Category: Silicon Valley

Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) has recently spread widely across China, overwhelming hospitals and evoking memories of the COVID-19 outbreak. HMPV is not a new virus; it has been known for years and typically has a low mortality rate. Nevertheless, epidemiologists are calling for greater transparency about the spread of the virus to help contain infections. While the health care system is under strain, experts stress that there is no need for panic. They recommend the public follow basic protective measures, particularly during the Spring Festival travel period, to help curb further spread of the virus.

Click here to read the full story in Mandarin.
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GENEVA — The World Meteorlogical Organization says that preventive action cannot avert natural disasters such as the wildfires raging across Los Angeles, but that it can help save lives and mitigate loss of property.

“Land management and prevention, regular clearing of underbrush play a key role in fire management, and evacuation plans are important in saving lives,” the WMO said Friday. “These are all part of effective early warning systems.”

In a briefing to journalists in Geneva, Claire Nullis, a WMO spokesperson, stressed the importance of preparing adequate evacuation plans and early warning systems to prevent some of the worst impacts from a natural disaster.

While acknowledging the staggering losses from the devastating wildfires sweeping across parts of Los Angeles in the United States this week, she said “The early warnings have, in this instance, been very, very good.

“You know, people have been evacuated. It has been impossible to save houses, and the loss of life is still too high, but it has been kept to a relative minimum,” she said.

Media reports say at least 10 people have been killed in this week’s Southern California wildfires, although more bodies are expected to be found once the fires have been contained and searchers can go through the debris.

More than 10,000 structures reportedly have burned, and 180,000 people are under evacuation orders.

While California is no stranger to wildfires, the WMO calls this catastrophic event “extraordinary” in that it is affecting one of the largest cities in the United States.

The WMO said that last year’s rainy season for the Los Angeles area as a whole was slightly above normal, but so far, this year it has been dry.

“The big compounding factor in this context is the winds. … They cause temperatures to rise, and they cause very low humidity, drying out the ground and vegetation,” Nullis said.

The WMO said destructive wildfires have been made worse by climate change.

“Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last decades,” it said, citing data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The WMO said wildfires require the alignment of a number of factors, including temperature, humidity and the lack of moisture in fuels such as trees, shrubs, grasses and forest debris.

“All these factors have strong direct or indirect ties to climate variability and climate change,” it said.

“Obviously, not every single weather-related disaster is due to climate change,” WMO spokesperson Nullis said. “Nobody would say that. But we get quite clear signals that climate change is exacerbating some of these disasters.”

In addition to the loss of life and destruction of homes and other infrastructure that could total billions of dollars in insured losses, the World Health Organization warns that wildfires can have a significant impact on human morbidity and mortality.

“Wildfire smoke, which is a mixture of air pollutants, of which particulate matter is of major concern as it can be full of PM 2.5. This is a very small particulate matter that gets right down into the lungs, and there certainly is a lot of it.” said Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson.

“A lot of it is associated with premature death in the general population,” she said. “It can cause and exacerbate diseases of lung, heart, brain, the nervous system” and other illnesses.

“It has been shown to lead to cognitive impairment and actually damage your intellectual capacity and lead to memory loss,” she said, adding that firefighters and emergency response workers “are most at risk from exposure to smoke.”

The WHO estimates 4.2 million deaths globally are linked to ambient or outdoor air pollution, with 99% of the global population exposed to air pollution levels that exceed the WHO guideline level for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5).

Harris said more research is needed to understand the long-term health effects of wildfire exposure on vulnerable populations, particularly children, older people, pregnant women and the chronically ill.

“We expect that we will see this over and over again if we do not get what we are doing to the planet under control,” she said.

Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization has officially confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record, “with a global mean temperature of more than 1.5 degrees above the 1850-1900 average.”

“We have just endured the hottest decade on record, with 2024 topping the list,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, noting that “blazing temperatures in 2024 require trailblazing climate action in 2025.”

“There is still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act now,” he said.
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Technology companies, industry executives and entrepreneurs are in Las Vegas, Nevada, this week for CES, the consumer electronics show featuring the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, vehicle technology, robotics and more. Tina Trinh reports from Las Vegas.
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WASHINGTON — Russia’s efforts to obtain China’s help in enhancing artificial intelligence is seen as a bid to challenge America’s lead in the field even as the outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose new export control measures to further curb Beijing’s access to AI chips.

