn from these early cases to understand what success even looks like,” she says.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0lg9pedz1o

As Hong Kong prepares to welcome the Year of the Snake on Wednesday, Chau Ka-ling displays a moving serpent with practiced ease, holding it like a pet in her decades-old restaurant in the city.

As one of the last keepers of the city’s traditional snake soup industry, Chau saves three live snakes for occasional display in wooden drawers that once housed more serpents for cooking. The cuisine she makes, long cherished in southern Chinese culture for keeping people warm in the winter, is slithering away.

Founded by Chau’s late father in the 1960s, Shia Wong Hip once slaughtered live snakes for its dishes. “Shia Wong” means “Snake King” in Cantonese.

Under her father’s guidance, Chau learned to catch and kill serpents and make soup, eventually becoming known as the city’s “Snake Queen.” A newspaper photo displayed on the wall captured her success in catching an over 2-meter-long venomous king cobra in 1997 at a marine police office in rural Hong Kong at the authorities’ request.

But the restaurant, alongside most of the city’s other remaining snake soup shops, switched to using frozen snake meat from Southeast Asia after a 2003 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, killed 299 people in Hong Kong. Scientists have linked the virus’s origin to wild animals.

Despite the change, preparing snake soup still takes a long time. The defrosted snake meat must be boiled for at least two hours to achieve the desired tenderness. After it cools, Chau debones it with a sharpened chopstick and tears it into thin pieces by hand.

The snake bones then are simmered with chicken and pork bones for at least six hours to make the soup base. Next, the broth is stewed with snake meat, shredded chicken, ham, fungus and mandarin orange peel before finally being thickened with starch.

When a bowl of soup is served, diners usually garnish it with lemon leaves and crispy chips.

Snake meat, which has a texture similar to chicken after cooking, is rich in protein and low in fat.

During the winter, Chau can sell up to 800 bowls a day ranging in price from $7 to $11. But that figure drops to 100 or less in the summer, when the soup is less popular.

Snake soup shops have closed after the COVID-19 pandemic and as older chefs retire, leaving only about 20 still in operation.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/snake-soup-hong-kong-winter-new-year-4f04a46eb312b0acba399741a4f8db37

A new Netflix miniseries tells the story of an Australian influencer who lied about having a terminal illness to promote alternative therapies. A decade on, it remains a warning.

Back in 2013, a remarkable, against-all-odds story of survival hit the headlines when a young woman launched what would become a best-selling wellness app with advice on how she had beaten cancer. Just four years earlier in 2009, Australian blogger Belle Gibson, then aged 20, had, by her own account, been diagnosed with a “malignant brain cancer” and been given “six weeks, four months tops” to live. However, she claimed that she had chosen to withdraw from chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, and had instead embarked on “a quest to heal myself naturally… through nutrition, patience, determination and love”.

Amassing 200,000 fans online on Instagram – then in its early days – who avidly followed her wellness journey, she then launched a best-selling wellness and nutrition app, followed by a cookbook, called The Whole Pantry, crediting her diet for curing her of her terminal illness, and inspiring others to follow her in “empowering myself to save my own life”. She was dubbed “the most inspiring woman you’ve met this year” by Elle Australia, while in 2014, Cosmopolitan gave her a “Fun, Fearless Female” award.

However, it was all a lie. Gibson had never been diagnosed with a brain cancer, nor the “cancer in my blood, spleen, brain, uterus, and liver” that she subsequently claimed she had also been diagnosed with in a 2014 Instagram post, when rumblings first began to surface in Australian media that she may have been a fraud. Finally, in April 2015, she admitted the truth in an interview with Women’s Weekly. “No, none of it’s true,” she said, but refusing to take further responsibility, she added, opaquely: “I am still jumping between what I think I know and what is reality. I have lived it and I’m not really there yet.”

Hamas has released the names of three Israeli hostages it says it will release today in the fifth such swap of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

The hostages are Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy, Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a Telegram post.

An Israeli official confirmed Israel had received the three names from Hamas.

In return for the captives’ release, Hamas said it expects 183 Palestinian prisoners to be released.

Both Mr Ami, 56, and Mr Sharabi, 52, were taken from Kibbutz Be’eri during the 7 October attack. The cross-border attack saw around 1,200 Israelis killed and around 250 people taken hostage.

Mr Levy, 34, was abducted from the Nova music festival.

Of the Palestinian prisoners being freed, 18 have been serving life sentences, 54 were serving long sentences and the vast majority, 111, were detained in Gaza during the war.

Eli Sharabi

Mr Sharabi’s wife Lianne Sharabi was born in Bristol.

She, along with their children, 16-year-old Noiya and 13-year-old Yahel, were killed in the 7 October attack.

His brother Yossi was also killed after being taken hostage.

In a statement after news he would be released was announced, Mr Sharabi’s lawyers said the “family has already lost too much… [they] are pleased and relieved that Eli Sharabi is reportedly on the list for release by Hamas”.

It added: “It is long past time to bring Eli home.”

Or Levy

Mr Levy was captured by militants from a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival.

His wife Einav was killed during the 7 October attack. Their son Almog, a toddler, is staying with his grandparents.

Mr Levy is from the city of Rishon Lezion, where he worked as a computer programmer.

Some of Mr Levy’s family previously spoke about his kidnapping and the death of his wife.

Speaking around Hanukkah last year, his brother Michael Levy told Sky News’s Yousra Elbagir: “I have three little girls but it won’t be the same. Hanukkah is a happy holiday – you light candles, you sing and eat all sorts of things but for us it is not a real holiday without Or.”

Ohad Ben Ami

Mr Ben Ami, a father of three, was taken hostage with his wife Raz, who was released during the brief ceasefire period in November.

His daughter Ella Ben Ami previously spoke to Sky News about missing her dad Mr Ami, as she pleaded for his release.

“On the eve of Christmas, on the 24 December, it will be his birthday, and I don’t want to celebrate it without him,” she told Sky News in 2023.

Ms Ami was previously one of the first to tell the world what happened on 7 October, calling an Israeli TV channel while hiding.

Row over aid access

Earlier on Friday, Hamas accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire accord and held off announcing the names of the Israeli hostages until the deadline had passed.

The militant group claimed Israel delayed the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying food and other humanitarian supplies agreed under the truce deal and held back all but a fraction of the tents and mobile homes needed to provide people shelter in the devastated enclave.

“This demonstrates clear manipulation of relief and shelter priorities,” Hamas said in a statement.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that is overseeing the aid deliveries into Gaza, denied the accusation.

It added Israel would “not tolerate violations by Hamas”.

The claims and counter-claims highlight the fragility and uncertainty of the ceasefire.

This has been heightened by US President Donald Trump recently saying the US could take over Gaza and move the Palestinian population out.

Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and displaced the majority of the strip’s population.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/hamas-names-three-israeli-hostages-it-says-it-will-release-on-saturday-13304815

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Donald Trump “let’s do a deal” as he offered the US a partnership over Ukraine’s stores of rare earth and minerals.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump said he wanted Ukraine to supply the US with critical resources in exchange for financial support in its war with Russia.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Mr Zelenskyy said: “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it.”

While emphasising that Kyiv was not proposing “giving away” its resources, he said he was open to a mutually beneficial partnership to develop them jointly.

Rare earths are a group of 17 metals that are vital in the production of high-performance magnets, electric motors and consumer electronics.

Mr Zelenskyy touted the country’s reserves of titanium and uranium as Europe’s largest.

According to the World Economic Forum, Ukraine also has the potential to become a key supplier of lithium, beryllium, manganese, gallium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite and nickel.

Showing a map of Ukraine’s mineral deposits, he then said Russia currently has control of less than 20% of the country’s mineral resources – but that includes about half its rare earth deposits.

“Putin is not just grabbing them [minerals] along with the land, he is already thinking about how to get other partners in his alliance – North Korea, Iran… and he will give them access,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

“This is very rich land. This does not mean that we are giving it away to anyone, even to strategic partners. We are talking about partnership…

“Let’s develop this together, make money, and most importantly, it’s about the security of the Western world.”

The Ukrainian president added that Kyiv and the White House were discussing the idea of using the country’s underground gas storage sites to store American liquefied natural gas, calling it “very interesting”.

He also said he would like to discuss the US having priority when it came to rebuilding Ukraine, saying it would amount to “a lot of money for business”.

‘Not accepting Russia’s ultimatums’

He also insisted that Mr Trump must meet with him before he meets with the Russian president, “otherwise it will look like a dialogue about Ukraine without Ukraine”.

He added: “I don’t know what compromises can be discussed at the negotiating table, we have not reached that point…

“It is important for people to understand that Ukraine is negotiating, not accepting ultimatums from Russia.”

He also stressed Ukraine’s need for security guarantees from its allies as part of any settlement.

It comes as Mr Trump said he may meet with Mr Zelenskyy in the White House as early as next week. The two last met in New York in September last year.

Mr Trump also repeated his interest in meeting the Russian president with whom he said he always had a “good relationship”.

Speaking to reporters while meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Mr Trump said: “I’d like to see it end, just on a human basis. I’d like to see that end. It’s a ridiculous war.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/zelenskyy-tells-trump-lets-do-a-deal-for-ukraines-rare-earths-13304934

RESCUERS searching for a missing plane that vanished off the coast of Alaska have found an aircraft matching its description, with all its passengers dead.

A frantic search was launched after the Bering Air flight vanished over the ocean near the infamous Alaska Triangle, an area where more than 20,000 people have reportedly disappeared.

The Cessna Caravan, flying from Unalakleet to Nome, was last seen about 12 miles offshore at 3.16 pm on Thursday, according to FlightRadar.

Brutal weather has hampered rescue efforts, with the Coast Guard and Air Force scouring the treacherous shoreline.

The FBI joined the search Friday, using cell phone tracking to try and locate survivors.

But now the aircraft was discovered 34 miles southeast of Nome, its intended destination, after vanishing from radar.

The small commuter plane crashed in western Alaska and was located on sea ice and all passengers on board died, authorities said.

Officials confirmed the grim find at 6.17pm local time on Friday.

Startling footage previously showed the total white-out conditions a plane was flying in when it vanished with 10 people onboard.

A time-lapse video showed the snowy weather near Nome’s airport, which created zero visibility when the plane went missing.

It was 17 degrees in Unalakleet when the plane took off, according to the National Weather Service.

The area was covered in fog, and light snow was falling.

The harsh weather is also causing problems for the urgent air search for the flight, according to White Mountain Fire Chief Jack Adams.

“Word is, all the aircraft are grounded, there’s zero visibility,” Adams told NBC and CBS affiliate KTUU-TV.

“Basically, you can’t see anything from the air or the ground, and in the dark looking for something in zero visibility is a tough job.”

The Coast Guard had brought in a Jayhawk helicopter to search the area on Friday.

The emergency department was conducting a ground search spanning 30 miles with volunteers from Nome and White Mountain.

The searches started after an eerie radar video showed the moment the plane disappeared an hour after taking off.

The plane disappeared while flying over Alaska’s Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea.

MYSTERY TRIANGLE

While the exact coordinates of where the aircraft was last seen are still being determined, the plane had been lost near the Alaska Triangle.

The Alaska Triangle is a remote area in the middle of Utqiagvik, Anchorage, and Juneau.

The region, often compared to the Bermuda Triangle, is made up of forests, tundra, and icy peaks.

The triangle is known for its extreme weather and strange occurrences.

A shockingly high number of flights, tourists, and hikers have disappeared there without a trace.

The names of the people onboard the Bering Air flight haven’t been released.

Hospitals near Nome are prepared in case they need to respond as the search continues, according to the Norton Sound Health Corporation.

“Staff at Bering Air is working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going,” David Olson, the director of operations for Bering Air, told the Associated Press.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13479533/alaska-flight-missing-video-bering-triangle-plane/

A coalition of mostly Democratic-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit on Friday to stop a Trump administration panel led by billionaire Elon Musk from accessing government systems used to process trillions of dollars in payments.
The 19 states led by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, claim Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has no legal power to access the U.S. Department of Treasury systems that contain personal information on millions of Americans.

The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court says Musk and his team could disrupt federal funding for health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives, and other programs, and that Republican President Donald Trump could use the information to further his political agenda.
DOGE’s access to the system also “poses huge cybersecurity risks that put vast amounts of funding for the States and their residents in peril,” the attorneys general said.

The White House and the Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump deputized Musk to lead DOGE to identify fraud and waste in the government. Musk’s efforts have alarmed Democrats and advocacy groups who say he is overstepping his authority by seeking to dismantle agencies responsible for critical government programs and fire federal workers en masse.
The lawsuit names Trump and the Treasury Department as defendants. James was joined by the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, and New Jersey, among other states.

In a separate lawsuit by unions claiming Musk’s team is violating privacy laws by accessing the payment systems, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the Treasury to limit access to two “special government employees” and said their access must be read-only.
Lawsuits also have been filed seeking to block DOGE from accessing data at the U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of Education.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a Trump appointee, said this week that the department’s payment system will not be touched by Musk and that any decisions to stop payments would be made by other agencies.

In Friday’s lawsuit, New York and the other states claim that allowing DOGE access to the payment system violates a federal law requiring agencies to conduct “privacy impact assessments” before using technology that collects or disseminates information, and unlawfully usurps the powers of Congress.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-states-sue-block-musks-doge-accessing-payment-systems-2025-02-08/

More than six million people could die from HIV and AIDS in the next four years if U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pulls its global funding for programmes, the United Nations AIDS agency said on Friday.
Although a waiver was placed on HIV/AIDS programmes in last month’s U.S. foreign aid funding freeze, many concerns remained about the future of treatment programmes, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS told reporters in Geneva.

“There is a lot of confusion especially on the community level, how the waiver will be implemented. We’re seeing a lot of disruption of delivery of treatment services”, Christine Stegling said.
Trump put hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of foreign aid donations on hold for 90 days upon taking office on January 20. In the following days, the U.S. State Department issued a waiver on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) – the world’s leading HIV initiative – for life-saving humanitarian assistance.

While welcoming the waiver, Stegling stressed the situation remains chaotic.
Amid a broader decline of funding, Stegling warned there would be a 400% increase in AIDS deaths if PEPFAR financial support is not re-authorized between 2025 and 2029.
“That’s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths that will occur in future…Any penny, any cut, any pause, will matter for all of us” she said, urging U.N. member states to step in.

“In Ethiopia, we have 5,000 public health worker contracts that are funded by U.S. assistance. And all of these have been terminated,” Stegling said.
She highlighted that community clinics were facing the biggest interruption as they are “entirely dependent” on U.S. government funding.
She expressed concern that some people may not come forward for treatment, which could in turn increase new HIV infections.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/unaids-says-us-aid-freeze-causing-lot-confusion-2025-02-07/

French prosecutors said on Friday they have opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s X social media platform over alleged algorithmic bias.
News of the probe comes just days before a major AI summit in Paris, which is due to host global leaders including U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as Alphabet (GOOGL.O), and Microsoft (MSFT.O), executives.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it launched the investigation after being contacted on January 12 by a lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms in X were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system.

X, formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.
The investigation underlines growing global wariness over the power of X, the name given to Twitter by tech billionaire Musk after he bought the social media network.
Musk has used X to personally support right-wing parties and causes in countries including Germany and Britain, leading to concerns about undue foreign interference.

French centrist lawmaker Eric Bothorel, posting on X, said he had written to the J3 cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutors’ office with his concerns that X was using biased algorithms, a report by Franceinfo said.
“Prosecutors and specialised assistants from the cybercrime unit are analysing it and carrying out initial technical checks,” the Paris public prosecutor’s office said in an email to Reuters.

“I sent a letter to the cyber J3 prosecutor’s office on this subject on January 12,” Bothorel wrote on X.
The J3 unit of the Paris prosecutors’ office led last year’s probe of Telegram boss Pavel Durov, who was arrested after landing at a Paris airport. Durov, who is out on bail, denies the allegations, but Telegram has since said it is cooperating more closely with police to remove illegal content.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/paris-prosecutors-probing-musks-x-over-alleged-algorithmic-distortions-2025-02-07/

China has hit back at the United States, accusing it of “coercion” after Panama decided not to renew an important infrastructure agreement with Beijing. This move came in the wake of a threat from Washington DC to reclaim the Panama Canal.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference that China “firmly opposes the U.S. smearing and undermining the Belt and Road cooperation through means of pressure and coercion.”

The Belt and Road Initiative, a cornerstone of President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy, aims to connect China with other regions through extensive infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, airports, power plants, and more, reports The Associated Press.

While the initiative has seen significant accomplishments, it has also sparked concerns over debt burdens and environmental impacts.

Panama’s withdrawal from the agreement is perceived as yielding to US interests concerning the canal, following a warning from US Senator Marco Rubio to Panamanian leader Jose Raul Mulino.

Rubio said on Sunday that Panama must curtail what former President Donald Trump described as excessive Chinese sway over the canal zone or risk repercussions from the US.

Despite this, Mulino has stood firm against the new US administration’s attempts to negotiate control over the strategically crucial waterway.

However, there is speculation that Panama may be willing to consider a compromise, where the operation of both sides of the canal is removed from Hutchison Ports, a Hong Kong-based company that was granted a 25-year no-bid extension to manage the canal.

An ongoing audit is reviewing the suitability of this extension, which could potentially lead to a rebidding process.

Source : https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/162964/china-and-us-fight-over-panama

A19-year-old with a concerning “hacker” background known online as “Big Balls” is working as part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

One former FBI agent has said he would not have recommended Edward Coristine for government work, knowing his work experience to date.

Newsweek contacted Elon Musk via Twitter for comment on how Coristine was appointed to his position.

Why It Matters

Coristine’s recruitment to Musk’s team, which was commissioned by President Donald Trump to recommend ways to cut down on government spending, symbolizes the new administration’s unconventional approach to government reform.

DOGE has quickly become one of the most important additions to President Donald Trump’s new administration, with Musk’s advice being the driving force behind the USAID shutdown. It represents Trump’s election promises to cut back on federal spending and the “deep state.”

What To Know

Previously, it was reported that DOGE staff had received equivalent training and security clearance to federal employees who work with sensitive information. However, The White House has not confirmed if Coristine has received these clearances.

Coristine, a high school graduate with a history of launching startups, has founded at least five companies across multiple jurisdictions, including Connecticut, Delaware, and the United Kingdom.

However, many of these ventures were absent from his now-deleted LinkedIn profile. In 2022, he worked briefly for Path Network, a network monitoring company known for hiring former hackers, according to Wired. That same year, an individual using a Telegram alias linked to Coristine reportedly sought out a cyberattack-for-hire service.

One of Coristine’s ventures, Tesla.Sexy LLC, registered when he was just 16, manages dozens of web domains, including Russian-registered sites. One of these, still operational, offers Helfie, an AI-powered Discord bot operating in Russia, which could present security clearance challenges, per Wired.

Coristine worked at Neuralink, another Musk-run enterprise, before joining DOGE, where he has reportedly participated in meetings reviewing government personnel and code.

DOGE, which was mandated by the election result, has already been responsible for some of the biggest changes to the U.S. government in years, calling for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to be dismantled and its services moved to the State Department. It claims to have saved $1 billion a day in spending based on budget cuts alone.

However, the organization is solely advisory, and is not a full part of the federal government. All recommendations it makes must be approved by President Trump or his cabinet.

What People Are Saying

Elon Musk said on social media in response to Coristine being identified: “Can’t believe they doxxed another DOGE team member …”

Former FBI agent EJ Hilbert told Wired on Thursday: “If I was doing the background investigation on him, I would probably have recommended against hiring him for the work he’s doing. I’m not opposed to the idea of cleaning up the government. But I am questioning the people that are doing it.”

Source : https://www.newsweek.com/who-big-balls-teen-doge-engineer-edward-coristine-2027698

The U.S. is full of contradictions worth exploring, according to a comprehensive new report on the state of national well-being.

“We are a nation of extremes—extreme successes and extreme failures,” according to the State of the Nation Project’s annual progress report released this month. “Our national trends are improving in more areas than we are declining. However, relative to other countries, the opposite is true—we are declining in more areas than we are improving.”

The report, championed by a group of scholars who fall on both lines of the political spectrum, lead in seven of the country’s think tanks, and have taken seats advising or working for the last five U.S. presidential administrations, examined 37 measures across 15 topic areas to quantify America’s well-being. Measures, researched by the scholars and informed by a sample of 1,000 U.S. adults, include Americans’ trust in government, trust in criminal justice systems, income inequality, violence, life satisfaction, social capital, mental health, family and child health, education, and work participation.

The U.S. has the fastest-growing economy, outperforming 98% of other high-income countries in economic output and 88% of other high-income countries in productivity, the report found. However, overall life satisfaction in the U.S. is declining. For voter participation and the belief in democracy (a national declining trend), the country is underperforming most other countries assessed. In particular, trust in the federal government, police, and colleges and universities is declining in the U.S.

“Almost two-thirds of high-income countries have more support for democracy than the United States,” according to the report. What’s more, the U.S. is among the worst middle- and high-income countries on depression and anxiety prevalence, faring worse than about 90% of other countries—and is the country reporting the world’s highest rate for fatal drug overdoses. For measures of child mortality, youth depression, and the percentage of children growing up in single-parent households, the U.S. is faring in the middle or worse compared to other high-income countries.

The findings are in line with last year’s World Happiness Report, in which the U.S. dropped out of the top 20, due in large part to young people’s declining mental well-being. “We’re so wealthy, but so unhappy,” Bradley Birzer, a historian at Hillsdale College in Michigan, tells the New York Times.

Ariel Kalil, an economist at the University of Chicago, told the Times there’s a false assumption that boosting the economy boosts well-being for all.

Source : https://fortune.com/well/2025/02/07/americans-money-happiness-research/

Agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement are under increasing pressure to boost the number of arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants, as President Donald Trump has expressed anger that the amount of people deported in the first weeks of his administration is not higher, according to three sources familiar with the discussions at ICE and the White House.

A source familiar with Trump’s thinking said the president is getting “angry” that more people are not being deported and that the message is being passed along to “border czar” Tom Homan, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello.

“It’s driving him nuts they’re not deporting more people,” said the person familiar with Trump’s thinking.

“After four years of the Biden administration’s outright incompetence and negligence, the Trump administration has re-established a no-nonsense enforcement of and respect for the immigration laws of the United States,” Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. “Hundreds of violent, predatory, and gang-affiliated criminal illegal aliens have already been rounded up and deported by ICE since President Trump took office — and the Trump administration is aligned on securing our borders and ensuring that mass deportations are conducted quickly and effectively to put Americans and America First.”

A source familiar with internal conversations at ICE said Homan has a daily conference call with ICE agents in which he has been known to express his frustration with ICE numbers.

Another source said Homan is “unhappy” and has “made his unhappiness known” about the relatively low numbers of arrests and deportations.

Meanwhile at ICE, Vitello told agents in January to aim to meet a daily quota of 1,200-1,400 arrests. According to numbers ICE has posted on X, the highest single day total since Trump was inaugurated was just 1,100, and the number has fallen since that day. On Tuesday of this week, arrests of immigrants were over 800, according to a source familiar with the numbers. But last weekend, there were only about 300 arrests, another source told NBC News.

Source : https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-angry-deportation-numbers-are-not-higher-rcna191273

Kanye West has seemingly called out Elon Musk out on his own social media platform.

The 47-year-old rapper stormed to X, formally Twitter, famously owned by the Tesla CEO and fumed, “ELON STOLE MY NAZI SWAG AT THE INAUGURATION YOOOO MY GUY GET YOUR OWN THIRD RALE.”

Kanye was likely referring to Elon’s controversial gesture at Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month.

The SpaceX founder sparked an onslaught of backlash after he was perceived to make a rigid, Roman-style salute in front of Trump supporters, appearing to repeat the gesture twice intentionally.

However, Elon rebutted the accusations, posting, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks” on X.

“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” he added, expressing his sentiment with a sleeping emoji.

Kanye is also stirring up quite a storm on the social media platform, as in the early hours of Friday morning, he posted a series of anti-sematic posts.

In one shocking post, Kanye brazenly declared: “IM A NAZI,” followed by a second, even more concerning post that read: “I LOVE HITLER NOW WHAT B—-.”

He continued to double down on his anti-sematic views adding: “IM NEVER APOLOGIZING FOR MY JEWISH COMMENTS I CAN WHATEVER THE F— I WANNA SAY FOREVER WHERES MY F–ING APOLOGY FOR FREEZING MY ACCOUNTS SUCK MY D–=-HOWS THAT FOR AN APOLOGY.”

Source : https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/162946/kanye-west-blasts-elon-musk

Sweden’s government has announced plans to tighten gun laws in the wake of the worst mass shooting the country’s history.

Seven women and four men between 28 and 68 died in the attack, police said, including the gunman, who killed himself.

Named widely in Swedish media as 35-year-old Rickard Andersson, the suspect had four legally owned rifles, three of which were found in the school, police said.

Sweden’s centre-right coalition, which relies on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats party, said on Friday it would seek to increase vetting around gun purchases and ban certain types of weapon.

“There are certain types of weapons that are so dangerous that they should only be possessed for civilian purposes as an exception,” the government said in a statement.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, on a visit to Latvia, told reporters: “We have to ensure that only the right people have guns in Sweden.”

The Sweden Democrats said that it agreed with proposals to amend the law, including greater restrictions on access to semi-automatic weapons.

“The horrific act of violence in Orebro raises several key questions about gun legislation,” the party said in a statement.

The AR-15, a particular style of semi-automatic rifle that is both powerful and can carry large magazines, was singled out by the government as an example of weapons that could be restricted.

Police have not said exactly which weapons were used in the attack, but the AR-15 has been used in many mass shootings in the US.

They confirmed that several long rifles were found at the site of the attack in Orebro, along with 10 empty magazines.

Under current Swedish gun laws, anyone over 18 who does not have a criminal record can apply for a permit for a shotgun, handgun or semi-automatic rifle.

They must justify to the police why they need a gun. People over 20 can apply for a special dispensation to own a fully automatic weapon.

Around 580,000 Swedes have a weapons licence out of a population of around 10.5 million, according to figures from Swedish broadcaster SVT.

A 2017 Swiss study found there were about 2.3 million guns held by civilians in Sweden. That is around 23 guns per 100 people, compared with 29 in Norway and 120 per 100 in the US.

To obtain a hunting licence in Sweden, a theory and practical test is required. About 280,000 Swedes have one.

Police have yet to publicly identify the victims of the attack in Orebro, or declare a motive for the attack.

Among the dead, according to family and community members, were Syrians who fled the war there as refugees, as well as one Bosnian.

Swedish police are usually cautious about naming suspects during an investigation, but the absence of official information has contributed to a feeling of fear and uncertainty among Orebro’s immigrant communities over the past few days.

“We need more information,” said Nour Afram, 36, who was inside the Risbergska school when the attack began.

“We don’t know why he did it, why did he target this school? Was he sick or was it something else?” she said.

Afram was waiting to go into class when she heard people screaming that there was a shooter.

“We started to run and then I heard the gunshots,” she said. “One at first, then tak tak tak – maybe ten shots. I was so scared I felt like my heart stopped in my chest.”

Sweden has a relatively high level of gun ownership and gun crime, by European standards, though most weapons are legally owned and used for hunting.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3lpp9we4jo

Indians are the main beneficiaries of H-1B visas, which draw the best of talent and brains from across the world to the US. Highly skilled professionals from India walk away with the overwhelming number of H-1B visas – which is Congressional mandated 65,0000 every year and another 20,000 for those who received higher education from the US.

What is an H-1B Visa

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

What is the registration fee for H-1B Visa

The registration fee is for H-1B Visa is USD 215.

The initial registration period for the most sought-after H-1B visas for foreign guest workers for fiscal 2026 will open at noon Eastern Time (10:30 pm IST) on March 7 and run through noon Eastern Time (10:30 pm IST) on March 24, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Wednesday.

During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary, it said.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/h-1b-visa-initial-registration-period-to-begin-from-march-7-7654086

Hate symbols and terror offences will be punishable with mandatory jail terms ranging from one to six years in Australia, after parliament passed a series of amendments to hate crime laws on Thursday.

The new laws were passed following a wave of high-profile antisemitic attacks which have become a major topic of debate in the country.

The amendments have been described by the government as the “toughest laws Australia has ever had against hate crimes”.

But critics say that the governing Labor Party is caving to opposition demands and going against its own policy of opposing mandatory jail sentences.

Under the amendments, displaying hate symbols or performing a Nazi salute is now punishable with at least one year in prison.

Other penalties include a minimum of three years for financing terrorism and six years for committing or planning terrorist acts.

There have been several attacks on Jewish targets in Australia in recent months.

Last week authorities in Sydney found a caravan containing explosives and an antisemitic note.

The discovery came just a week after a childcare centre near a Jewish school and synagogue in Sydney was set on fire and antisemitic graffiti was seen on one of its walls.

In December, a synagogue in Melbourne was set alight with worshippers inside. No-one was seriously hurt in the incident, which sent shockwaves through the country.

Former Labor senator Kim Carr criticised the party for what he said was a “clear breach of the Labor party national platform”.

Labor opposes mandatory sentences on the grounds that such penalties do not reduce crime, undermine the courts’ independence and are often discriminatory in practice.

But opposition parties did not rush to welcome the new amendments either, accusing Labor of dragging its feet.

“The parliament is not acting today because of the decisiveness of the Labor Party,” Liberal senator James Paterson told reporters in Canberra.

“The prime minister has been dragged kicking and screaming to finally introduce tough legislation that will ensure there are real penalties for this behaviour.”

Performing the Nazi salute and displaying Nazi symbols such as the swastika, have been banned since January 2024 and carry up to one year in jail. The amendments on Thursday make the jail term mandatory.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8x98z0kvlo

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close U.S. ally.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of or recognizes the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes over his military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been killed during the Israeli military’s response.

