World
AI Summary
- The artificial intelligence sector is undergoing a significant strategic pivot, moving away from premature AGI declarations towards specialized commercial deployments of humanoid robots, even as global tech giants like China's Alibaba and Tencent prepare substantial orders for advanced AI chips, highlighting both practical applications and underlying energy supply constraints.
- Geopolitical landscapes are increasingly fractured, exemplified by the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization and President Trump's controversial "Board of Peace" initiative facing rejections from key allies, alongside persistent US-Iran tensions and complex three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the US over territorial disputes, signaling a weakening of established international orders.
- Economic indicators suggest a cooling global expansion, with US manufacturing and service PMIs missing forecasts and Goldman Sachs revising down PC shipment outlooks due to soaring memory prices, while a report on surging billionaire wealth alongside stagnating poverty alleviation efforts underscores deepening global inequality.
- The US immigration system is under intensified scrutiny, marked by the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to restrict immigrants relying on welfare and federal crackdowns leading to widespread protests and high-profile detentions, including a five-year-old in Minneapolis, sparking significant public and legal debate over enforcement tactics.
- Critical energy infrastructure and natural resource management are facing severe challenges, from extreme winter weather threatening Appalachian natural gas supply and straining power grids due to surging data center demand, to environmental catastrophes linked to resource extraction in Indonesia and the temporary shutdown of Japan's largest nuclear plant, emphasizing the fragility of global energy and ecological systems.
ZeroHedge
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The Case Against Declaring Artificial General Intelligence
40 minutes ago
by Tyler Durden
The Case Against Declaring Artificial General Intelligence Authored by Lewis Liu via CityAM.com, * Today’s AI systems fail badly in out-of-distribution scenarios, as shown by their inability to interpret real-world geopolitical crises. * Large language models reflect the ideological biases of their creators, undermining claims of neutral “general” intelligence. * The real economic opportunity lies in tightly governed artificial narrow intelligence, not in premature claims of AGI. “AGI is here, now.” That’s Sequoia Capital this week, one of Silicon Valley’s most legendary venture firms and a major OpenAI investor, declaring we’ve crossed the threshold into artificial general intelligence. Their post also proclaims, in big bold
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"Sleeping On The Job": DC Opens Medicaid Investigation Following Nurse And Aide Neglect Claims
an hour ago
by Tyler Durden
"Sleeping On The Job": DC Opens Medicaid Investigation Following Nurse And Aide Neglect Claims D.C.’s inspector general has opened an investigation after complaints surfaced about home health nurses and aides allegedly sleeping while on duty, following a News4 I-Team report that included hours of video showing caregivers appearing to sleep overnight, according to NBC. The investigation stems from the account of Damon Brooks, a D.C. resident who shared his experience publicly in December. His story, viewed by more than half a million people online, described repeated instances where he said caregivers failed to respond when he needed assistance. NBC writes that Brooks, a paraplegic
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DHS Says Mahmoud Khalil May Be Sent To Algeria
an hour ago
by Tyler Durden
DHS Says Mahmoud Khalil May Be Sent To Algeria Authored by Arjun Singh via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said on Jan. 21 that Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist at the center of the Trump administration’s deportation battles, may be removed to Algeria. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who leads the department’s Office of Public Affairs, made the announcement during an appearance on the NewsNation show “Katie Pavlich Tonight” in response to a question about Khalil. “It looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a reminder for those
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Watch: Convicted Minnesota Scammer Says Walz, Ellison Were Aware Of $250M Fraud
2 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
Watch: Convicted Minnesota Scammer Says Walz, Ellison Were Aware Of $250M Fraud The media has been giving quite a lot of attention to Aimee Bock, the head of a Minnesota nonprofit at the center of the largest pandemic relief fraud in the nation's history - which she now says Governor Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison had to have known about. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, June 12, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) To review; Bock's organization, Feeding Our Future, fraudulently signed off on $250 million in federal
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Davos Is Dead: Western Civ Has Suffered Enough...