As the new year began, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s state-owned Sberbank, to work with China in researching and developing AI technology, according to the Kremlin.

“The Russian president sees his country in global competition for AI with the United States and has positioned the state resources to try and compete with the U.S. in information and cyberspace – two areas where artificial intelligence is supposed to aid Russia in what they see as Western narratives and influence,” said Samuel Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Moscow views Beijing’s success in AI as an example to follow, and its “cooperation with China is viewed as a necessary step towards acquiring artificial intelligence-related skill sets, knowledge and technology,” Bendett told VOA in written comments.

The U.S. currently leads in AI innovation, followed by China, which is falling behind by wide margins, according to a November report by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Russia ranks 31st out of 83 countries in AI implementation, innovation and investment, according to U.K.-based Tortoise Media’s Global AI Index.

Response to sanctions

Western sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have limited the country’s AI development, and Moscow has turned to Beijing to offset the restriction, according to Bendett in his report “The Role of AI in Russia’s Confrontation with the West.”

Sberbank, which Putin instructed to collaborate with China, is under Western sanctions.

It is Russia’s largest bank and leads the country’s AI development efforts.

The outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose a new set of export control measures aimed at further limiting China’s ability to access chips that support AI technology. The new measures could come as early as Friday, according to Bloomberg.

Sberbank CEO German Gref said in 2023 that Russia cannot obtain graphics processing units, microchips needed to support AI development, according to Reuters.

But the bank’s first deputy CEO, Alexander Vedyakhin, said in December that despite Western sanctions, Russia can improve its AI ranking by 2030 through its own development.

Another key area where Russia has sought to further apply AI help from China is in the military.

“There already have been top level meetings between Russia and Chinese militaries in 2024,” and “ongoing dialogue” between the defense ministries of the two countries is likely so they can understand “how AI could aid in a large-scale conventional conflict, like the one unfolding in Ukraine,” Bendett said.

Russian and Chinese officials met in Beijing early last year to discuss military application of AI, especially in developing autonomous weapons, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

AI-powered weapons

In December, Ukraine said Russia began using AI-powered strike drones with improved capabilities that can evade air defenses, identify key targets and operate offline.

James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Russia is likely to use AI technology on enhancing drones as well as in making weapons with improved target detection and attack speed.

The China-Russia AI partnership “creates new risk for the U.S.,” but military application of “AI won’t compensate for bad strategy” in the battlefield, he said.

Attending an AI conference in Moscow last month, Song Haitao, president of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, said China plans to sign an agreement with Russia’s Sberbank to promote bilateral cooperation on AI development.

Speaking at the conference, Putin applauded China for “making great strides” in advancing AI technology and its application, including in building “smart cities” and conducting “modern governance.”

Sam Bresnick, research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said although it is not entirely clear how Beijing might benefit from helping Moscow in developing AI, China might want some military technologies and wartime data from Russia in return.

“Russia is very good at making submarines, and there’s been a speculation in the past that China could benefit from acquiring that kind of technology. Another one is helicopter technology,” Bresnick said.

“The war in Ukraine has generated an astonishing amount of data,” Bresnick continued. “China would probably be interested in getting its hands on them because having more militarily relevant data from Russia would help China develop its own AI systems for military.”

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Thursday that “in terms of the application of artificial intelligence, China actively advocates the principles of ‘people-oriented’ and ‘intelligent for good,’ ensuring that artificial intelligence is safe, reliable and controllable, better enabling global sustainable development, and enhancing the common well-being of all mankind.” 
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LAS VEGAS — So much of the technology showcased at CES includes gadgets made to improve consumers’ lives — whether by leveraging AI to make devices that help people become more efficient, by creating companions to cure loneliness, or by providing tools that help people with mental and physical health. 

But not all innovation is good, according to a panel of self-described dystopia experts that has judged some products as “Worst in Show.” The award that no company wants to win calls out the “least repairable, least private, and least sustainable products on display.” 

“We’re seeing more and more of these things that have basically surveillance technology built into them, and it enables some cool things,” Liz Chamberlain, director of sustainability at the e-commerce site iFixit told The Associated Press. “But it also means that now we’ve got microphones and cameras in our washing machines, refrigerators and that really is an industry-wide problem.” 

The fourth annual contest announced its decisions Thursday. 

A new smart ring every few years? 

Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, awarded the Ultrahuman Rare Luxury Smart Ring the title of “least repairable.” 

The rings, which come in colors like dune and desert sand, cost $2,200. Wiens said the jewelry “looks sleek but hides a major flaw: its battery only lasts 500 charges.” Worse, he said, is the fact that replacing the battery is impossible without destroying the device entirely. 

“Luxury items may be fleeting, but two years of use for $2,200 is a new low,” he said. 

Ultrahuman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

An AI-powered smart crib? 

Bosch’s “Revol” crib uses sensors, cameras and AI that the company says can help monitor vital signs like how an infant is sleeping, heart and respiratory rates and more. The crib can also rock gently if the baby needs help falling asleep and signal to parents if a blanket or other object is interfering with breathing. 

EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn said the crib preys on parents’ fears and “collects excessive data about babies via a camera, microphone, and even a radar sensor.” 

“Parents expect safety and comfort — not surveillance and privacy risks — in their children’s cribs,” she said in the report. 

A spokesperson for Bosch told The Associated Press that all data is encrypted end-to-end and stored on Bosch-administered servers, “while all data at rest is secured locally with individual data encryption keys.” 

“Caregivers have the final say on whether data is transmitted at all. The Revol has an offline mode, which keeps data local if preferred,” the spokesperson said, adding that the smart crib helps keep children safe. 

Too much waste? 

Although AI is everywhere at CES, Stacey Higginbotham, a policy Fellow at Consumer Reports, felt that SoundHound AI’s In-Car Commerce Ecosystem, powered by its Automotive AI, pushes it to unnecessary extremes. 

The feature “increases energy consumption, encourages wasteful takeout consumption and distracts drivers — all while adding little value,” Higginbotham said. That landed the in-car system as “least sustainable” on the list. 

Soundhound AI’s platform allows drivers and passengers to order takeout for pick-up directly from the car’s infotainment system. The company did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement Tuesday, Keyvan Mohajer, CEO of SoundHound AI, said the product’s launch marks a moment “decades in the making.” 

“What begins here with food and restaurants will ultimately open up a whole new commercial ecosystem for vehicle and device manufacturers everywhere,” he said. 

Vulnerable to hacking? 

TP-Link’s Archer BE900 router won for “least secure” of CES. The company is a top-selling router brand in the U.S. But its products are vulnerable to hacking, said Paul Roberts, founder of The Security Ledger. 

“By Chinese law, TP-Link must report security flaws to the government before alerting the public, creating a significant national security risk,” he said. “Yet TP-Link showcased its Archer BE900 router at CES without addressing these vulnerabilities.” 

In an email response, TP-Link Systems contested the report. 

“TP-Link Systems Inc. is a U.S.-headquartered company and does not provide any such security reporting to China as referenced by iFixit,” the company said. “TP-Link Systems has a secure, vertically-integrated, and U.S.-owned international supply chain. Nearly all products sold in the United States are manufactured in Vietnam.” 

TP-Link said it controls its own supply chains, and “is constantly assessing potential risks to its U.S. operations, customers, and supply chain,” adding that it acknowledges that vulnerabilities exist across the industry. 

“However, contrary to claims of widespread vulnerabilities, comparative data places TP-Link on par with, or in some cases ahead of, other major industry players in terms of security outcomes,” the company said. 

Who asked for this? 

The awards also feature a category called “who asked for this?” Top of that list was Samsung’s Bespoke AI Washing Machine, which Nathan Proctor, senior director of U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, said is filled “with features no one needs,” including the ability to make phone calls. 

“These add-ons only make the appliance more expensive, fragile, and harder to repair,” he said. 

Samsung did not respond to a request for comment. 

At a press conference at CES Tuesday, Jong-Hee Han, vice chairman of Samsung’s device experience division, said that he was “proud of how we have introduced new technologies and intelligence to the home, connected key devices and set the standard for the home of the future.” 

“We are reinforcing our commitment to delivering personalized experiences through our widespread implementation of AI and we will continue this journey of AI leadership in the home and beyond, not just for the next decade, but for the next century,” he said. 

Worst overall 

Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of The Repair Association, called the LG “AI Home Inside 2.0 Refrigerator with ThinkQ” the worst product overall. The fridge adds “flashy features,” Gordon-Byrne said, including a screen and internet connection. 