The order Trump signed accuses the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and of abusing its power by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel,” the order states, adding that the court had set a “dangerous precedent” with its actions against both countries.

Trump’s action came as Netanyahu was visiting Washington. He and Trump held talks Tuesday at the White House, and Netanyahu spent some of Thursday meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The order says the U.S. will impose “tangible and significant consequences” on those responsible for the ICC’s “transgressions.” Actions may include blocking property and assets and not allowing ICC officials, employees and relatives to enter the United States.

Human rights activists said sanctioning court officials would have a chilling effect and run counter to U.S. interests in other conflict zones where the court is investigating.

“Victims of human rights abuses around the world turn to the International Criminal Court when they have nowhere else to go, and President Trump’s executive order will make it harder for them to find justice,” said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project. “The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone.”

Hogle said the order “is an attack on both accountability and free speech.”

“You can disagree with the court and the way it operates, but this is beyond the pale,” Sarah Yager, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said in an interview prior to the announcement.

Like Israel, the U.S. is not among the court’s 124 members and has long harbored suspicions that a “Global Court” of unelected judges could arbitrarily prosecute U.S. officials. A 2002 law authorizes the Pentagon to liberate any American or U.S. ally held by the court. In 2020, Trump sanctioned chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, over her decision to open an inquiry into war crimes committed by all sides, including the U.S., in Afghanistan.

However, those sanctions were lifted under President Joe Biden, and the U.S. began to tepidly cooperate with the tribunal — especially after Khan in 2023 charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with war crimes in Ukraine.

Driving that turnaround was Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who organized meetings in Washington, New York and Europe between Khan and GOP lawmakers who have been among the court’s fiercest critics.

Now, Graham says he feels betrayed by Khan — and is vowing to crush the court as well as the economy of any country that tries to enforce the arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

“This is a rogue court. This is a kangaroo court,” Graham said in an interview in December. “There are places where the court makes perfect sense. Russia is a failed state. People fall out of windows. But I never in my wildest dreams imagined they would go after Israel, which has one of the most independent legal systems on the planet.”

“The legal theory they’re using against Israel has no limits and we’re next,” he added.

Biden had called the warrants an abomination, and Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, has accused the court of having an antisemitic bias.

Any sanctions could cripple the court by making it harder for its investigators to travel and by compromising U.S.-developed technology to safeguard evidence. The court last year suffered a major cyberattack that left employees unable to access files for weeks.

Some European countries are pushing back. The Netherlands, in a statement late last year, called on other ICC members “to cooperate to mitigate risks of these possible sanctions, so that the court can continue to carry out its work and fulfil its mandate.”

The U.S. relationship with the ICC is a complicated one. The United States participated in negotiations that led to the adoption of the Rome Statute that established the court as a tribunal of last resort to prosecute the world’s worst atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — if individual governments did not take action.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/trump-icc-sanctions-israel-order-01beee050ae84d0d9eae66d00bc8ead9

Brazilian students returned to class this week with a new task: staying away from their smartphones as a new law restricting their use in schools took effect.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a bill in January limiting smartphone access at schools, in line with a trend seen in the U.S. and Europe. It applies to public and private schools, and applies to classrooms and the halls.

Phones are still allowed for educational purposes, with the teacher’s permission, and when needed for the student’s accessibility and health. Schools can set their own guidelines, such as whether students can keep phones in backpacks or store them in lockers or designated baskets.

Before the federal law, most of Brazil’s 26 states — including Rio de Janeiro, Maranhao and Goias — had already applied some restrictions to phone use in schools. As of 2023, nearly two-thirds of Brazilian schools had some limitations, with 28% banning them entirely, according to a survey last year by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee.

But rules varied between states and between schools, and authorities and administrators struggled with enforcement.

That may have contributed to support for federal legislation from across the political spectrum — both allies of leftist Lula and the far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. A survey released in October by Brazilian pollster Datafolha said that almost two-thirds of respondents wanted to ban smartphone use by children and teenagers at schools. More than three-quarters said those devices do more harm than good to their children.

Porto Seguro, a nearly 150-year-old private school in Sao Paulo, prohibited smartphones in classrooms last year and encouraged students to disconnect completely once a week. This year, it expanded its ban to include hallways, requiring students to keep their phones in lockers for the entire school day, including breaks.

“Students were having trouble concentrating,” school principal Meire Nocito said in an interview Thursday. “There was also the issue of social isolation. Many students who used technology excessively would isolate themselves during breaks, interacting only through social media.”

“Banning cellphone use has helped create a space for social interaction, fostering relationships and teaching students to navigate conflicts, which are a natural part of human interactions. It has been very positive,” she added.

One of the highest rates of phone use

Brazil’s Ministry of Education said in a statement Monday that the restriction aims to protect students’ mental and physical health while promoting more rational use of technology.

In May, Fundacao Getulio Vargas, a leading think-tank and university, said Brazil had more smartphones than people, with 258 million devices for a population of 203 million Brazilians. Local market researchers said last year that Brazilians spend 9 hours and 13 minutes per day on screens, which is among one of the world’s highest rates of use.

Institutions, governments, parents and others have for years associated smartphone use by children with bullying, suicidal ideation, anxiety and loss of concentration necessary for learning. China moved last year to limit children’s use of smartphones, while France has in place a ban on smartphones in schools for kids aged six to 15.

Cell phone bans have gained traction across the United States, where eight states have passed laws or policies that ban or restrict cellphone use to try to curb student phone access and minimize distractions in classrooms.

An increasing number of parents across Europe who are concerned by evidence that smartphone use among young kids jeopardizes their safety and mental health.

A report published in September by the U.N.’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, said one in four countries has already restricted the use of such devices at schools.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/brazil-bill-phones-schools-restrictions-20b95516d6e2a0f63ebb642defba964b

Greece’s authorities have declared a state of emergency on Santorini after a series of earthquakes shook the popular tourist destination.

More than 10,000 residents and workers fled the island this week as near-constant tremors and undersea earthquakes have been recorded between Santorini and the islands of Amorgos, Anafi and Ios.

A 5.2 magnitude quake struck on Wednesday night – the most powerful recorded since activity started on 31 January.

Authorities warned of a high landslide risk, and have shut schools, dispatched rescuers, and advised residents to avoid ports and indoor gatherings.

Some of the island’s famous cliff-top towns have been cordoned off.

Army, fire service and police units have also been deployed to the island.

The state of emergency is set to be in place until 3 March to allow Greece’s climate crisis and civil protection ministry to respond to the consequences of the seismic activity.

Greece is one of Europe’s most earthquake-prone countries but seismologists have said the high level of activity is unprecedented and may last weeks or months.

The experts say the tremors are unrelated to volcanic activity in the Aegean Sea, but are unable to say whether they could lead up to a more powerful earthquake.

“We are not yet in a position to say that we are seeing any evidence that would lead to the sequence slowly coming to a conclusion,” said Vassilis K Karastathis, a seismologist and director of research at National Observatory of Athens.

“We are still in the middle of the road, we haven’t seen any easing, any sign that it’s heading towards a regression.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/greece-declares-state-of-emergency-on-santorini-after-earthquakes-13304315

Donald Trump has said Gaza will be “turned over” to the United States by Israel as he doubled down on his plan for America to “own” the Palestinian territory.

The US president attracted global condemnation on Tuesday when he said his country would take over Gaza and develop it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

Speaking during a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Trump also proposed that the two million people living in Gaza could be moved to Jordan and Egypt.

The Arab nations immediately rejected the idea, which the Gaza-based Hamas militant group called “ridiculous and absurd”.

It comes as Israel’s defence minister said Ireland, Spain and Norway are “legally obligated” to take in Palestinians because they criticised Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Repeating his proposal for the US to take over the territory, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday: “The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.

“The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.

“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free.”

The president has mocked his Democrat rival Mr Schumer since he nodded rather than shook Mr Netanyahu’s hand when the Israeli prime minister addressed Congress last year.

At the time, Mr Trump told supporters at a rally: “Chuck Schumer has become a Palestinian. Can you believe it? He’s become a proud member of Hamas.”

Senate minority leader Mr Schumer, who is Jewish, called the remark “unhinged”.

Mr Trump continued in his Truth Social post on Thursday: “The US, working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.

“No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”

Hamas has called for a summit of Arab countries after Mr Trump shared the post.

His comments came after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to row back on some of his remarks yesterday.

She told reporters that Gazans would be “temporarily relocated” while the territory was rebuilt, not permanently displaced.

Mr Trump and Israeli officials have depicted the proposed relocation from war-ravaged Gaza as voluntary, but the Palestinians have universally expressed their determination to remain in their homeland.

Human Rights Watch and other groups say the plan, if implemented, would amount to “ethnic cleansing”, the forcible relocation of the civilian population of an ethnic group from a geographic area.

Meanwhile, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Thursday: “Countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have levelled accusations and false claims against Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories.”

When asked about the remarks, Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Harris said: “Such comments are said to be unhelpful, provocative and to quite frankly distract.

“The absolute onus on the international community, including Ireland, is to make sure the ceasefire that’s in place in the Middle East is maintained.

“To make sure that the bombings stop, that the killings stop, that the hostages are released and that we see a very significant surge in humanitarian aid

“Regardless of any comments to distract, that’s absolutely where the focus here in Ireland and I hope right across the world will remain.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/trump-says-gaza-will-be-turned-over-to-the-us-by-israel-as-israeli-minister-says-ireland-should-take-in-palestinians-13304265

The NCAA, the governing body for collegiate sports in the United States, banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports effective immediately on Thursday, aligning itself with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The policy change came one day after Trump signed an executive order attempting to exclude transgender girls and women from female sports, a directive that supporters said would restore fairness but critics contend infringes on the rights of a tiny minority of athletes.

“A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team,” the new policy says, basing sex on what doctors assign to infants at birth and what is marked on their birth records.
The NCAA previously allowed transgender women to compete as long as they met testosterone limits on a sport-by-sport basis.
Trump exulted in the NCAA policy change with a social media post announcing, “IT IS NOW BANNED!”

“This is a great day for women and girls across our Country. Men should have NEVER been allowed to compete against women in the first place, but I am proud to be the President to SAVE Women’s Sports,” Trump said, adding that he expected the Olympics to follow suit.
The change affects only a small number of athletes. National Collegiate Athletic Association President Charlie Baker told a Senate panel in December he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the 530,000 competing at 1,100 member schools.

But the issue has caused an uproar in national politics, with Trump regularly raising the issue of transgender women and girls competing in female sports during his 2024 campaign for president.
Trump has issued a series of directives to repeal transgender rights, banning transgender people from military service, ordering transgender women inmates to be moved into men’s prisons, and seeking to ban healthcare related to gender transition for people under 19. All have met with legal challenges.

Shortly after Trump signed his executive order in a ceremony at the White House, the NCAA welcomed it for providing a clear national standard in the face of “a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” saying in a statement its Board of Governors would conform its policy accordingly.
The change came in less than 24 hours, applying immediately to all sports separated by gender. Member schools would be responsible for certifying eligibility and “the application of this policy may not be waived.”
Transgender men would still be eligible to compete in men’s sports as long as they meet all other eligibility requirements, the policy said.
However, an athlete who was assigned female at birth and who has begun hormone therapy such as testosterone injections may not compete on a women’s team.
LGBTQ rights organizations condemned Trump’s executive order as unconstitutional and based on misstatements and distortions about transgender people.
One group, Advocates for Trans Equality, on Wednesday singled out the NCAA for criticism, saying in a statement, “A4TE condemns the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s move to pre-emptively comply with a blatantly discriminatory and unconstitutional policy.”
The Trump order also threatens to cut off federal funding for any high schools that allow transgender girls to compete in female sports, and it seeks to pressure the International Olympic Committee to ban trans athletes and deny visas to trans women and girls who seek to enter the U.S. to compete.

Source :https://www.reuters.com/sports/ncaa-bans-transgender-women-sports-day-after-trump-executive-order-2025-02-06/

The Trump administration’s effort to slash and reshape American foreign aid is crippling the intricate global system that aims to prevent and respond to famine.
Struggling to manage hunger crises sweeping the developing world even before U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House, the international famine monitoring and relief system has suffered multiple blows from a sudden cessation of U.S. foreign aid.

The spending freeze, which Trump ordered upon taking office Jan. 20, is supposed to last 90 days while his administration reviews all foreign-aid programs. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said an exception allows emergency food assistance to continue.
But much of that emergency aid is at least temporarily halted as humanitarian organizations seek clarity about what relief programs are allowed to continue. Compounding the problem is Trump’s move this week to shut the U.S. government’s top relief provider, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

About 500,000 metric tons of food worth $340 million is in limbo, in transit or storage, as humanitarian organizations wait for U.S. State Department approval to distribute it, said Marcia Wong, a former senior USAID official who has been briefed on the situation.
U.S.-provided cash assistance intended to help people buy food and other necessities in Sudan and Gaza also has been halted, aid workers told Reuters. So has funding for volunteer-run community kitchens, an American-supported effort in Sudan to help feed people in areas inaccessible to traditional aid, these people said.

Humanitarian organizations have hit roadblocks in getting paid for emergency food operations. Questions about what programs have permission to continue have gone unanswered, because the people who normally field such inquiries – officials at USAID – have been placed on leave, at least six sources said.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), the U.S. entity that produced regular food security alerts meant to prevent famine, also has been shut down. Its loss leaves aid organizations without a key source of guidance on where and how to deploy humanitarian relief.

And the U.S. government issued stop-work orders to two major manufacturers of nutritional supplements, diminishing the supply of life-saving food for severely malnourished children around the world.
“We are the one thing that nearly everyone agrees on – that little children who are starving and need emergency aid need help,” said Mark Moore, chief executive officer of Mana Nutrition of Georgia, one of the two suppliers ordered to stop producing supplements. “It is not hype or conjecture or hand wringing or even contested use of stats to say that hundreds of thousands of malnourished children could die without USAID.”
Shortly after this story was published, the U.S. government notified Mana and the other manufacturer, Edesia Nutrition of Rhode Island, that the stop-work orders had been rescinded.
The U.S. State Department did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

STOCKPILES ON HOLD

Conflict is driving large numbers of people into desperate hunger, and the U.S. is the largest single donor of aid. It provided $64.6 billion in humanitarian aid over the last five years. That was at least 38% of the total such contributions recorded by the United Nations.
In 2023, almost 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced extreme food shortages that threatened their lives or livelihoods, according to the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises.
Even before the pause in U.S. aid, the world’s famine-fighting system was under enormous strain, driven by conflict and political instability, as Reuters detailed in a series of reports last year. The halt in aid creates a two-pronged crisis for humanitarian organizations working to relieve severe hunger. It impairs the programs that aim to prevent mass starvation. More immediately, it hobbles programs meant to respond to crises and save lives.
Among the food aid in limbo around the world is almost 30,000 metric tons meant to feed acutely malnourished children and adults in famine-stricken Sudan, two aid workers there said. Some is sitting in hot warehouses, where it is in danger of spoiling, they said.
The food includes lentils, rice and wheat, one of the workers said – enough to feed at least 2 million people for a month. Some items have a quick expiration date and will be inedible by the end of Trump’s 90-day pause, this person said.
Aid groups are confused about which relief programs qualify for waivers from the spending freeze and if they’ll be able to obtain them – because most USAID staff have been placed on leave.

