Malawi takes steps to end cholera outbreaks by 2030

WPScienLeave a comment

BLANTYRE, MALAWI — Malawi’s government launched a plan Thursday to stop cholera outbreaks by 2030.

Officials say that if the government and international partners can effectively cooperate, they can greatly reduce the prevalence of cholera in the southern African country, where it has killed at least 1,700 people over the past three years.

Partners include the World Health Organization, or WHO, and UNICEF.

Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo-Chiponda said, “The goal of the plan is to reduce the annual cholera rate by 90% and achieve the case fatality rate of less than 1% by the year 2030, as recommended by WHO.”

Kandodo-Chiponda said there are several ways to achieve the goal, all of which involve the government, development partners, civil society organizations and other stakeholders supplying expertise and funding to support prevention and control efforts.

She said those efforts will be “to increase access to safe water and sanitation facilities and promote improved hygiene practices; to raise awareness and promote community-led initiatives to prevent and to respond to outbreaks.”

Malawi has experienced cholera outbreaks over the past three years, with the most severe occurring in 2022, resulting in over 1,700 deaths nationwide.

During Thursday’s event, the Malawian government launched an oral cholera vaccine campaign targeting four districts — Mzimba, Karonga, Balaka and Machinga — to address a recent resurgence of cholera there.

Statistics from the Presidential Task Force on Cholera show the disease has caused 14 deaths since September.

Shadrack Omol, UNICEF’s representative in Malawi, said the 2024 resurgence of cholera shows that root causes of the infectious bacterial disease persist.

“Health interventions … are complimentary in support,” Omol said. “The key to addressing the root causes is in provision of safe drinking water across our country, improving sanitation and improving hygiene practices.”

Malawi’s public health experts say goals to eradicate the disease within five years will depend on stakeholder commitments.

George Jobe, executive director of the Malawi Health Equity Network, said, “If financial investments [and] technical investments from partners are done, we believe we can win this battle. It should not be a document that should grow dust on the shelves.”

Kandodo-Chiponda said the operational plans will be reviewed at least once every year to keep ahead of any possible cholera outbreaks.
…

SpaceX catches Starship booster again, but upper stage explodes

WPScienLeave a comment

WASHINGTON — Hours after Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin nailed its first-ever orbital mission, SpaceX seized back the spotlight on Thursday as its latest test of Starship, its gargantuan next-generation mega rocket, ended with the upper stage dramatically disintegrating over the Atlantic.

In terms of sheer excitement, Elon Musk’s company didn’t disappoint, underscoring its technical prowess by catching the first stage booster in the “chopstick” arms of its launch tower for a second time.

But the triumph was short-lived when teams lost contact with the upper stage vehicle. SpaceX later confirmed it had undergone “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” the company’s euphemism for an explosion.

A taller, improved version of the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built blasted off from the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 4:37 p.m. (2237 GMT) for its seventh test.

The gleaming prototype rocket is key to Musk’s ambitions of colonizing Mars, while NASA hopes to use a modified version as a human lunar lander.

Around seven minutes after liftoff, the Super Heavy booster decelerated from supersonic speeds — generating sonic booms — before descending gracefully into the launch tower’s waiting arms, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The maneuver was first successfully executed in October, but not November, when Super Heavy made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead.

Soon after the latest booster catch, however, announcers on a live webcast confirmed the upper stage vehicle had been lost following a propulsion anomaly.

The FlightAware tracker showed several planes in the Atlantic altering course near the Turks and Caicos Islands, while users on X shared dramatic footage purportedly capturing the spaceship breaking apart in a fiery cascade during atmospheric reentry.

“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” Musk wrote on X, sharing one of the clips. He added the cause of the explosion appeared to be an “oxygen/fuel leak” and that the company would take corrective steps.

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson said the agency “briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling.”

Well wishes

Ahead of the SpaceX launch, Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket reached orbital space for the first time, marking a potential turning point in the commercial space race.

SpaceX has long dominated orbital launches with its Falcon 9 rocket, securing contracts from private companies, the Pentagon and NASA.

In contrast, Blue Origin had been limited to short hop suborbital flights with its smaller New Shepard rocket — but could now look to erode SpaceX’s market share.

Although the two tech titans have had a contentious past, Musk congratulated Bezos “on reaching orbit on the first attempt,” and Bezos returned the goodwill a few hours later.

“Good luck today @elonmusk and the whole spacex team!!” the Amazon founder wrote on X.

NASA’s outgoing chief Bill Nelson meanwhile offered his congratulations to SpaceX for the booster catch, adding: “Spaceflight is not easy.”

For this flight, SpaceX announced it had made numerous upgrades, and increased Starship’s size to 123 meters tall. New Glenn stands 98 meters tall.

While its Falcon rockets remain steadfast workhorses, SpaceX has made clear it sees Starship as its future.

The first three test flights ended in dramatic explosions, resulting in the loss of vehicles. However, SpaceX has rapidly iterated on its design, reflecting its “fail fast, learn fast” philosophy.

Musk is now aiming to drastically ramp up the frequency of tests, requesting permission from the FAA to carry out 25 in 2025, compared to just four in 2024.

The agency is holding public meetings on potential environmental and regulatory concerns, amid accusations that SpaceX has harmed ecologically sensitive areas and violated wastewater regulations.