“But these come at a cost,” Gordon-Byrne said. “Shorter software support, higher energy consumption, and expensive repairs reduce the fridge’s practical lifespan, leaving consumers with an expensive, wasteful gadget.” 

LG did not respond to a request for comment.
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The United States Supreme Court has fast-tracked oral arguments on a challenge by the Chinese company ByteDance — the owner of TikTok — to a new law that would ban the social media platform on grounds of national security. VOA’s Steve Herman reports.
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For the first time, a person in the United States has died after being infected with the bird flu. Louisiana health officials reported the death on Monday. The World Health Organization says the risk of infection for the general population remains low, but as VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, some medical experts are still sounding the alarm.
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WASHINGTON — Nearly a quarter of animals living in rivers, lakes and other freshwater sources are threatened with extinction, according to new research published Wednesday.

“Huge rivers like the Amazon can appear mighty, but at the same time freshwater environments are very fragile,” said study co-author Patricia Charvet, a biologist at Brazil’s Federal University of Ceará.

Freshwater habitats – including rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, bogs and wetlands – cover less than 1% of the planet’s surface, but support 10% of its animal species, said Catherine Sayer, a zoologist at the International Union for Conservation of Nature in England.

The researchers examined around 23,500 species of dragonflies, fish, crabs and other animals that depend exclusively on freshwater ecosystems. They found that 24% were at risk of extinction – classified as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered – due to compounding threats from pollution, dams, water extraction, agriculture, invasive species, climate change and other disruptions.

“Most species don’t have just one threat putting them at risk of extinction, but many threats acting together,” said Sayer, a study-co-author.

The tally, published in the journal Nature, is the first time that researchers have analyzed the global risk to freshwater species. Previous studies have focused on land animals including mammals, birds and reptiles.

Duke University ecologist Stuart Pimm, who was not involved in the study, called it “a long-awaited and hugely important paper.”

“Almost every big river in North America and Europe is massively modified” through damming, putting freshwater species at risk, he said.

In South America, the vast Amazon River ecosystem also faces threats from deforestation, wildfires and illegal gold mining, said Charvet.

Illegal fires to clear forest result in waves of ash polluting the river, and unlicensed gold miners dump mercury into the water, she said.

Rivers and wetlands “concentrate everything that happens around them,” she said. “If something goes really wrong, like an acid or oil spill, you can threaten an entire species. There’s nowhere else for these animals to go.”
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OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that there would be a wider range of speech on Facebook and other Meta platforms.

“We’re going to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram,” he said.

Here are some of the key changes:

Gone will be third-party fact-checkers eyeing Facebook posts for violations in the United States. Instead, Facebook will rely on “community notes,” a system used on X (formerly Twitter) that allows community members to flag posts and vote on the legitimacy of them.

Restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender identity will be lifted.

“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far. So, I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.

Civic and political content, which the company stopped presenting to users in recent years, will be recommended again on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

And the firm’s trust and safety and content moderation teams will move from California, considered a liberal state, to Texas, considered a conservative-leaning state. The move “will help us build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams,” he said.

Preparing for Trump

Zuckerberg’s announcement comes as Meta and other technology companies prepare for major policy and regulatory changes with the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House this month.

In his attacks on the dominant technology companies, known collectively as Big Tech, Trump has been particularly critical of Meta, which suspended his account in 2021 after the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building. His accounts were restored in 2023.

At a press conference Tuesday, Trump was asked about Zuckerberg’s announcement.

“Honestly, I think they’ve come a long way,” he said. He said the firm was “probably” responding to his threats that he had planned to do something about Big Tech and censorship.

Reactions mixed

“This is cool,” Elon Musk said of the Meta announcement. Musk bought Twitter in 2023 and renamed it X and is a close adviser to Trump.

X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino said on X that “fact-checking and moderation doesn’t belong in the hands of a few select gatekeepers who can easily inject their bias into decisions. It’s a democratic process that belongs in the hands of many.”

Also on X, Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, praised Zuckerberg’s announcement as a “huge step in the right direction.”

“Social media, AI, and other technology companies must resist governments’ censorship pressure and instead work to ensure the open expression of ideas on their platforms,” Jordan posted. “We hope that other Big Tech companies, including Google, follow the lead of X and Meta in upholding freedom of speech online.”

Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor of human-centered design and engineering, said on the social media site Bluesky that Meta’s decision will hamper people’s ability to find out the truth.