A LOST STEERING WHEEL

Longer term, the shuttering of FEWS NET stands to cripple the world’s ability to predict, prevent and respond to food insecurity crises.
Created by the U.S. government in 1985 after devastating famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET is funded by USAID and managed by Washington, D.C.-based Chemonics International. FEWS NET is charged with providing early warning to U.S. policymakers about hunger crises that could require a humanitarian response. It uses data from federal agencies, scientists and other humanitarian organizations to produce a stream of reports on food security. USAID and humanitarian organizations used FEWS NET reports to decide where to send food aid.
Researchers who collect and analyze data on food insecurity and famine say FEWS NET is essential to world efforts to fight hunger. They say it can be more nimble and prolific than its U.N.-backed counterpart, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system (IPC), a global partnership that reports on food insecurity in dozens of lands.
In most areas where it works, the IPC requires consensus on its findings among local government authorities and representatives of other humanitarian bodies. This can result in political attempts to influence its work and can delay and impede its efforts to alert the world to a looming crisis,a recent Reuters investigation found.
FEWS NET doesn’t face those consensus-building requirements, and so is faster and more efficient, researchers say. In 2024, FEWS NET produced more than 1,000 food insecurity outlooks, alerts and other reports covering more than 34 countries. The IPC published 71 reports in 33 countries.
The IPC declined to comment on FEWS NET’s demise. The “implications for the initiative remain unclear,” said Frank ​​Nyakairu, a spokesman for IPC.
On January 27, Chemonics, which manages FEWS NET, received a stop-work order from USAID. Two days later, FEWS NET’s website went dark, eliminating public access to thousands of reports funded by American taxpayers.
“Ending FEWS NET is sort of like taking the steering wheel off the car,” said Andrew Natsios, a professor at Texas A&M University who headed USAID from 2001 to 2006. “Even if the car is working fine, if there’s no steering wheel, you don’t know where the car is going.”
FEWS NET has been a critical player in assessing food insecurity in most of the world’s worst hunger crises. An important conduit of data to the IPC and the global humanitarian system, its reports offered strategic analysis about how conflict and other problems impact food insecurity in specific places. It also pushed the IPC to act when the U.N.-backed body’s work became bogged down by politics.
Without FEWS NET, “the single most important component of the IPC system is knocked out,” said Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tuft University’s Fletcher School.
In December, Reuters reported that the Sudanese government maneuvered to delay an IPC famine determination in Darfur. FEWS NET, which had already concluded that famine was happening there, pushed for the IPC’s Famine Review Committee to convene, over the objections of Sudanese officials. In the end, the IPC committee agreed to announce that famine had struck Zamzam, a vast camp for internally displaced people in North Darfur.
But FEWS NET’s propensity to issue blunt assessments has also drawn fire in Washington. In December, FEWS NET published a report that projected famine by early 2025 in part of northern Gaza. After the report was issued, Jack Lew, U.S. ambassador to Israel from October 2023 until January, wrote that it was “irresponsible” to issue such a finding. FEWS NET withdrew the report, stating that its alert was “under further review” and that it expected to update the report in January.
With the dissolution of its chief funder, USAID, FEWS NET employees say they are not optimistic about the organization resuming work.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/halt-us-aid-cripples-global-efforts-relieve-hunger-2025-02-06/

The Trump administration move to stop low-cost imports entering the U.S. tariff-free is likely to hit fast fashion retailer Shein harder than online dollar-store Temu, thanks to Temu’s wider product range and moves to change its shipping strategy.
Both sites grew exponentially in the U.S. in recent years helped by the so-called de minimis rule, a measure that exempted shipments worth less than $800 from import duties. A June 2023 report estimated the Chinese retailers accounted for more than 30% of all packages shipped to U.S. each day under the rule.

The rule began to come under scrutiny during the Biden administration prompting both firms to start making preparations to rely less on it, but Temu made changes to its model faster, analysts and sellers told Reuters. Temu is owned by PDD Holdings (PDD.O), while Shein is aiming to list in London in the first half of the year.
Tech analyst Rui Ma said Temu “rapidly expanded its semi-managed model” as part of its groundwork, an Amazon-like strategy that sees goods shipped in bulk to overseas warehouses instead of directly to customers.

Within months of first bidding to attract sellers keeping inventory in U.S. warehouses last March, about 20% of Temu’s U.S. sales were shipped from local sellers rather than directly from China, according to estimates from e-commerce market research firm Marketplace Pulse.
Two China-based Temu sellers told Reuters that by the end of last year, half the products they sold to the U.S. were sent to warehouses there first.

Temu has also been increasing the proportion of goods it sends by sea. Basile Ricard, operations director at Ceva Logistics Greater China, said an increase in Temu ocean-freighting more goods in bulk – and larger-sized, more valuable goods, such as furniture – was apparent in the “second half” of last year, reducing importing under the de minimis threshold.
In contrast, Shein remains more reliant on air freight to directly ship the thousands of styles of ultra-fast fashion items it pumps out each week, Ricard said, although it has opened centres in states including Illinois and California, as well as a supply chain hub in Seattle.

“I think it’s important to separate Shein from the rest of the e-commerce players because their business is based on speed of supplying new styles and they have to remain very reactive to trends, so speed is a bigger part of their business,” he said.
The vast majority of Shein’s products are still made in China, but it has also started to diversify its supply chain, adding suppliers in Brazil and Turkey, for example, a move that might also accelerate in the wake of new tariffs and regulations.
Temu and Shein did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s executive order this week plunged the express shipping industry into confusion with the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday reversing a decision not to accept parcels from China and Hong Kong it had announced just 12 hours before.
Nomura analysts estimate that the volume of de minimis shipments to the U.S. could plummet by 60%, as American shoppers ordering from Shein, Temu and Amazon Haul face higher prices.
About 1.36 billion shipments entered the United States using the de minimis provision in 2024, 36% more than in 2023, according to CBP data.
Ma, however, said that she expected Shein and Temu to be able to adapt quickly, given the agility of China’s e-commerce firms and their supply chains.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/trumps-de-minimis-cancellation-is-bad-news-temu-worse-shein-2025-02-06/

Dashing as he may seem, Mickey 17 star Robert Pattinson insists he’s rather accident-prone. As we speak to him from Boston, on the set of his upcoming film The Drama, he notes that he can’t move his neck because of a recent workout injury.

“I don’t understand why my neck hurts because I was doing a leg exercise,” he says, adding that on the set of 2022’s The Batman, he was constantly getting hurt: “I tried to make it look pretty solid but it became a disaster.”

Mickey 17, director Bong Joon Ho’s follow-up to the triumph of his 2019 film Parasite, is the story of a man named Mickey Barnes — played by Pattinson — selected to perform unpleasant tasks on the alien planet of Niflheim. He dies in a series of mishaps, and is brought back again and again through a process called “reprinting.”

Pattinson says constant accidents came naturally.

“I was quite comfortable with stunts in Mickey 17 because I could look bad while falling over,” he explains. “For some reason, that’s the one benefit of being quite malcoordinated. Somehow I don’t really hurt myself that much from just falling. … I think falling down is my safe space.”

Pattinson has a very British, self-deprecating sense of humor: He set off a fandom freakout when he offhandedly told GQ in 2020, before The Batman was released, that he wasn’t really working out much for the role. He clarified to MovieMaker, the next year, “You’re playing Batman. You have to work out,” but explained that he didn’t get into details about his fitness regimen with GQ because, well, “it’s really embarrassing to talk about how you’re working out.”

So take Pattinson’s claim of clumsiness with a grain of salt, and appreciation for his dry wit. But it’s also true that making movies almost always involves things going wrong, then getting better.

And when Bong Joon Ho is involved, they often turn out great.

The South Korean director immediately related to Mickey7, the bestselling Edward Ashton novel upon which Mickey 17 is based.

“Mickey7 is about a person who’s in the predicament of constantly dying. He goes through this grueling, horrifying process again and again. And I kind of felt like that was similar to my predicament as a filmmaker,” Bong says.

“Obviously, this is not a theme that is outright blatant in the film, but I identified with this predicament a little bit because every time I create a film, of course, I don’t literally die, but I do grind my body, heart and soul into making the film. Sometimes it feels like I die and I’m reborn every time I make a film.”

Parasite arrived in 2019, a year when the film industry was thriving, and suggested limitless possibilities for Bong and cinema in general: A thriller with elements of comedy, sci-fi, and horror, it also offered a provocative, complex commentary on class. It not only earned more than $260 million worldwide, but earned about a fifth of that take in the United States, known for audiences averse to subtitles. And it earned Oscars for Best International Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. It was a movie that could do it all.

In some ways, one might expect Mickey 17 to be even more successful. Though Bong urged audiences in one of his Parasite acceptance speeches to “overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles,” he has made Mickey 17 more accessible to American moviegoers by making it in English, and has cast one of the world’s biggest movie stars in the lead role.

But 2025 is not 2019. Covid and strikes have ravaged the industry. Many movies with blockbuster budgets have fallen in the last year.

The industry is ready for a rebirth. Or maybe several.

But however Mickey 17 fares, Pattinson loved the process of making it. Even the falls.

“Bong made it seem really simple and fun,” he says. “It was one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve ever gone on because I was literally just doing stuff to make him laugh most of the time. I just acted like a jester, trusting that Bong’s steering the ship in the right direction.”

A Bong Joon Ho Milestone

This marks 25 years since Bong’s 2000 debut Barking Dogs Never Bite, which first played for international audiences at the Slamdance Film Festival, where it won the Excellence in Editing Award.

“I’m always a bit embarrassed when I think about Barking Dogs Never Bite,” Bong laughs.

“Of course, I poured my heart and soul into creating this film, but when I look back on it, the film’s a bit clumsy and I feel like it was during my transition into becoming a professional film director. I see a lot of holes in it, which is why it’s quite different from my films that came after.”

He shares Pattinson’s knack for self-effacement: The project was a success, and sparked one of the best film careers of this century. Bong followed it with 2003’s Memories of Murder, a social-satire and thriller about a criminal investigation, and 2006’s The Host, about a monster created by an American scientist’s carelessness.

At the time of its release, The Host was known for what was then a massive budget for a Korean film — around $11 million dollars. Mother, a whodunnit, followed in 2009. Bong adapted 2013’s Snowpiercer, his English-language debut, from the graphic novel Le Transperceneige, a sci-fi story about climate change. His Okja, an original tale about a super pig on the run from a ruthless CEO, debuted in theaters and on Netflix in 2017.

But the biggest success by far was Parasite, about a rich family and the poor family who infiltrate their household. The accolades for the film began with the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or in 2019 and culminated in the four Oscar wins.

Pattinson says he was “a bit late on Bong” — the first of the director’s films he saw was Snowpiercer, and he loved Parasite.

“After I saw Parasite, I started watching his old movies, and Memories of Murder was the one where the tone of the performances really appealed to my sense of humor,” says Pattinson. “There’s something surreal to their performances. It doesn’t seem very self-conscious. It’s very unique to Bong.”

Ashton, meanwhile, was a longtime fan who calls Snowpierecer “brilliant” and Okja “an underrated masterpiece.” The author, whose books include The Fourth Consort, Mal Goes to War and Antimatter Blues, was delighted when Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, acquired Mickey7 and gave it to Bong before it was published in 2022.

“People often ask authors if they’re nervous about what Hollywood will do to their work,” Ashton says. “I think that’s a legitimate question to ask. But with Director Bong in charge of Mickey 17, I never had a moment of nervousness.”

On the contrary (and brace yourself for more self-deprecation): “I have sometimes woken up in the night wondering if I’m going to be remembered as the man who destroyed Bong Joon Ho’s career. I don’t think that’s going to be the case, but I never worried that he was going to hurt mine.”

Robert Pattinson on the Expendability of Mickey

Nothing in Mickey 17 is blatant — Bong’s films thrill in part because they so skillfully comingle genre, philosophy and charm. Butyou could read the film as a protest against the cheapening of life, work and art.

“They’re just printing people as if they’re a piece of paper that you can reproduce from a printer,” says Bong. “That concept in itself feels disrespectful to humanity and ruins the dignity that humans have.”

“Yeah, and Mickey’s printed out of shit,” notes Pattinson.

Mickey is an “expendable”: a person seen as so lowly that he volunteers to repeatedly die in experiments that test the human body’s ability to handle life on Niflheim.

After every death, Mickey is reprinted using leftover junk so the process can start all over again. That is, until Mickey takes his 17th mission.

Everyone assumes he dies. But he miraculously finds his way back to base camp — where he discovers a new reprint, Mickey 18, has moved in with his girlfriend Nasha (played by Naomi Ackie).

Soon Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 team up to stop their expedition leaders (played by Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette) from destroying one of Niflheim’s native species.

“Mickey 17 has a total lack of self-worth,” says Pattinson. “Like, why would he continuously put himself up for this stuff?

“But then he also has an attitude which contradicts it. He wasn’t unhappy with continuously going into the flames again and again and again. At least he didn’t appear to be. Especially when Mickey 18 comes into the fray and doesn’t understand 17’s attitude at all.”

Pattinson says he tapped into the character by focusing on his own “misplaced guilt.”

“It’s a very obscure character key for a big sci-fi movie,” he laughs. “I wrapped up in his strange trauma response to this bad thing that happened to him. Mickey thinks he sinned once and because of it his life is shit, so he has to spend his life atoning for it.”

Pattinson adds: “I just have a very guilty conscience. I feel guilty for things that don’t really make any sense a lot of the time.”

Bong changed the title from Mickey7 to Mickey 17 — and added many more dead Mickeys — to try to make the story more cinematic.

“Everything started with my respect for the original material. The novel is very much about Mickey Barnes, this character fated with this unique job to die,” says Bong. “I really wanted to preserve this character and follow his journey.”

Ashton loved the changes.

“There’s a three-page conversation in the book between two characters, and Director Bong accomplished the exact same thing and made the same plot points… but with a fistfight,” the author says. “They arrive at the same place, but get there by a physical fight instead of a conversation. That particular scene jumped out at me because, in a film, you have to be kinetic. Things have to be visual. They have to move.”

But Bong still feels a close connection to Mickey7.

“When I read the novel, I had also created seven films, because Parasite was my seventh movie,” says Bong. “So it was this strange identification I had with Mickey.”