2 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
Davos Is Dead: Western Civ Has Suffered Enough... Authored by James Howard Kunstler, UP IN SMOKE > “This is how tyranny looks in the modern world. It arrives dressed as dialogue, consensus, and expertise. It is imposed by people who sincerely believe they are doing nothing at all.” > > - DataRepublican Davos — The World Economic Forum (WEF)— is toast. Trump, Bessent, and Lutnick exposed the wretched org of overcompensated squishes to too much light and heat and it flared into such a pathetic little smoldering cinder that its spoxpersons said the meeting might get moved out of Davos altogether next year to Dublin
The Guardian
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‘It’s the sovereignty of the country’: Guinea-Bissau says US vaccine study suspended
6 hours ago
by Melody Schreiber
Guinea-Bissau, Health, Africa, Vaccines and immunisation, World news, Society, Science, US healthcare, US news, Robert F Kennedy JrDespite US pushback, officials in west Africa say controversial hepatitis B study on pause amid ethics concerns US health officials insisted it was still on. African health leaders said it was cancelled. At the heart of the controversy is the west African nation of Guinea-Bissau – one of the poorest countries in the world and the proposed site of a hotly debated US-funded study on vaccines. The study on hepatitis B vaccination, to be led by Danish researchers, became a flashpoint after major changes to the US vaccination schedule and prompted questions about how research is conducted ethically in other countries. Continue reading...
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ActionAid to rethink child sponsorship as part of plan to ‘decolonise’ its work
2 days ago
by Kaamil Ahmed
Global development, Aid, Humanitarian response, Charities, Charitable giving, Society, Feminism, World news, Africa, Americas, Asia PacificDevelopment charity’s new co-chief executives signal shift from controversial sponsor a child scheme launched in 1972 to long-term grassroots funding Child sponsorship schemes that allow donors to handpick children to support in poor countries can carry racialised, paternalistic undertones and need to be transformed, the newly appointed co-chief executives of ActionAid UK said as they set out to “decolonise” the organisation’s work. ActionAid began in 1972 by finding sponsors for schoolchildren in India and Kenya, but Taahra Ghazi and Hannah Bond have launched their co-leadership this month with the goal of shifting narratives around aid from sympathy towards solidarity and partnership with
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Head of US Africa bureau urges staff to highlight US ‘generosity’ despite aid cuts
3 days ago
by Aisha Down
US foreign policy, Africa, USAID, Trump administration, Aid, US news, World news, US politicsEmail sent to diplomats by state department office’s new boss is labelled ‘racist’ after dismissing Africa as a priority US diplomats have been encouraged to “unabashedly and aggressively” remind African governments about the “generosity” of the American people, according to a leaked email sent to staff in the US state department’s Bureau of African Affairs this January and obtained by the Guardian. “It’s not gauche to remind these countries of the American people’s generosity in containing HIV/Aids or alleviating famine,” says the email. Continue reading...
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‘Brazen’ political influence of rich laid bare as wealth of billionaires reaches $18.3tn, says Oxfam
5 days ago
by Kaamil Ahmed
Global development, Inequality, Inequality and development, Oxfam, Protest, World news, Global economy, Economics, Business, Social exclusion, Rich lists, Kenya, Nepal, US political lobbying, Africa, US news, South and central Asia, SocietyGovernments opting for oligarchy while brutally repressing protests over austerity and lack of jobs, charity report says The world saw a record number of billionaires created last year, with a collective wealth of $18.3tn (£13.7tn), while global efforts stalled in the fight against poverty and hunger. Oxfam’s annual survey of global inequality has revealed that the number of billionaires surpassed 3,000 for the first time during 2025. Since 2020, their collective wealth grew by 81%, or $8.2tn, which the charity claims would be enough to eradicate global poverty 26 times over. Continue reading...
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Uganda’s president calls opponents 'terrorists' in victory speech
5 days ago
by Agence France-Presse
Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, Bobi Wine, Africa, World newsYoweri Museveni wins seventh term but poll criticised by observers and rights groups over repression of opposition and internet blackout Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, fresh from winning a seventh term in office at 81, said on Sunday that the opposition were “terrorists” who had tried to use violence to overturn the election results. Official results showed Museveni winning a landslide with 72% of the vote, but the poll was criticised by African election observers and rights groups due to the heavy repression of the opposition and an internet blackout. Continue reading...
South China Morning Post
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Russia and Ukraine sit for tense talks on thorny territorial issue
an hour ago
by Reuters
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Abu Dhabi on Friday to tackle the vital issue of territory, with no sign of a compromise, as Russian air strikes plunged Ukraine into its worst energy crisis of the nearly four-year war. Kyiv is under mounting US pressure to reach a peace deal in the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede its entire eastern industrial area of Donbas before it stops fighting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky...