“One remaining concern for me is that even people who WANT to find accurate information are going to be challenged to do it, because we’re going to lose the groups that do this fact-checking work — unless non-profits step in to fill what is going to be a huge funding gap,” she posted.

Yoel Roth, a former head of Twitter’s trust and safety department, said on Bluesky that he was “genuinely baffled by the unempirical assertion that Community Notes ‘works.’ Does it? How do Meta know? The best available research is pretty mixed on this point.”

‘Too many mistakes’

In his statement Tuesday, Zuckerberg described a complex system of filters the company created to identify “legitimately bad stuff out there. Drugs, terrorism, child exploitation.”

But the systems, while well-intentioned, made mistakes, resulting in wrongly censored postings, he said.

“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” he said.

The company will be “dialing back” content filters that scanned for policy violations with the goal to “dramatically reduce the amount of censorship on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.

Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, said in a separate statement that “too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail,’ and we are often too slow to respond when they do.”

Biden ‘repeatedly pressured’

Without offering examples, Zuckerberg said in August that the U.S. government under the Biden administration pushed for censorship. In August, Zuckerberg said in a letter to Jordan that Biden officials “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to take down some COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.

“By going after us and other American companies, it has emboldened other governments to go even further,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday. “But now we have the opportunity to restore free expression, and I’m excited to take it.”
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India TV’s claims that HMPV is a mysterious virus, or speculation that a new virus may have arisen out of China, are false.
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Meta is ending its fact-checking program in the U.S. and replacing it with a “Community Notes” system similar to that on Elon Musk-owned X, the Facebook parent said on Tuesday.  

The Community Notes model will allow users on Meta’s social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Threads to call out posts that are potentially misleading and need more context, rather than placing the responsibility on independent fact checking organizations and experts.  

“Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives. This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact check and how … A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor,” Meta said.  

Meta added that its efforts over the years to manage content across its platforms have expanded “to the point where we are making too many mistakes, frustrating our users and too often getting in the way of the free expression we set out to enable.” 

The company said it would begin phasing in Community Notes in the United States over the next couple of months and would improve the model over the course of the year. 

It will also stop demoting fact-checked content and use a label notifying users there is additional information related to the post, instead of the company’s current method of displaying full-screen warnings that users have to click through before even viewing the post.  
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LAS VEGAS — Home appliances that do chores, cars that know your favorite cafe, and robot pets aiming to please are among artificial intelligence-infused offerings at the Consumer Electronics Show opening Tuesday.

All these will compete for attention at the annual CES extravaganza in Las Vegas, as vendors behind the scenes seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

AI is once again a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies.

South Korean consumer electronics giant LG kicked off a media day Monday by outlining a vision for “Affectionate Intelligence” in which home appliances watch over people — from tracking how well they sleep to making sure they remember umbrellas when rain is in the forecast.

“At LG, we’re seamlessly integrating AI into physical living spaces around us,” said CEO William Cho.

“We see space not merely as a physical location but as an environment where holistic experiences come to life — across the Home, Mobility, Commercial and even Virtual spaces.”

Before the show floor even opened, vendors enticed visitors with electric roller skates, hologram booths for life-size remote collaboration, and even a robot that looked like a lamp affixed to the top of a walking table.

Most offerings boasted being enhanced with AI.

“Everybody is going to be talking about AI … whether it is there or not,” Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi told AFP.

AI on the move

CES will also be a gigantic auto show, with carmakers and those supplying software and parts showing off self-driving and automated safety capabilities.

“CES has been an auto show for a while now, and if anything, it is more so this year,” said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close relationship with Trump is expected to reduce regulatory speed bumps regarding autonomous vehicles.

And while still far from being a part of everyday life, flying cars will be part of the CES scene, according to independent tech analyst Rob Enderle.

“You should start seeing flying vehicles you can buy,” Enderle said. “Getting approval to fly them is a whole other matter.”

Robots designed to handle work tasks or be comforting companions — and even adorable pets — are among CES’ exhibits.

Gadgets for calming the mind, beautifying the body, or helping get a sound night’s sleep are on display as tech continues to seep into every aspect of existence.

“Digital health is going to be huge,” said Greengart.

“We are seeing a lot more tech being worn or used to track your health markers.”

AI-enhanced tech will also be infusing homes, from a spice dispenser that “learns” a cook’s taste and robot swimming pool cleaners.