Source : https://www.moviemaker.com/mickey-17-bong-joon-ho-robert-pattinson/

A federal judge has barred the US Treasury from handing data from its payments system to outsiders, in an early legal blow to Elon Musk’s crusade to slash government spending.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly put the temporary order in place after Musk boasted that his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) was “rapidly shutting down” Treasury remittances, having apparently gained access to the system that disburses trillions of dollars, including social security payments and Medicare, each year.
Representatives of government employees and retirees have sued to stop the sensitive data being shared with Musk and others at Doge, arguing that such moves were “depriving them of privacy protections guaranteed to them by federal law”.
Although the US government reassured the court that only two of Doge’s emissaries, Cloud Software group chief executive Tom Krause and 25-year-old coder Marko Elez, had access to the sensitive system, Kollar-Kotelly pushed for an order preventing any information being shared outside the Treasury, while she considers a more permanent injunction.
As a result, Musk himself will not be able to review data pulled from the payments system.
The legal challenge comes as Treasury officials and the White House have sought to quell fears over Musk’s and Doge’s purported access to the system, and his broader authority, after the entrepreneur suggested his team was unilaterally cancelling “illegal” payments.
On Monday, Donald Trump said Musk, who has been made a special government employee, “can’t do — and won’t do — anything without our approval”.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has also confirmed that Musk would extricate himself from any situations where he might have a conflict: “If Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with [his companies’] contracts and the funding that Doge is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts . . . he has abided by all applicable laws.”

Doge, whose emissaries have infiltrated the networks of various government agencies, including USAID, Health & Human Services and the Department of Transportation, has been sued multiple times by groups claiming the body is circumventing various legal protections.
On Wednesday, labour organisations sought a restraining order to prevent Doge from accessing US Labor Department systems, following reports that the agency was Musk’s next target.

Source : https://archive.is/2025.02.06-184931/https://www.ft.com/content/097b286f-376e-40eb-8804-69a6d217803d#selection-2441.0-2444.0

The emergence of X owner Elon Musk as the most influential figure around President Donald Trump has created an extraordinary dynamic — a White House adviser who’s using one of the world’s most powerful information platforms to sell the government’s talking points while intimidating its detractors.

In recent days, Musk has used X to promote Trump’s positions to his 215 million followers, attack an agency he’s trying to shut down as “evil” and claim a Treasury employee who resigned under pressure over payment system access committed a crime.

His use of the social media platform he owns has become both a cudgel and a megaphone for the Republican administration at a time that his power to shape the electorate’s perspective is only growing, as more Americans turn to social media and influencers to get their news.

Musk isn’t bound to all the same ethics and financial disclosures as some other federal workers because he is classified as a special government employee. Trump earlier this week dismissed concerns about Musk’s conflicts of interest, saying, “Where we think there’s a conflict or there’s a problem, we won’t let him go near it.”

Yet for the world’s richest man to single-handedly control the levers of one of the most influential online communication channels while holding an office in the White House complex is “unthinkable” in our current system of government, said Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University and the author of “How Democracies Die.”

“This is a combination of economic, media and political power that I believe has never been seen before in any democracy on Earth,” he said.

Requests for comment from Musk’s special commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, and X were not returned.

A foot in two powerful worlds

The close link between Musk’s X account and Trump’s administration has been criticized not only because it gives Trump an unusually large mouthpiece. Musk’s ownership of X also could give him financial incentive to use his own platform instead of other pathways to disseminate the most urgent and vital government information.

In the first two weeks of Trump’s term, Musk has used his long-held celebrity cachet to amplify the president’s talking points on California’s wildfires, federal spending, Cabinet picks and more to his enormous following. He used X to criticize and intimidate those who spoke out against his far-reaching takeover of government agencies as the head of DOGE.

He also held a livestream on X featuring entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and two Republican senators to discuss DOGE’s work, inviting users to listen in live. Twelve hours later, DOGE posted it to Facebook for non-X-users to hear the recording.

Trump’s stake in the much smaller social platform Truth Social — which he transferred last year into a revocable trust of which he is the sole beneficiary — is another example of such a consolidation of power.

Musk insists his X postings about DOGE and other government business are to benefit the public, as a transparency measure. Supporters say he deserves credit for sharing his unfiltered thoughts and strategies, and they view his style as a breath of fresh air after years of government obfuscation.

He has pledged that DOGE, tasked with slashing federal spending, will post all its actions online — though its official government website is currently blank, with only the tagline, “The people voted for major reform.”

A mouthpiece for Trump’s narratives

Since it became clear Musk would join the administration, he has repeatedly amplified Trump’s narratives on X, where the platform’s owner is the most followed user and is reportedly often recommended as a new user’s first account to follow.

Sometimes those narratives include misleading information. After wildfires blazed through Los Angeles last month, Musk shared another user’s post declaring that “TRUMP UNLEASHES CALIFORNIA’S WATER” while “BIDEN AND NEWSOM LET WILDFIRES BURN.”

The Army Corps of Engineers did start releasing large flows of water from two California reservoirs on Friday and continued to do so through the weekend, the Los Angeles Times reported. But that federally controlled water flows to farmland in California’s crop-rich Central Valley, not the Los Angeles County neighborhoods coping with the aftermath of last month’s deadly fires. It also was released at a time it was not needed by farmers.

In December, before Trump took office, Musk helped him temporarily sink a government funding deal, whipping up outrage with a torrent of X posts attacking the legislation for what he described as excessive spending.

More recently, Musk has taken to X to advance DOGE’s efforts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, posting Sunday to label the agency as “evil” and a “criminal organization.”

Intimidation and a lack of transparency

Musk also has used the platform to insinuate that others may have committed crimes. It’s finger-pointing that, from Musk’s office adjacent to the West Wing, could be seen as having the approval of the administration and thus the Justice Department.

The day after the Treasury Department’s acting deputy secretary, David Lebryk, resigned under pressure over payment system access, Musk posted that Lebryk had committed “crime on a scale that makes the mafia look like preschoolers stealing cookies.” It’s unclear what law, if any, could have been broken.

At least one Trump-appointed prosecutor seems ready to listen to tips that come from Musk’s platform. Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin recently thanked an anonymous pro-Trump X account when it recommended he “look into” another user who posted criticizing DOGE.

On Monday, Musk posted that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as the IRS’ Direct File program. The news, which was not shared elsewhere, led to confusion about whether Direct File is still available to taxpayers, but the free filing program is still available, at least for the coming tax season.

Critics say that instead of complete transparency, Musk is showing only what he wants to reveal about the commission he leads. The X owner has suspended the accounts of some X users who posted the names of his DOGE team members. And many details of the commission’s work have been left vague as it has rapidly taken control of agency databases, slashed costs and gained access to the U.S. Treasury payment system without congressional approval.

Blurring the line between government and personal interests

Musk’s influence in the Trump administration comes as other CEOs who run the world’s biggest social media companies have shown deference to the president and even changed policies to align with his worldview.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew all attended Trump’s inauguration. Zuckerberg, whom Trump threatened to imprison last year, recently shifted his platforms’ policies to do away with fact-checking and echoed Trump’s concerns that the government harassed social media companies to “censor” lawful speech.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/musk-doge-trump-x-democracy-e581786ee599f8b047d40c2e2c7ad9da

CBS’ “60 Minutes” posted online Wednesday the unedited transcripts of its October interview with Kamala Harris that sparked a lawsuit by Donald Trump, saying that they proved its broadcast was not “doctored or deceitful.”

That’s what Trump contended in a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the network in November, reportedly the subject of ongoing settlement talks.

In a separate track, the Federal Communications Commission last week called for CBS to send transcripts and clips of the interview, which CBS did before making them public on Wednesday. The interview with the Democratic presidential candidate, portions of which were aired on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation,” attracted attention because clips showed her giving different answers to a question about Israel that was posed by correspondent Bill Whitaker.

In his lawsuit, filed before Trump won election to his second term, the Republican contended the editing was done to give advantage to Harris, his Democratic opponent.

Yet CBS said that the material it was releasing on Wednesday show “consistent with ”60 Minutes’” repeated assurances to the public, that the “60 Minutes” broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” CBS said in a statement.

The network said that journalists regularly edit interviews for time, space and clarity.

“In making these edits, ‘60 Minutes’ is always guided by the truth and what we believe will be most informative to the viewing public, all while working within the constraints of broadcast television,” the network said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/trump-60-minutes-harris-lawsuit-514b0ccbc4a4f120e4db810c6a00e259

A British woman has died on holiday in Sri Lanka after a room in her hostel was fumigated for bed bugs, local police said.

Ebony McIntosh, 24, from Derby, was taken to hospital in the capital Colombo on Saturday after becoming ill.

She had reportedly suffered vomiting, nausea and breathing difficulties – but died there hours later.

Another woman Nadie Raguse, 26, from Germany, who was also staying at the Miracle Colombo City Hostel died, Sri Lanka police said.

The force’s spokesperson Buddhika Manatunga said a room in the hostel had been fumigated for bed bugs before the women fell ill – and that they are investigating the possibility of poisoning by noxious pesticides.

The hostel is closed until further notice.

The digital marketing and social media manager’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with the cost of returning her body to the UK.

‘Absolutely heartbroken’

A statement on the page read: “We are absolutely heartbroken to share that our beautiful baby girl and big sister Ebony has passed away unexpectedly on Saturday 1st February 2025, thousands of miles away from home.

“Words cannot begin to express how broken we are, it’s been like a nightmare since we found out on Sunday morning, we have prayed and prayed that this can’t be true. It couldn’t possibly happen to our lovely Ebs.”

The statement added: “We cannot even begin to imagine how scared she must have felt at the time and it hurts us so badly to think of the pain she was in. We need to be with her and bring her home safely.

“She passed away with someone from the hostel beside her. We are endlessly grateful to this man for staying with her during her last moments.”

The family said Ms McIntosh had started her holiday on 28 January when she flew from Heathrow to “follow her dreams of travelling all over South Asia, starting in Sri Lanka”.

They said she was “full of excitement for her adventures ahead, in typical Ebony style she had spent months researching and planning and drawing up schedules for the coming months”.

“Her trip was cruelly cut short on Saturday 1st February, when she [was taken] very ill in the hostel she was staying in.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/british-woman-24-dies-after-hostel-fumigated-for-bed-bugs-13304178

Reddit has temporarily banned one of its communities – and removed another – after X owner Elon Musk claimed comments made by the site’s users about his employees were breaking the law.

The r/WhitePeopleTwitter subreddit, which typically invites people to share funny posts from X, has been banned for 72 hours after some users posted comments calling for violence against members of the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

They were responding to reports which suggested some Doge staff have been granted access to sensitive personal information of millions of Americans.

Musk – who frequently champions his commitment to free speech – shared a post on X containing the comments, and stated: “they have broken the law”.

The subreddit was banned soon afterwards.

Reddit declined to comment, but directed the BBC to a public post it had made following the ban.

“Over the last few days, we’ve seen an increase in content in several communities that violate Reddit Rules,” the post reads.

“Debate and dissent are welcome on Reddit – threats and doxing are not.”

Musk has previously criticised legal action being taken against people for making comments online.

In 2024, he responded to a video of a person purportedly being arrested for offensive comments online by asking “is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”.

Imran Ahmed, head of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said there was “rich irony” in Musk’s comments.

“It is always one rule for Elon, another rule for everyone else,” he said.

“Oh, he’s about freedom alright – the freedom to do whatever he wants, no matter the cost to people, their families, and the fundamentals of democracy.”

Musk sued the CCDH in 2023 over claims it took “unlawful” steps to access data from X after it claimed hate speech had risen on the platform.

A US judge dismissed the case in 2024.

A US lawmaker has slammed Putin’s state television for ‘publishing naked photos of Melania Trump’.

The remarks, made by Republican Representative Joe Wilson, occurred during a session in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

In a fiery speech condemning America’s adversaries, Rep Joe Wilson said: “War criminal Putin has ignored peace initiatives with record rocket attacks on civilians in Ukraine. With Putin’s state television shamefully broadcasting nude pictures of America’s first lady, who is so beloved, Melania Trump.”

Wilson was referencing an episode of the popular Russian program 60 Minutes that displayed nude photographs of Melania Trump from a GQ feature in 2000. The episode aired following Trump’s unexpected election win in November 2024.

Commentating on Trump’s victory, the husband-and-wife TV hosts Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeyeva showcased several images from Melania Trump’s modeling career on air.

During the broadcast, Skabeyeva was seen smiling as Popov remarked: “Now that Melania Trump’s husband has finally won, she is getting ready to come back to the White House for a second time. Here is how Melania looked in the year 2000. This is the cover of the magazine GQ.”

“The future first lady lies on top of furs in a negligee. Inside the magazine, Melania’s sexy photos near a private plane and aboard the plane. In one of the shots, the model is wearing only her underwear, lying on a blue carpet with the U.S. seal, as though the editors of the men’s magazine knew something in advance about the future of their model.”

The segment concluded with music and a series of images of President-elect Trump, accompanied by the voice-over “What does ‘my body my choice’ really mean? ‘” This was a reference to a promotional video that Melania posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, prior to the launch of her autobiography.

Melania started her modeling career as a teenager after being ‘discovered’ by a Slovenian photographer at the age of 16. She later modeled in Paris, Milan, and New York during the 1990s and early 2000s before tying the knot with Trump in 2005.

Her infamous nude cover for GQ Magazine resurfaced during her husband’s first presidential term in 2016. Speaking about the cover, GQ editor Dylan Jones stated: “We were bombarded by requests to shoot Melania. Given that she was obviously so keen to be featured in GQ, we came up with a rather kitsch and camp story for her to feature in.”

He also disclosed that her husband Donald later asked for photos from the shoot to be sent to his office.

Source : https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/162716/republican-joe-wilson-slams-putin-melania-trump-nude-images

Google parent company Alphabet has stopped making diversity and inclusion a workplace priority, according to a filing Wednesday with US regulators.

The internet giant’s annual 10-K report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), no longer contained a commitment to workplace inclusion and diversity that had been there the prior year.

“At Alphabet, we are committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve,” the removed line read.

Internally, Alphabet workers were given word that the company no longer had hiring goals based on race or gender.

“We’re committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we’ve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there,” a Google spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.

“As a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic.”

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, issuing an executive order last month calling such programs illegal.

The filing by Alphabet came a day after Google updated its principles regarding artificial intelligence, removing vows not to use the technology for weapons or surveillance.

The changes arrive just weeks after Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and other tech titans attended Trump’s inauguration.

Upon taking office, Trump quickly rescinded an executive order by his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, mandating safety practices for AI.

Source : https://www.ibtimes.com/google-halts-workplace-diversity-push-3762531

Liam Payne’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, is reflecting on the late One Direction member’s “tragic” death in her first sit-down since he passed away in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

“It still doesn’t feel fully real for me that he’s not here,” the influencer told the Sun Wednesday.

“I’m trying to be the best I can be, but I feel like my life has changed so much. I think about Liam every second of every day.”

Cassidy, who revealed in October that Payne planned to marry her, said “from the moment I met Liam, I genuinely believed we were soulmates.”

“He was the most humble, charming, normal person you could ever hope to come across, and genuinely one of the best people I’ve ever met in my life,” she continued to gush, calling what occurred “a tragic accident.”

Cassidy was on vacation with Payne in Buenos Aires in the weeks leading up to his death, but she left alone a few days early, which in part caused him to spiral as he did not want her to leave.

“He wanted her to stay. She says he begged her to stay,” a friend previously told The Post.

Cassidy, 25, explained to the Sun that she and Payne often travelled “separately” so this would not have been the first time and she “had a responsibility” to care for their dog back in Florida.