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Too much egalitarianism is ruining Canada
2 hours ago
by Alex Lo
Having studied and lived in North America in my youth and now middle age, one thing I have come to realise is that there is not one Canada but several, not one United States but many. Another is the contrasting national sentiments about equality – a fundamental Canadian value enshrined in its constitution – and inequality, which is not only tolerated or ignored but even celebrated in many powerful circles in the US, including the current White House. Canadians are generally proud of their...
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Xi and Lula stress value of UN in call as US actions unsettle regional diplomacy
2 hours ago
by Igor Patrick
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone call late on Thursday, during which both leaders stressed the need to defend the authority of the United Nations (UN) and to strengthen cooperation across the Global South, according to official readouts. The call, confirmed by both governments on Friday, took place amid heightened geopolitical tension that has strained the multilateral system and produced new frictions in Latin America and...
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Trump admin pushes out US official whose unit banned Chinese vehicles
3 hours ago
by Reuters
US President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed out a Commerce Department official whose office effectively barred nearly all Chinese cars from the US market for national security reasons, according to people familiar with the matter. Elizabeth “Liz” Cannon has resigned as executive director for Information and Communications Technology and Services, an office created in 2022 to investigate threats to the supply chain from foreign adversaries, the people said. News of Cannon’s impending...
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UK’s Starmer slams Trump’s ‘insulting’ remarks on allies in Afghanistan
5 hours ago
by Reuters
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called US President Donald Trump’s comments about European troops staying off the front lines in Afghanistan insulting and appalling, joining a chorus of criticism from other European officials and veterans. “I consider President Trump’s remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling, and I’m not surprised they’ve caused such hurt for the loved ones of those who were killed or injured,” Starmer told reporters. When asked whether he would demand an apology from...
New York Times
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Hundreds of Minnesota Businesses on Strike in Protest Against ICE
an hour ago
by Pooja Salhotra, Jazmine Ulloa, Chris Hippensteel and Talya Minsberg
Demonstrations, Protests and Riots, Immigration Detention, Illegal Immigration, United States Politics and Government, Strikes, Federal Actions in US Cities, Immigration and Emigration, Homeland Security Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US), Trump, Donald J, Good, Renee Nicole (1988-2026), Vance, J D, MinnesotaThousands of protesters shut down streets throughout Minneapolis-St. Paul to demand that federal immigration agents end their weekslong crackdown. Businesses closed in solidarity.
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The Whipple Building Is at the Center of Minnesota’s Immigration Drama
7 hours ago
by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
Illegal Immigration, Deportation, Immigration Detention, United States Politics and Government, Federal Actions in US Cities, Buildings (Structures), Whipple Building, Homeland Security Department, Minneapolis (Minn), St Paul (Minn), Trump, Donald J, MinnesotaJust outside Minneapolis, the Whipple Building houses offices, a detention center and a courthouse — and has become the home base for immigration agents and protesters alike.
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Portland, Maine, Feels Like a Small Town — And ICE Isn’t Welcome
11 hours ago
by Jenna Russell
Immigration Detention, Illegal Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US), Homeland Security Department, Portland (Me)The influx of federal agents this week has been hard for locals to ignore. Many are expressing their resistance to the immigration crackdown.
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Storm Poses Big Threats to Power Grids Across U.S.
an hour ago
by Ivan Penn and Rebecca F. Elliott
Cold and Cold Spells, Electric Light and Power, Snow and Snowstorms, Weather, Natural Gas, Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates), Power Failures and Blackouts, Heating, Ice, Pipelines, Poverty, Commodities, Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline, East Coast (US), Permian Basin (North America), TexasManagers of electric grids say freezing temperatures and ice and snow could lead to power outages in many places, potentially leaving millions in the dark.
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Airlines Cancel Hundreds of Flights In Anticipation of Powerful Winter Storm
2 hours ago
by Niraj Chokshi
Airlines and Airplanes, Airports, Cold and Cold Spells, Ice, Aviation Accidents, Safety and Disasters, Snow and Snowstorms, Delays (Transportation), Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates), Weather, American Airlines, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Delta Air Lines Inc, O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, Ill), Southwest Airlines Company, East Coast (US), Dallas (Tex), Chicago (Ill), Atlanta (Ga), TexasAirlines are canceling hundreds of flights over the weekend in anticipation of frigid weather and ice and now across much of the country.