Tariff anxiety?

Tariffs talked about by Trump would raise costs for imported items, and that will likely be on the minds of CES attendees targeting the U.S. market, according to analysts.

A lot of the products at the show have imported components, and if Trump hits Canada, China and Mexico with tariffs, it will mean a spike in prices, analyst Enderle said.

“There will be a lot of concerned vendors at CES,” Enderle said of the tariff trepidation.

Talk at CES will include how to navigate supply chain constraints that could be caused by tariffs, according to Greengart.

“But a lot of the talk will happen behind closed doors to not anger the coming administration,” he added.

Chinese companies with significant U.S. presence, like smart television rivals TCL and Hisense, are at CES.

But Greengart warns of a “growing bifurcation of market between China and the rest of the world” as trade frictions play out.
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticized those, in his words, “spreading lies and misinformation,” after coming under fire from billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump accused Starmer of failing to prosecute past cases of child sexual exploitation. As Henry Ridgwell reports, it’s the latest in a series of interventions by Musk in European politics
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WASHINGTON — The Louisiana Department of Health said Monday that a U.S. patient hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu had died, the country’s first death from an outbreak of the virus that has sickened dozens of people and millions of poultry and cattle. 

Nearly 70 people in the U.S. have contracted bird flu since April, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most of them livestock workers exposed to sick chickens or dairy cattle. 

The patient in Louisiana, the first person in the country to be hospitalized with the virus, contracted bird flu after exposure to a combination of backyard chickens and wild birds, said Louisiana health officials. The patient was hospitalized on Dec. 18, state health officials said. 

The patient was over 65 and had underlying medical conditions, the officials said. 

“While the current public health risk for the general public remains low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk,” the department said in a statement.  

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. cyber watchdog agency CISA said Monday there was “no indication” the recently reported breach at the U.S. Treasury Department had affected any other federal agency. 

Late last month the U.S. Treasury reported that an unspecified number of computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services.  

BeyondTrust said last month that a limited number of clients were affected but has not elaborated. 

“As the forensic investigation is ongoing, BeyondTrust is unable to confirm the other customers who may or may not have been impacted,” the company said Monday in an email. 

The Washington Post has reported that the hackers breached the U.S. Treasury office that administers economic sanctions, aiming to steal information about Chinese entities that the U.S. government might be considering designating for financial sanctions. 

Republican lawmakers have demanded a briefing about the breach, which is the latest in a series of intrusions blamed on Beijing. 

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, has previously described the Treasury hack reports as “irrational” and represented “smear attacks” against China. 
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Will TikTok in the U.S. be banned this month?

That’s the pressing question keeping creators and small business owners in anxious limbo as they await a decision that could upend their livelihoods. The fate of the popular app will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on Jan. 10 over a law requiring TikTok to break ties with its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, or face a U.S. ban.

At the heart of the case is whether the law violates the First Amendment with TikTok and its creator allies arguing that it does. The U.S. government, which sees the platform as a national security risk, says it does not.

For creators, the TikTok doomsday scenarios are nothing new since President-elect Donald Trump first tried to ban the platform through executive order during his first term. But despite Trump’s recent statements indicating he now wants TikTok to stick around, the prospect of a ban has never been as immediate as it is now with the Supreme Court serving as the final arbiter.

If the government prevails as it did in a lower court, TikTok says it would shut down its U.S. platform by Jan. 19, leaving creators scrambling to redefine their futures.

“A lot of my other creative friends, we’re all like freaking out. But I’m staying calm,” said Gillian Johnson, who benefited financially from TikTok’s live feature and rewards program, which helped creators generate higher revenue potential by posting high-quality original content. The 22-year-old filmmaker and recent college graduate uses her TikTok earnings to help fund her equipment for projects such as camera lens and editing software for her short films “Gambit” and “Awaken! My Neighbor.”

Johnson said the idea of TikTok going away is “hard to accept.”

Many creators have taken to TikTok to voice their frustrations, grappling with the possibility that the platform they’ve invested so much in could soon disappear. Online communities risk being disrupted, and the economic fallout could especially be devastating for those who mainly depend on TikTok and have left full-time jobs to build careers and incomes around their content.

For some, the uncertainty has led them to question whether to continue creating content at all, according to Johnson, who says she knows creators who have been thinking about quitting. But Nicla Bartoli, the vice president of sales at The Influencer Marketing Factory, said the creators she has interreacted with have not been too worried since news about a potential TikTok ban has come up repeatedly over the years, and then died down.