“We had our dog and obviously I never, ever thought this event would occur,” she said.

“Love is so optimistic, and you just hope that everything will work out at the end. Obviously if I knew, if I could see into the future, I would never have left Argentina.”

The TikTok star also shared in the interview that she felt “blessed” that she did not find out about Liam’s death on social media, despite her scrolling on the app at the time.

“I feel blessed I didn’t find out over social media because I just couldn’t even imagine that,” she said. “I was in our home with our dog, scrolling TikTok and one of Liam’s friends called me.”

Cassidy said she went “blank” and “blacked out” in that moment because she was in disbelief.

“I didn’t believe it at first. I thought it was just a rumor. Or something that somebody made up just to get views,” she said.

“Then instantly I just had a bad feeling in my gut. I was like, ‘Why would somebody make this up? Is this true?’ And I feel like I just completely blacked out.”

Cassidy said it took her some time to accept the news and she would still “call” Payne.

“Then I was in touch with his family, and my mum got the first flight out to be with me,” the influencer shared.

“I remember pacing around the house — poor [dog] Nala thought I was trying to play, she kept jumping up at me. I didn’t sleep at all that night.”

Following Payne’s death, a toxicology report showed he had ingested multiple drugs before his fatal fall. A police investigation also revealed he had partied with prostitutes and consumed booze with them.

The Post previously learned that Cassidy was left “hurt” over some of the darker details about Payne’s passing, with a source saying it was all “obviously a huge betrayal.”

When asked about what may have caused the “Story of My Life” singer to relapse, Cassidy told the Sun, “I don’t think I want to answer that because I literally wouldn’t even know.”

She also did not comment on the pending police investigation but said she is “not to blame.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/02/05/celebrity-news/liam-paynes-girlfriend-kate-cassidy-breaks-silence-on-singers-final-days-reveals-why-she-left-argentina-before-his-death/

Police in the US state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday were searching for clues and leads to identify the thieves who stole 100,000 organic eggs four days ago.

A bird flu outbreak in the US has forced farmers to euthanize millions of chickens a month, pushing egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023.

Authorities say theft could be linked to high cost of eggs

Law enforcement authorities say that the theft could be linked to the high cost of eggs. On Wednesday, police said that they were relying on people from the community for any leads on the incident.

Police were also scanning surveillance footage to help identify the perpetrator behind the heist.

“In my career, I’ve never heard of a hundred thousand eggs being stolen. This is definitely unique,” said Trooper First Class Megan Frazer, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police.

Eggs worth about $40,000

The eggs were stolen from the back of a Pete & Gerry’s Organics distribution trailer on Saturday night in Pennsylvania’s Antrim Township, police said.

The eggs are worth about $40,000 (€ 38,500), meaning the crime is a felony, Frazer said.

In a statement to several US media outlets, Pete & Gerry’s Organics said they were working with law enforcement authorities to crack the case.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-police-search-for-thieves-who-stole-100000-eggs-amid-shortage/a-71519934

Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning trans women athletes from competing in female sports.

The move is designed to prevent people who were biologically assigned male at birth from participating in certain sporting events, including those at school.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”, will call for “immediate enforcement” against schools and athletic associations that deny women single-sex sports and single-sex changing rooms.

It also coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day and it marks another notable shift in the way the federal government treats transgender people under Mr Trump.

Ahead of signing the order, Mr Trump said: “From now on women’s sports will be only for women.

“We’ve gotten the woke lunacy out of our military and now we’re getting it out of women’s sports.”

He also spoke about the coming Olympics and World Cup which the US is hosting, and said he wouldn’t allow any transgender athletes to compete.

He went on: “In Los Angeles in 2028, my administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes.

“We’re not going to let it happen.

“Just to make sure, I’m also directing our secretary of homeland security to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the US while identifying as women athletes to try and get into the games.”

In signing the order, surrounded by a number of women and girls, Mr Trump claimed “the war on women’s sports is over”.

The order authorises the education department to penalise schools that allow transgender athletes to compete and any school found in violation could lose its federal funding.

Despite their small numbers within America, transgender people have been the target of three orders signed by Mr Trump since coming into office, Sky News’ US partner NBC News reported.

These targeted participation in the military and access to gender-affirming care.

On his very first day in office last month, Mr Trump passed one order that called on the federal government to only recognise two genders – male and female.

During his campaign, he pledged to “keep men out of women’s sports” and get rid of the “transgender insanity” but his office offered little in the way of details.

Olivia Hunt, director of federal policy at Advocates for Trans Equality, told Sky News’ Yalda Hakim that the order wasn’t just about elite athletes but would impact young children and their development too.

She said: “We’re basically taking those children and saying to them we don’t think it’s vital that you learn the same sets of skills that your peers develop [playing sports].

“We are setting you aside, putting you apart, and saying you’re different and it’s okay for you to be set aside, treated differently, and bullied by your peers.

“Children should be protected. Children should be allowed to follow their interests, follow the sports they want to participate in and not have to worry that public officials will treat their existence as a cheap round of applause.”

This is the latest in a flurry of executive orders the Republican president has enacted in his first days and weeks in office.

Some of these have been blocked by judges, and it is not yet clear if this order will avoid such a fate.

It will likely involve how the Trump administration interprets Title IX – a civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination in education programmes or activities that receive federal funding.

Ahead of the signing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the order “upholds the promise of Title IX”.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/trump-signs-executive-order-banning-trans-women-from-female-sports-13303662

The Panama Canal Authority on Wednesday denied the U.S. State Department’s claim that U.S. government vessels would be able to cross the canal without paying fees, likely ratcheting up tensions after President Donald Trump threatened to take back control of the crossing.
The canal authority, an autonomous agency overseen by the Panamanian government, said in a statement that it had not made any changes to charge fees or rights to cross the canal, adding its statement was directly in response to the U.S. claims.

The U.S. State Department had said earlier in the day that Panama’s government had agreed to no longer charge crossing fees for U.S. government vessels, in a move that would save the U.S. millions of dollars a year.
“With total responsibility, the Panama Canal Authority, as it has indicated, is willing to establish dialogue with relevant U.S. officials regarding the transit of wartime vessels from said country,” the canal authority responded.

Panama has became a focal point of the Trump administration as the president has accused the Central American country of charging excessive rates to use its trade passage, one of the busiest in the world.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump said last month.

Trump has also repeatedly claimed that Panama has ceded control of the canal to China, which Panama and China deny.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino earlier this week as part of a trip through Central America, with Mulino vowing to pull out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Mulino has also repeatedly dismissed Trump’s threat that the U.S. retake control of the canal, which it largely built and administered for decades.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/state-dept-says-us-government-vessels-can-now-transit-panama-canal-without-fees-2025-02-06/

U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision of a Gaza Strip cleared of its Palestinian inhabitants and redeveloped into an international beach resort under U.S. control has revived an idea floated by his son-in-law Jared Kushner a year ago.
The idea, outlined by Trump in a press conference on Tuesday, has drawn shocked reactions from both Palestinians and Western critics who say it would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing and illegal under international law.

But it was not the first time Trump has spoken of Gaza in terms of real estate investment opportunities. In October last year, he told a radio interviewer Gaza could be “better than Monaco” if rebuilt in the right way.
The idea of a radical redevelopment of Gaza was aired soon after Israel began its campaign in the narrow coastal enclave following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, most prominently by Kushner, who as special Middle East envoy in Trump’s first term helped drive the “Abraham Accords” normalizing relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries.

“Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable, if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner, who once described the entire Arab-Israeli conflict as “nothing more than a real-estate dispute between Israelis and Palestinians” said at an event in Harvard in February 2024.

“It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,” he said. Kushner was himself a property developer in New York prior to Trump’s first term.

A spokesperson for Kushner did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
There were also doubts about how literally Trump’s proposal should be understood, given his reputation as a freewheeling dealmaker used to unsettling his negotiating partners with attacks from unexpected angles.
Saudi Arabia, the predominant power in the Arab world, “will not take this statement very seriously,” a source close to the royal court in Riyadh said. “It has not been thought through and is impossible to implement, so he will eventually realize that.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the kingdom rejected any attempt to displace the Palestinians from their land. Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas also condemned the remarks.
Reuters could not establish whether Kushner, whose private equity firm has taken investments from Gulf countries including $2 billion from Saudi Arabia, has engaged in any discussions in the region about Gaza investment.
For Palestinians, however improbable the idea of Gaza as a waterfront resort may sound, such talk recalls the “Nakba” or catastrophe after the 1948 war at the start of the state of Israel, when 700,000 fled or were forced from their homes.
Early on in the war, internet memes showing mocked-up images of beachside condominiums along the Gaza shoreline were widely shared on social media, often by pro-Israel posters looking to mock Palestinians in Gaza, where health officials say 47,000 people have died during Israel’s retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli politicians have often reproached Palestinian leaders for focusing on fighting Israel rather than developing a new Dubai or Singapore in areas like Gaza, which for the past two decades has been under blockade that severely limits access to finance and basic materials.
In former years, the coastal enclave was a popular destination for Israeli tourists and even after the takeover by the Islamist movement Hamas in 2007, there was a laidback scene, of smart beachside restaurants and cafes along the seafront.
But the practicalities of realizing Trump’s vision of creating “The Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza, where the Islamist movement Hamas is still firmly in control and where there has been a furious reaction to his comments, remain unexplained.
Land ownership in Gaza is covered by complex mix of regulations and customs drawn from Ottoman, British mandate and Jordanian laws as well as clan practices, with land title sometimes backed by documents from previous legal regimes. There are currently heavy restrictions on foreigners buying land.
For the moment, after 15 months of bombardment, Gaza is a “demolition site” in Trump’s words, that will require 10-15 years of reconstruction, according to his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, himself a former real-estate developer who last week became the most senior U.S. official to step foot in the enclave since the war began.
Estimates of the cost of reconstruction go as high as $100 billion.
However, Gulf countries, a potential source of investment in rebuilding Gaza, have strongly rejected offering any finance while a pathway to an independent Palestinian state remains closed.
For other potential investors, the uncertainties appear to outweigh any potential benefits, at least for the moment, according to analysts contacted by Reuters. Many of Israel’s largest construction companies and the builders association declined to comment.
“Large-scale redevelopment in post-conflict areas generally requires significant investment, stability, and long-term planning, but beyond that, it’s impossible to assess anything concrete right now,” said Raz Domb, an analyst at Leader Capital Markets in Tel Aviv, an investment bank.

SETTLEMENTS

One group which has reacted with enthusiasm is Israel’s settler movement, which has long dreamed of returning to settlements in Gaza that were abandoned 20 years ago under former Israeli prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Trump’s own administration contains a number of officials close to the settler movement and although Trump said he did not see Jewish settlements being rebuilt in Gaza, his comments were seized on immediately.
Settler groups say their interest in returning to Gaza is motivated by the Biblical connections they feel with the land but, for the moment at least, such considerations were secondary to the prospect of moving out Palestinians.
Last year the Nachala Movement, which promotes Jewish settlement in the West Bank, helped organize a conference at the edge of the Gaza Strip called “Preparing to Resettle Gaza”, where politicians in Netanyahu’s Likud party and others discussed plans to “encourage emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza and rebuild the settlements.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-gaza-riviera-echoes-kushner-waterfront-property-dreams-2025-02-05/

South Korea’s industry ministry has temporarily blocked employee access to Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek due to security concerns, a ministry official said on Wednesday, as the government urges caution on generative AI services.
The government issued a notice on Tuesday calling for ministries and agencies to exercise caution about using AI services including DeepSeek and ChatGPT at work, officials said.

State-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said it had blocked use of AI services including DeepSeek earlier this month.
The defence ministry has also blocked access to DeepSeek on its computers that are for military use, officials said on Thursday.
The foreign ministry has restricted access to DeepSeek in computers that connect to external networks, Yonhap News Agency said. The ministry said it cannot confirm specific security measures.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
It was not immediately clear if the ministries had taken any actions against ChatGPT.
The ban makes South Korea the latest government to warn about or place restrictions on DeepSeek.
Australia and Taiwan have banned DeepSeek this week from all government devices over concerns that the Chinese artificial intelligence startup poses security risks.

Italy’s data protection authority ordered DeepSeek in January to block its chatbot in the country after the Chinese startup failed to address the regulator’s concerns over its privacy policy.
Some other governments in Europe, the U.S. and India are also examining implications of using DeepSeek.
South Korea’s information privacy watchdog plans to ask DeepSeek about how the personal information of users is managed.

Chinese startup DeepSeek’s launch of its latest AI models last month sent shockwaves through the tech world. The company says its models are on a par with or better than products developed in the United States and are produced at a fraction of the cost.
South Korean chat app operator Kakao Corp (035720.KS), has told its employees to refrain from using DeepSeek due to security fears, a spokesperson said on Wednesday, a day after the company announced its partnership with generative artificial intelligence heavyweight OpenAI.
Korean tech companies are now being more careful about using generative AI. SK Hynix (000660.KS) , a maker of AI chips, has restricted access to generative AI services, and allowed limited use when necessary, a spokesperson said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/south-koreas-industry-ministry-temporarily-bans-access-deepseek-security-2025-02-05/

Earthquakes rattled Greece’s volcanic island of Santorini every few minutes overnight and into Wednesday as authorities bolstered emergency plans in case the hundreds of temblors over the past few days are a harbinger of a larger quake to come.

A coast guard vessel and a military landing craft were in the wider area in case an evacuation is required, Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias told an emergency meeting with security officials, scientists and the prime minister in Athens.

“We are obliged to draw up scenarios for better and for worse,” Kikilias said during the meeting, which was televised live.

Greece lies in a highly seismically active area and earthquakes are frequent. But it is extremely rare for any part of the country to experience such an intense barrage of frequent earthquakes.

Predicting earthquakes is not scientifically possible, and experts cannot determine definitively whether the seismic activity between the islands of Santorini and Amorgos is a precursor to a significantly larger earthquake, or is part of weeks or months of small or moderate intensity quakes.

“I understand the fear of what it means at the moment to be on a Santorini that is constantly moving,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, as he called on residents to remain calm.

Authorities have banned access to several coastal areas and ordered schools on several islands to shut for the week. Public events on Santorini have been banned, and authorities were restricting access to clifftop areas that are among the island’s biggest tourist draws.

Thousands of residents and visitors have left Santorini, frightened by the earthquakes measuring between magnitude 3 and magnitude 5 in the area since the weekend. Ferry lines and commercial airlines have added flights and ships to their schedules to accommodate the increased demand, although rough weather disrupted ferry services Wednesday.

The quakes have not caused injuries or major damage.

The Ministry of Digital Governance said a mobile unit for satellite communications was being transported to Santorini, while telecoms providers sent generators and mobile telecoms units to Santorini and the nearby islands of Anafi, Amorgos and Ios.

It also announced a digital platform — mysafetyplan.gov.gr — with maps showing areas designated as safe gathering points in the event of a natural disaster.