“I believe a good chunk think it is not going to happen,” said Bartoli, whose agency works to pair influencers and brands.

It’s unclear how quickly the Supreme Court will issue a decision. But the court could act swiftly to block the law from going into effect if at least five of the nine justices deem it unconstitutional.

Trump, for his part, has already asked the justices to put a pause on the ban so he could weigh in after he takes office. In a brief — written by his pick for solicitor general — Trump called the First Amendment implications of a TikTok ban “sweeping and troubling” and said he wants a “negotiated resolution” to the issue, something the Biden administration had pursued to no avail.

While waiting for the dust to settle in Washington, some creators are exploring alternatives ways to promote themselves or their business, encouraging users to follow them on other social media platforms or are investing more time producing non-TikTok content.

Johnson says she is already strategizing her next move and exploring alternative opportunities. While she hasn’t found a place quite like TikTok, she’s begun to spend more of her time on other platforms, such as Instagram and YouTube, both of whom are expected to benefit financially if TikTok vanishes.

According to a report by Goldman Sachs, the so-called creator economy, which has been fueled in part by TikTok, could be worth $480 billion by 2027.

Because the opportunity to monetize content exists across a range of platforms, a vast amount of creators have already diversified their social media presence. However, many TikTok creators have credited the platform — and its algorithm — with giving them a type of exposure they did not receive on other platforms. Some say it has also boosted and provided opportunities for creators of color and those from other marginalized groups.

Despite fears about the fate of TikTok, industry analysts note creators are generally avoiding making any big changes, like abandoning platform, until something actually happens.

“I’m anxious but also trying to be hopeful in a weird way,” said Brandon Hurst, who credits TikTok with rescuing his business from obscurity and propelling it into rapid growth.

A year after joining TikTok, the 30-year-old Hurst, who sells plants, said his sales doubled, outpacing the traction he’d struggled to gain on Instagram. He built his clientele through the live feature on TikTok, which has helped him sell more than 77,000 plants. The business has thrived so much that he says he now employs five people, including his husband and mom.

“For me, this has been my sole way of doing business,” Hurst said.

Billion Dollar Boy, a New York-based influencer marketing agency, has advised creators to download all of their TikTok content into a personal portfolio, which is especially important for those who post primarily on the platform, said Edward East, the agency’s founder and group CEO. This can help them quickly build their audiences elsewhere. Plus, it can serve as a resume for brands who might want to partner with them for product advertisements, East said.

But until the deadline of Jan. 19 comes around, East said creators should continue to post regularly on TikTok, which has 170 million monthly U.S. users and remains highly effective in reaching audiences.

If the Supreme Court does not delay the ban, as Trump is asking them to do, app stores and internet service providers would be required to stop providing service to TikTok by Jan. 19. That means anyone who doesn’t have TikTok on their phone would be unable to download it. TikTok users would continue to have access, but the prohibitions — which will prevent them from updating the app — will eventually make the app “unworkable,” the Justice Department has said.

TikTok said in court documents that it estimates a one-month shutdown would cause the platform to lose approximately a third of its daily users in the U.S. The company argues a shutdown, even if temporary, will cause it irreparable harm, a legal bar used by judges to determine whether to put the brakes on a law facing a challenge. In under three weeks, Americans will know if the Supreme Court agrees.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — The new year will bring a pair of lunar eclipses, but don’t expect any sun-disappearing acts like the one that mesmerized North America last spring.

While the world will have to wait until 2026 for the next total solar eclipse, the cosmos promises plenty of other wow moments in 2025. It’s kicking off the year with a six-planet parade in January that will be visible for weeks. Little Mercury will join the crowd for a seven-planet lineup in February.

Five planets already are scattered across the sky — all but Mars and Mercury — though binoculars or telescopes are needed to spot some of them just after sunset.

“People should go out and see them sometime during the next many weeks. I certainly will,” said the Planetary Society’s chief scientist Bruce Betts.

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s ahead:

Eclipses

The moon will vanish for more than an hour over North and South America on March 14, followed two weeks later by a partial solar eclipse visible from Maine, eastern Canada, Greenland, Europe, Siberia and northwestern Africa.

The cosmic double-header will repeat in September with an even longer total lunar eclipse over Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, and a partial solar eclipse two weeks later near the bottom of the world.

Supermoons

Three supermoons are on tap this year in October, November and December.

The full moon will look particularly big and bright those three months as it orbits closer to Earth than usual.

November’s supermoon will come closest, passing within 356,980 kilometers. Last year featured four supermoons, wrapping up in November.

Planet parade

Six of our seven neighboring planets will line up in the sky to form a long arc around mid-January. All but Neptune and Uranus should be visible with the naked eye just after sunset, weather permitting.

The parade will continue for weeks, with some of the planets occasionally snuggling up. Mercury will make a cameo appearance by the end of February. The planets will gradually exit, one by one, through spring.

Northern and southern lights

The sun burped big time last year, painting the sky with gorgeous auroras in unexpected places.

Space weather forecasters anticipate more geomagnetic storms that could yield even more northern and southern lights.

That’s because the sun has reached its solar maximum during its current 11-year cycle that could continue through this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Shawn Dahl urges everyone to stay on top of space weather news, so as not to miss any pop-up, razzle-dazzle shows.

Meteor showers

The Perseids and Geminids are perennial crowd-pleasers, peaking in August and December, respectively. But don’t count out the smaller, less dramatic meteor showers like the Lyrids in April, the Orionids in October and the Leonids in November.

The darker the locale and dimmer the moon, the better it will be for viewing. Meteor showers are generally named for the constellation in which they appear to originate. They occur whenever Earth plows through streams of debris left behind by comets and sometimes asteroids. 
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NEW YORK — Your car is spying on you. 

That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk’s company was impressive but also shines a spotlight on a difficult question as vehicles become less like cars and more like computers on wheels. 

“You might want law enforcement to have the data to crack down on criminals but can anyone have access to it?” said Jodi Daniels, CEO of privacy consulting firm Red Clover Advisors.  

Many of the latest cars not only know where you’ve been and where you are going, but also often have access to your contacts, your call logs, your texts and other sensitive information thanks to cell phone syncing. 

The data collected by Musk’s electric car company after the Cybertruck packed with fireworks burst into flames in front of the Trump International Hotel Wednesday proved valuable to police in helping track the driver’s movements. 

Within hours of the New Year’s Day explosion that burned the driver beyond recognition and injured seven, Tesla was able to track Matthew Livelsberger’s movements in detail from Denver to Las Vegas — and confirm that the problem was explosives in the truck, not the truck itself. Tesla used data collected from charging stations and from onboard software. 

“I have to thank Elon Musk, specifically,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill to reporters.  

Some privacy experts were less enthusiastic. 

“It reveals the kind of sweeping surveillance going on,” said David Choffnes, executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston. “When something bad happens, it’s helpful, but it’s a double-edged sword. Companies that collect this data can abuse it.” 

General Motors, for instance, was sued in August by the Texas attorney general for allegedly selling data from 1.8 million drivers to insurance companies without their consent. 

Cars equipped with cameras to enable self-driving features have added a new security risk. Tesla itself came under fire after Reuters reported how employees from 2019 through 2022 shared drivers’ sensitive videos and recordings with each other, including videos of road rage incidents and, in one case, nudity. 

Tesla did not respond to emailed questions about its privacy policy. On its website, Tesla says it follows strict rules for keeping names and information private. 

“No one but you would have knowledge of your activities, location, or a history of where you’ve been,” according to a statement. “Your information is kept private and secure.” 

Auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid at Telemetry Insight, said he doesn’t think Tesla is “especially worse” than other auto companies in handling customer data, but he is still concerned. 

“This is one of the biggest ethical issues we have around modern vehicles. They’re connected,” he said. “Consumers need to have control over their data.” 

Tensions were high when the Cybertruck parked at the front doors of Trump’s hotel began smoking, then burst into flames. Just hours earlier, a driver in another vehicle using the same peer-to-peer car rental service, Turo, had killed 15 people after slamming into a crowd in New Orleans, Louisiana, in what law enforcement is calling a terrorist attack. 

Shortly before 1 p.m., the Las Vegas police announced they were investigating a second incident. 

“The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now,” Musk wrote on X. “Will post more information as soon as we learn anything.” 

Over the next few hours, Tesla was able to piece together Livelsberger’s journey over five days and four states by tracking, among other things, his recharging stops in various locations, including Monument, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona. 
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