Source :https://apnews.com/article/greece-earthquakes-santorini-volcano-7ffcbc139ad1081acdad181df1ad2952

London’s skyline has a dazzling new jewel—one that offers breathtaking views, exquisite design, and a dining experience unlike any other. Gordon Ramsay Restaurants has unveiled its most ambitious project yet, with five exceptional destinations at 22 Bishopsgate, including the tallest restaurant in London—Lucky Cat.

Designed by the acclaimed Russell Sage Studio, this elevated Pan-Asian haven seamlessly blends opulent interiors with awe-inspiring cityscapes. Guests are whisked up in Europe’s fastest elevator to the 60th floor, where floor-to-ceiling windows frame the iconic London skyline. Lucky Cat’s open-plan design and interactive kitchen create a dining spectacle, while the private dining room and Lucky Cat Bar add an extra layer of exclusivity and indulgence.

With a luxurious Asian-inspired menu featuring robata grills, sushi, sashimi, and an unparalleled wagyu selection, Ramsay’s latest venture is more than just a restaurant—it’s a culinary landmark. From rolling the dice on a Lucky Cat Negroni to savoring a £185 feast, this is sky-high dining redefined.

Whether you come for the flavors, the flair, or the view that stretches as far as the eye can see, one thing is certain—this is an experience that will leave you breathless.

United States President Donald Trump has started acting on the promises he made during his election campaign – with a mass deportation of illegal immigrants to different countries, including India, currently underway. On Tuesday, a US military plane began deporting Indian migrants, implementing Trump’s hardline stance against an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in America.

“When I am reelected, we will begin the largest deportation operation in American history,” Trump had said during his campaign trail.

A C-17 aircraft carrying 205 Indian nationals departed from San Antonio, Texas departed around 3 am IST, sources said. The plane, headed to Punjab’s Amritsar, is likely to stop at Ramstein, Germany, for refuelling. Sources said each one was verified before being sent back.

This deportation is likely the first of several planned flights, as more batches of illegal Indian immigrants are expected to be flown back in the coming weeks.

While the US Embassy declined to confirm the development, a spokesperson said that the United States was vigorously enforcing its border, tightening immigration laws, and removing illegal migrants.

“These actions send a clear message: illegal migration is not worth the risk,” the spokesperson said.

WHO IS BEING DEPORTED?

In talks with China’s leadership this week, including President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is expected to emphasize that Thailand is on board with increasing security and doing more to make Chinese tourists feel safe.

China is Thailand’s top trading partner, and its biggest inbound tourism market. But a recent high-profile abduction of a Chinese actor from Thailand has spooked many Chinese tourists.

Scam center scare in Thailand

In January, actor Wang Xing flew to Bangkok for what he thought was a casting call. Instead, he was picked up at the airport and driven across the border to Myawaddy, Myanmar and forced to work in a cyber-scam center.

Wang was rescued by Thai authorities four days after he disappeared in January, but the case has since caused a huge stir in China and worldwide, prompting both Thai and Chinese officials to promise further action.

Most of these telecom and internet scam centers are operated by Chinese criminal syndicates in Southeast Asia and are particularly rife in Myanmar and Cambodia. Many of the victims are Chinese, and are trafficked via Thailand.

“The scammers are a big deal for Thailand because scam centers are threatening Thailand’s tourism and hospitality industries. Scam centers are bad news, and Chinese tourists are a big intake,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told DW.

Chinese tourism is vital for Thailand’s economy, with over 6 million arrivals in 2024.

But the impact of Wang’s trafficking saw Chinese visitors cancel their trips to Thailand for Lunar New Year.

This was despite Thailand’s tourism bureau taking steps to publish a press release in Mandarin in January, reassuring Chinese nationals that “Thailand attaches great importance to the safety of tourists.”

Thailand still predicts there will be 9 million Chinese arrivals this year, which will be nearly a quarter of total international arrivals forecasted for 2025.

Teaming up to fight crime

Pravit Rojanaphruk, a Thai journalist and political observer, says Thailand will focus on reassuring China this week that its citizens are safe in the country.

“Thailand is very sensitive to any negative perception about its country, particularly from the Chinese point of view, as they constitute the largest group of foreign tourists to Thailand. The Thai prime minister hopes that President Xi would be able to help restore confidence among some Chinese,” he told DW.

There is already cooperation on combating crime, with Bangkok and Beijing planning to set up anti-scam centers. It is reported Chinese authorities will operate one such center in the Thai-Myanmar border city, Mae Sot.

Thailand has also helped transfer about 900 Chinese nationals who had been trapped in scam operations in Myanmar last year, but the number of Chinese nationals still missing is thought to be much higher.

Nikorndej Balankura, a Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, said in January that combating cross-border crimes is a “national priority.”

Myanmar is also entering its fifth year of civil war, which has created a security vacuum. China is heavily invested in Myanmar and has tried to intervene and mediate ceasefires, as well as backing both the junta and the resistance, without success.

“For China it is about ensuring that Thailand is still part of the geo-strategic chessboard, the Belt and Road Initiative. I think China has a big headache with Myanmar, so it is much more important now to get Thailand to stay on board,” he told DW.

Building closer trade ties

Deepening economic ties is also expected to be on the agenda in light of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs targeting China.

Mark S. Cogan, associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan, told DW that Paetongtarn will try and avoid the thorny topic of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/thailand-pms-china-visit-aims-to-allay-safety-concerns/a-71502860

China on Tuesday said it would probe US tech giant Google over violations of anti-monopoly laws after Washington slapped 10 percent levies on Chinese goods.

Beijing’s State Administration for Market Regulation said the US tech giant was “suspected of violating the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China”.

It has “launched an investigation into Google in accordance with the law” as a result, the administration said in a statement.

It did not provide further details about the allegations against Google.

The US tech behemoth’s core search engine and many of its services are blocked in mainland China, where US internet titans have long struggled with doing business due to the “Great Firewall” that blocks politically sensitive content.

Google in 2011 abandoned its Chinese-language search engine in the mainland and transferred it to Hong Kong.

By 2014, China blocked the last remaining way to access Google’s email service Gmail.

Beijing also said Tuesday it would add US fashion group PVH Corp. — which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — and biotech giant Illumina to a list of “unreliable entities”.

The move would “safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, in accordance with relevant laws”, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement.

“The above two entities violate normal market transaction principles, interrupt normal transactions with Chinese enterprises, and take discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises,” it added.

Source : https://www.ibtimes.com/china-says-probe-google-over-anti-monopoly-violations-3762235

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The US Postal Service (USPS) says it has stopped accepting parcels from mainland China and Hong Kong until further notice.

Letters will not be affected by the suspension, according to a statement on the company’s website.

USPS did not offer a reason for the decision but it comes after US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on all goods imported to the US from China.

Trump’s executive order also eliminated an exemption that allowed goods worth $800 (£641) or less to enter the US without having to pay duties or certain taxes.

The so-called de minimis tax loophole faced increased scrutiny in recent years as Chinese e-commerce giants like Shein and Temu used it to reach millions of US customers.

In response China said it would implement tariffs on some US imports.

From 10 February coal and liquefied natural gas products (LNG) will face a 15% levy. Crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars will be subject to a 10% tariff.

President Trump is expected to speak to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the coming days.

“Trump’s tariff changes are especially sharp if goods were previously shipped via e-commerce directly from China to the US,” said trade expert Deborah Elms.

Close to half of all parcels entering the US under de minimis were sent from China, according to a 2023 report by the US Congressional committee on China.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w83x38zvwo

Thousands of people have fled the island of Santorini as hundreds of quakes continued to course through the famous Greek tourist destination.

More than 6,000 residents have left the island in recent days, according to Greek public broadcaster ERT. Early Tuesday morning, hundreds of people carrying their belongings were seen waiting at a port on the island, waiting for a ferry to take them to Athens.

A tremor with a magnitude of 4.8 was recorded early Tuesday, just shy of a 4.9 quake recorded over the weekend – the strongest so far. Over the past three days, some 550 tremors with a magnitude of 3.0 have been recorded in the Aegean Sea, between Santorini and the nearby islands of Amorgos and Ios.

Greece’s Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization (OASP) has estimated that the intense seismic activity may continue for many more days, if not weeks.

Santorini, dubbed Greece’s “Instagram Island,” attracts some 3.4 million visitors a year but is only home to around 20,000 permanent residents. Many of those have decided to flee the island for the safety of the mainland.

“I work on the island, I have been a resident for years. But today… nobody was expecting this to happen, what is happening now on the island is incredible,” Julian Sinanaj, a 35-year-old resident, told Reuters.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday urged residents to remain calm as authorities deal with “a very intense geological phenomenon.”

Additional flights have been announced to help residents get to safety, with 15 flights from Santorini to Athens scheduled for Tuesday. Schools on the island will remain closed until Friday and residents have been advised to avoid large indoor gatherings.

“Everything is closed. No one works now. The whole island has emptied,” Dori, an 18-year-old resident, told Reuters.

Sitting near the boundary of the massive African and Eurasian tectonic plates, Santorini is no stranger to tremors, although near-constant seismic events like this are rare.

Source : https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/travel/santorini-greece-earthquake-evacuation-intl/index.html

A 25-year-old engineer named Marko Elez, who previously worked for two Elon Musk companies, has direct access to Treasury Department systems responsible for nearly all payments made by the US government, three sources tell WIRED.

Two of those sources say that Elez’s privileges include the ability not just to read but to write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government: the Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS). Housed on a secure mainframe, these systems control, on a granular level, government payments that in their totality amount to more than a fifth of the US economy.

Despite reporting that suggests that Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force has access to these Treasury systems on a “read-only” level, sources say Elez, who has visited a Kansas City office housing BFS systems, has many administrator-level privileges. Typically, those admin privileges could give someone the power to log in to servers through secure shell access, navigate the entire file system, change user permissions, and delete or modify critical files. That could allow someone to bypass the security measures of, and potentially cause irreversible changes to, the very systems they have access to.

“You could do anything with these privileges,” says one source with knowledge of the system, who adds that they cannot conceive of a reason that anyone would need them for purposes of simply hunting down fraudulent payments or analyzing disbursement flow.

“Technically I don’t see why this couldn’t happen,” a federal IT worker tells WIRED in a phone call late on Monday night, referring to the possibility of a DOGE employee being granted elevated access to a government server. “If you would have asked me a week ago, I’d have told you that this kind of thing would never in a million years happen. But now, who the fuck knows.”

A source says they are concerned that data could be passed from secure systems to DOGE operatives within the General Services Administration. WIRED reporting has shown that Elon Musk’s associates—including Nicole Hollander, who slept in Twitter’s offices as Musk acquired the company, and Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who now runs a GSA agency, along with a host of extremely young and inexperienced engineers—have infiltrated the GSA and have attempted to use White House security credentials to gain access to GSA tech, something experts have said is highly unusual and poses a huge security risk.

Elez, according to public databases and other records reviewed by WIRED, is a 25-year-old who graduated Rutgers University in 2021 and subsequently worked at SpaceX, Musk’s space company, where he focused on vehicle telemetry, starship software, and satellite software. Elez then joined X, Musk’s social media company, where he worked on search AI. Public Github repositories show years of software development, with a particular interest in distributed systems, recommendation engines, and machine learning. He does not appear to have prior government experience.

Elez did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Got a Tip?

Are you a current or former employee at the Treasury or Bureau of the Fiscal Service? Or other government tech worker? We’d like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporters securely on Signal at velliott88.18, dmehro.89, leahfeiger.86, and timmarchman.01.

Broadly speaking, the US government pays out money in one of two ways. Agencies like the Department of Defense and the US Postal Service are legally authorized to originate, certify, and issue payments on their own. The vast majority of payments, though—including federal tax returns, Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits, and veteran’s pay—flow through the Federal Disbursement Services, which according to Treasury records paid out $5.45 trillion in fiscal year 2024. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a nonpartisan body, is charged with directing this money appropriately, moving it from government accounts to recipients. The Payment Automation Manager and the Secure Payment System are the mechanisms through which the money is paid out.

Control of those mechanisms could allow someone to choke off money to specific federal agencies or even individuals, a fear that Democrats have expressed about DOGE. On Monday, Senate Democrats warned of DOGE’s encroachment into the payment system. “Will DOGE cut funding to programs approved by Congress that Donald Trump decides he doesn’t like,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. “What about cancer research? Food banks? School lunches? Veterans aid? Literacy programs? Small business loans?”

Source : https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/

SPACE debris raining down on Earth is increasingly at risk of causing “catastrophic” collisions with aircraft, a damning new report has revealed.

A sharp rise in the number of rocket launches has fuelled uncontrolled reentries of space debris – chunks of metal and machinery.

Controlled reentries of space debris are carefully monitored by space companies and agencies, with a landing destination in mind – usually the ocean.

But uncontrolled landings, where experts are unsure of where space debris will land, are becoming more common.

There are more than 2300 rocket bodies currently swinging round in Earth’s orbit, which will eventually fall back down to Earth, the report published in Nature warned.

“Uncontrolled reentries of space objects create a collision risk with aircraft in flight,” experts from the University of British Columbia, Canada wrote.

“While the probability of a strike is low, the consequences could be catastrophic.”

The risk of an aircraft being affected by uncontrolled space debris reaches as high as 26% in areas of busy airspace, the report cautioned.

These include parts of the northeastern United States, northern Europe, or around major cities in the Asia-Pacific region.

The collision risk for any space debris reentry increases with air traffic density, the report continued.

Experts warned that airspace authorities like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will increasingly have to consider the risk of falling space debris, as Earth enters a new space-faring era.

The FAA was forced to create a Debris Response Area and slow aircraft near SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, after its Starship rocket exploded during a test launch on 16 January.

A number of aircraft were kept grounded where space debris was actively falling.

While flights over the Gulf of Mexico were made to alter course to avoid the falling wreckage.

Leftovers from the 400ft rocket body were seen spraying across the sky, with debris mostly falling in the Atlantic, near the Turks and Caicos islands.

Rocket parts and disused satellites are designed to burn up during their reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, or plunge into the oceans.

But there were reports of Starship debris being found on land in the area.

After controversially being granted access to the U.S. Treasury’s payments system, Elon Musk and his nongovernmental team of government spending slashers have now gotten their hands on a federal human resources database containing sensitive data on millions of federal employees.

According to a report by Musk Watch journalists Caleb Ecarma and Judd Legum, Musk’s associates at the Department of Government Efficiency have “illegally” installed a commercial server at the Office of Personnel Management.

In doing so, they’re now able to access and control a federal database that contains the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and medical histories of countless government employees, the report claims.

The decision to grant Musk access is likely to have been authorized by President Donald Trump himself. It’s extremely contentious given that most of his underlings on the DOGE team lack the security clearance that’s normally required to view such information.

The majority of the DOGE staffers are thought to be young and inexperienced, with ages ranging from just 19 to 24 years, Musk Watch reported. One was named as the 2022 high school graduate Edward Coristine, while another is reported to be the software engineer Akash Bobba, who is an undergraduate student at the University of California at Berkeley.

These individuals can now access the private data of every U.S. government employee, as well as information regarding people who applied but failed to secure federal jobs.

Among the services Musk’s team are able to access are the federal hiring website USAJOBS, where applicants typically enter personal data such as their home addresses, Social Security numbers, employment records and more. In addition, Musk’s team also has access to the Enterprise Human Resources Integration system, which contains the above data plus the dates of birth, salaries, job descriptions and disciplinary records of every federal staffer.

DOGE is not an official government department, but rather a special team within the Trump administration. It was created by Musk under the authority of Trump, and has been tasked with examining the budgets and employee base of every federal agency to try to cut costs and increase efficiency. It’s thought that the entire DOGE team was handpicked by Musk himself.

One OPM employee told Musk Watch that he believes the DOGE team members are scrutinizing people’s job descriptions to try to identify employees who can be removed from their positions.

“This is how they found all these DEI offices and had them removed — [by] reviewing position description level data,” the source said. He was referring to the hundreds of government diversity, equity and inclusion workers who were controversially put on leave last month after Trump issued an executive order that banned such programs.

Moreover, the DOGE team can also access additional systems pertaining to the job performance reviews, onboarding processes and healthcare records of government employees. Critics say their ability to access the latter records likely violates regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

“What [Musk is] doing will put so many government employees at risk,” a former OPM director told Musk Watch. “It’s not at all what the office is intended for. I just can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

Trump’s decision to give Musk and his team unfettered access to such systems has attracted a lot of criticism. Cathy Gellis of TechDirt likens his takeover to a “cyberattack,” saying that even if Musk’s team is unable to block payments without authorization from above, they still have the ability to peruse sensitive information on America’s entire government workforce, including employees that work in foreign service.

“They know their names, they know their addresses, they know their backgrounds, careers, their spouses and dependents,” Gellis wrote. “They know absolutely every single detail about these people that would be captured in an HR system. And because OPM is involved with managing security clearances, they know plenty more private details about our nation’s public servants captured in the process of doing their background checks.”

Gellis argues that Musk’s underlings simply don’t have the clearance to access such information, having undergone no security checks themselves. She points out that they don’t even appear to have official government jobs, which is a key step in obtaining the required security clearances to view this kind of data, so the decision to give them access is likely illegal.

“It’s not something that becomes okay just because the President says it’s okay,” Gellis wrote. “There are laws that limit his ability to make delegations like this, and for just this sort of reason: to make sure the public remains protected from arbitrary exercises of executive power.”

No one is questioning the loyalties of Musk’s employees – yet – but there are serious concerns that their inexperience might make the sensitive information they’re able to access more vulnerable to hackers. According to Musk Watch, one of the new email lists created by Musk’s team has already been flooded with spam emails.

Source : https://siliconangle.com/2025/02/03/concerns-grow-elon-musks-doge-team-gains-access-sensitive-government-databases/

PRESIDENT Donald Trump is to send American criminals to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prisons in a breakthrough migrant deal.

In the “extraordinary” offer from President Nayib Bukele, some of the most dangerous thugs residing comfortably in US jails will be sent to El Salvador to serve their time.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Bukele agreed to the migratory agreement that will see US deportees of any nationality locked up.

Rubio gloated that it was the most “unprecedented, extraordinary, migratory agreement anywhere in the world” following tense talks at Bukele’s lakeside country house just outside of San Salvador.

He added that the Salvadoran president even “offered to do the same” for some of America’s most dangerous criminals currently locked up in the US – despite being citizens or legal residents.

Rubio was visiting El Salvador on Monday to turn the screws on the country to meet Trump’s demands for a major crackdown on immigration.

Bukele confirmed the offer in a post on X, explaining that his country would only accept convicted criminals and would charge the US a “relatively low” fee.

Tesla tycoon and Trump’s right-hand man Elon Musk responded to the post, writing, “Great idea!”

Bukele agreed to take back blood-thirsty Salvadoran MS-13 gang members residing in the US unlawfully, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained in a statement.

She added that the Salvadoran president also “promised to accept and incarcerate violent illegal immigrants, including members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but also criminal illegal migrants from any country.”

In regards to the country also accepting to lock up dangerous American criminals, Bruce dubbed it as an “extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country.”

El Salvador is renowned for its brutal jails, especially the Terrorism Confinement Center mega-prison that houses some of the country’s most dangerous gangsters.

Incredible images show thousands of violent skinhead gangsters from the country’s main gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, crammed into an inescapable mega-prison.

Pictures show rows and rows of prisoners sitting with their hands behind their shaved heads at the high-tech prison.

Other images reveal gang members stripped down to only white shorts running through the facility as prison officers armed with assault rifles guard the inmates.

Secretary of State Rubio spoke in San Salvador shortly after Trump shelved his punishing tariff plans for 30 days for Canada and Mexico in a last-gasp deal.

After talks with the US president, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the country’s National Guard.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said he would go ahead with a massive round of border security measures after crisis talks with Trump on Monday.

Rubio arrived in San Salvador shortly after witnessing a US-funded deportation flight with 43 migrants onboard leaving Panama for Colombia.

It came a day after Rubio delivered a stern warning to Panama that unless the government moved immediately to eliminate China’s presence at the Panama Canal, the US would retake control.

The notion of El Salvador accepting foreign nationals arrested in the US for violating immigration laws is dubbed a “safe third country agreement.”

Officials have hinted that this could be an option for brutal Venezuelan gang members convicted of crimes in the US if Venezuela were to refuse to accept them.

Meanwhile, human rights activists have warned that El Salvador lacks a consistent policy for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees – arguing that the agreement might not be limited to violent criminals.

Manuel Flores, the secretary general of the leftist opposition party Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front, slammed the safe third-country plan and said it would signal that the region is Washington’s “backyard to dump the garbage.”

Following the meeting with Bukele, Rubio signed a memorandum of understanding – a non-binding agreement that outlines their intentions to work together – with his Salvadoran counterpart.

This is to advance US and El Salvador civil nuclear cooperation, which could eventually lead to a more formal deal involving medicine, too.

The deportation flight Rubio witnessed being loaded in Panama City contained migrants detained by Panamanian authorities after illegally crossing the Darien Gap from Colombia.

The State Department claimed such deportations sent a message of deterrence.

The US has thrown financial assistance at Panama to the tune of nearly $2.7 million in flights and tickets since an agreement was signed to fund them.

Rubio stood on the tarmac and personally watched as the flight to Colombia containing 32 men and 11 women took off.

Witnessing a law enforcement operation of this kind is known to be very unusual for a Secretary of State to do – especially in front of the cameras.

Speaking afterward, Rubio said, “Mass migration is one of the great tragedies in the modern era.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13447952/trump-elsalvador-prisons-deportees-americans/

THE proportion of people diagnosed with lung cancer who’ve never smoked is increasing, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed.

New research highlights air pollution as a growing factor in the increasing number of lung cancer cases worldwide.

Lung cancer in people who’ve never smoked is now the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the WHO.

Adenocarcinoma makes up as much as 70 per cent of lung cancer cases among never-smokers, according to the IARC.

In 2022, about 200,000 cases of adenocarcinoma were linked to air pollution, according to an IARC study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.

The largest burden of adenocarcinoma attributable to air pollution was found in east Asia, particularly China, the research found.

The study’s lead author Dr Freddie Bray said the findings pointed to the need for urgent monitoring of the changing risk of lung cancer.

“With declines in smoking prevalence – as seen in the UK and US – the proportion of lung cancers diagnosed among those who have never smoked tends to increase,” the expert told The Guardian.

“Whether the global proportion of adenocarcinomas attributable to ambient air pollution will increase depends on the relative success of future strategies to curtail tobacco use and air pollution worldwide.”

The researchers also said that exposure to the burning of fuels in households for heating and cooking could be a factor in rising lung cancer cases among Chinese women who had never smoked.

Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer cases and deaths worldwide.

In 2022, around 2.5 million people were diagnosed with the disease.

In the UK alone, lung cancer causes around 34,800 deaths annually, making up one in five cancer-related deaths.

That’s roughly 95 deaths per day.

However, the patterns of incidence by subtype have shifted dramatically in recent decades.

Among the four main subtypes of lung cancer – adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, small-cell carcinoma, and large-cell carcinoma – adenocarcinoma has become the dominant subtype in both men and women, the IARC found.

Adenocarcinoma is a type of cancer that starts in mucus-producing glands that line the insides of the organs.

This is why it can affect different areas of the body, including the lungs, breast, bowel, or stomach.

Lung cancer rates in men have decreased over the past 40 years, while rates in women have risen.

Men still make up most cases (1.6 million in 2022), but the gap between male and female diagnoses is narrowing, with 900,000 women diagnosed in 2022.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/health/13449969/lung-cancer-non-smoker-increase/

The US will take over Gaza and “own it”, Donald Trump has said.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he said the two million Palestinian people living in the territory, which he described as a “demolition site”, would go to “various domains”.

Asked about deploying US troops to fill a potential security vacuum, the president replied: “We’ll do what is necessary.”

Expanding on plans for the territory, he said the US would “develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs” and turn it into “something the entire Middle East can be very proud of”.

The president reiterated his suggestion from 25 January that Palestinians could be relocated to Egypt and Jordan – something both countries, other Arab nations including Saudi Arabia, and Palestinian leaders, have rejected.

Palestinians in Gaza could go to countries beyond Jordan and Egypt too, he said.

Asked whether he thought Egypt and Jordan would accept Palestinians, he said he believed they would.

But, he added: “I hope we could do something where they wouldn’t want to go back. Who would want to go back?

“They’ve experienced nothing but death and destruction.”

Saudi Arabia immediately responded, stressing its rejection of attempts to displace Palestinians from Gaza, and insisted it would not establish relations with Israel without a Palestinian state.

Asked on what authority the US could take control of Gaza, Mr Trump told reporters he sees a “long term ownership position” which would, he claimed, bring stability to that part of the Middle East.

“This was not a decision made lightly,” he said.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs.”

It would be the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

He continued: “I’ve studied it. I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months, and I’ve seen it from every different angle.”

He does not believe Palestinians should return to Gaza because it is a “guarantee that they’re going to end up dying”.

He talked about finding a “beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza”.

The war, triggered by Hamas carrying out a massacre of 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage during the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel, has temporarily stopped since the long-sought ceasefire deal came into effect on 19 January.

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s attack, according to local authorities.

Mr Netanyahu, the first world leader to meet Mr Trump since the pro-Israel president’s return to the White House, sat beside the Republican as he answered questions from the press.

Donald Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran – as he threatened Tehran it would be “obliterated” if it assassinates him.

The US president signed a memorandum on Tuesday in an effort to crack down on Iran’s nuclear programme and restrict oil exports – moments before he met Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Trump said he also signed the “tough” directive on Iran because Tehran was “too close” to having a nuclear weapon.

He added he would hold talks with his counterpart in Tehran, but warned he has left “instructions” for his advisers that if Iran assassinated him, the US foe “would be obliterated”.

The US Justice Department announced in federal charges in November that an Iranian plot to kill Mr Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted.

The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Mr Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.

It comes as Mr Trump withdrew the US from the UN Human Rights Council in an executive order.

The president has also stopped funding of the UN’s relief agency for Gaza.

The order means Mr Trump has reinstated policies that were in place during his first administration.

Joe Biden’s administration previously paused funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after reports its staff were involved in the 7 October attacks.

Mr Trump also claimed that Palestinians have “no alternative” but to leave Gaza, but that he doesn’t necessarily support Israelis settling in the enclave.

China’s stocks and currency came under pressure as markets returning from a week-long break were greeted by a fresh trade dispute with the United States and ructions in the global artificial intelligence sector.
Tariffs so far have been less than what the Trump administration had initially indicated and relief was evident in Hong Kong, where Chinese stocks rallied this week.
Meanwhile, enthusiasm around China’s artificial intelligence company DeepSeek bolstered AI stocks.

While investors were taking money off the table, declines have so far been limited with both the bluechip CSI300 (.CSI), and the Shanghai Composite Indexes (.SSEC), slipping roughly 0.2%. Investors are now mostly focused on what Beijing might do to bolster confidence.
Kaiyuan Securities analyst Wei Jixing said President Donald Trump’s 10% tariffs on Chinese goods had largely been priced in.
“China’s market will likely overlook the tariff disruptions, as DeepSeek is repairing risk appetite, while investors look forward to more proactive domestic policies,” Wei said, referring to the new low-cost Chinese AI model that stunned markets last week.

China’s central bank on Wednesday set the yuan midpoint at 7.1693 per dollar, the strongest level since Nov. 8, 2024, which investors read as a sign of Beijing’s reluctance to immediately resort to currency depreciation in response to U.S. tariffs.
Yuan weakness helped blunt the impact of tariffs in U.S. Trump’s first term as president, and the fix is widely followed for clues to China’s negotiating stance on tariffs.

Mainland stock markets (.SSEC) took their cue from Hong Kong, which opened two days earlier. Chinese stocks there rose strongly on Tuesday, despite a move by the Trump administration to impose 10% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Much has happened during China’s week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Over the weekend, Trump imposed levies on goods from China, a move that prompted Beijing to announce targeted tariffs on U.S. imports and put several companies, including Google, on notice for possible sanctions.

Trump’s actions, which also included duties on Mexico and Canada, jolted global markets. The tariffs came as the world of artificial intelligence — another major driver for global stocks over the past year — was roiled when China’s DeepSeek unveiled a cheaper AI model just a day before China went on break. That triggered a selloff across technology stocks as investors reassessed the sector’s value.
Even so, there was some relief for markets, as the initial tranche of tariffs on China was lower than what Trump has threatened in the past. And the president also gave reprieve to two other trading partners – Canada and Mexico – leading investors to believe that China could strike a deal as well.
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to speak soon, although the timing of the conversation is not clear.
“Any sign that Xi and Trump have a ‘good talk’ or both countries expressed commitment to work on a deal should qualify as a temporary truce and be supportive of sentiments,” said Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at OCBC Bank.

Expectations Beijing will do more to support its economy in the face of U.S. tariffs, relief that the tariffs were lower than what Trump had initially threatened and bullishness on the AI and electric vehicle sectors drove gains in Hong Kong.
Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong (.HSCE),  rallied more than 4% this week to a three-month high, and tech heavyweights (.HSTECH), rallied nearly 7%. On Wednesday, the Hang Seng Index (.HSI), lost 1.2% in early trade, likely on profit-taking.
Both the offshore and onshore yuan weakened too. The offshore yuan has shed 0.6% against the dollar since Jan 27, when mainland markets closed for the holiday, and hit a lifetime low this week.
Investors will see any attempts by China to weaken the currency as a hint Beijing expects a protracted war and is using the yuan to counter the effect of tariffs, as it did during Trump’s first term in 2018.
“On the whole, having a trade war is not what the market wants… but investors are less likely to panic this time,” said Elizabeth Kwik, investment director of Asian equities at abrdn, referring to how markets had been positioning for trade tensions for months.

Artificial intelligence-related stocks jumped on the mainland as they played catch-up to stocks in Hong Kong, riding on bullishness on local technology firms spurred by DeepSeek.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/china-markets-return-holiday-facing-trade-war-ai-rally-2025-02-04/