But with Musk now part of Trump’s inner circle, the billionaire may find a smoother path under the incoming administration.

Meanwhile, Bezos and fellow tech mogul Mark Zuckerberg are set to attend the president-elect’s inauguration on Monday, signaling warming ties.
…

Chinese economic growth among slowest in decades

WPbizLeave a comment

BEIJING — China recorded one of its slowest rates of economic growth in decades last year, data showed Friday, as leaders nervously eye a potential trade standoff with incoming U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Beijing has in recent months announced its most aggressive support measures in years in a bid to reignite an economy that has suffered on multiple fronts, including a prolonged property market debt crisis and sluggish consumer spending.

But the economy grew 5% last year, official data from Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Friday, slightly above the 4.9% forecast in an AFP survey of analysts.

Still, the figure was lower than the 5.2% recorded in 2023.

The growth took place in the face of a “complicated and severe environment with increasing external pressures and internal difficulties,” the NBS said.

The economy was still facing “difficulties and challenges,” officials admitted.

Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer sentiment, rose 3.5% — a major slump from the 7.2% growth seen in 2023 — though industrial output increased 5.8%, from 4.6% the previous year.

However, the 5.4% jump in economic growth seen in the final four months far outpaced the 5% forecast in a Bloomberg survey and was much better than the same period in 2023.

The data provided “mixed messages,” Zhiwei Zhang, president of Pinpoint Asset Management, said.

Beijing’s recent policy shift had “helped the economy to stabilize in (the fourth quarter), but it requires large and persistent policy stimulus to boost economic momentum and sustain the recovery,” he said.

Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, said she expected growth to “continue accelerating in the coming months.”

“The government’s property support measures seem to be providing some relief, with the pace of house price falls slowing and new home sales showing some recovery,” she said.

Trouble ahead?

The GDP growth rate is the lowest recorded by China since 1990, excluding the financially tumultuous years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And the analysts surveyed by AFP estimated growth could fall to just 4.4% in 2025, and even drop below 4% the following year.

China has so far failed to rebound from the pandemic, with domestic spending mired in a slump and indebted local governments dragging on growth.

In a rare bright spot, official data showed earlier this week that exports reached a historic high last year.

But gathering storm clouds over the country’s massive trade surplus mean Beijing may not be able to count on overseas shipments to boost an otherwise lackluster economy.

Trump, who will begin his second term next week, has promised to unleash heavy sanctions on China.

“We still expect growth to slow for 2025 as a whole, with Trump likely to follow through on his tariff threats soon and persistent structural imbalances still weighing on the economy,” Huang said.

Beijing has introduced a series of measures in recent months to bolster the economy, including cutting key interest rates, easing local government debt and expanding subsidy programs for household goods.

Confidence ‘crisis’

Observers were closely watching Friday’s data release for signs those measures succeeded in reviving activity.

“With a package of incremental policies being timely rolled out … social confidence was effectively bolstered and the economy recovered remarkably,” the NBS said.

China’s central bank has indicated in recent weeks that 2025 will see it implement further rate cuts, part of a key shift characterized by a “moderately loose” monetary policy stance.

But analysts warn more efforts are needed to boost domestic consumption as the outlook for Chinese exports becomes more uncertain.

“Monetary policy support alone is unlikely to right the economy,” Harry Murphy Cruise of Moody’s Analytics told AFP.

“China is suffering from a crisis of confidence, not one of credit; families and firms do not have the confidence in the economy to warrant borrowing, regardless of how cheap it is to do so,” he wrote.

“To that end, fiscal supports are needed to grease the economy’s wheels.”

One component of Beijing’s newest policy toolbox is a subsidy scheme — now expanded to include more household items including rice cookers and microwave ovens — that it hopes will encourage spending.

But recent data shows that government efforts have not yet achieved a full rebound in consumer activity.

China narrowly avoided a slip into deflation in December, statistics authorities said last week, with prices rising at their slowest pace in nine months.

China emerged from a four-month period of deflation in February, a month after suffering the sharpest fall in prices for 14 years.

Deflation can pose a threat to the broader economy as consumers tend to postpone purchases under such conditions, hoping for further reductions. 
…

Trump team might step in to save TikTok from pending US ban

WPEntLeave a comment

With a pending law declaring the social media application TikTok illegal in the United States, set to take effect on Sunday, the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is signaling that it plans to try to find a way to prevent the service from going offline.

Under current law, the service’s parent company, China-based ByteDance, must either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese firm or see it banned in the U.S.

Representative Mike Waltz, who has been tapped to serve as Trump’s national security adviser, told Fox News on Thursday that the president-elect has options available to postpone enforcement of the law while a possible deal is worked out to sell the company. That includes a section of the law allowing the president to give ByteDance a 90-day extension to finalize a sale.

“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” Waltz said, “as long as a viable deal is on the table. Essentially that buys President Trump time to keep TikTok going.”

Executive action reportedly considered

Also on Wednesday, several media outlets reported that Trump is considering issuing an executive order that would protect TikTok.

The legality of such a move is unclear and is thrown further into doubt by the fact that the Supreme Court is poised to rule on a request by the company to overturn the law.

The high court heard arguments in the case last week and is expected to rule shortly. The outcome is not certain. However, in oral arguments, a majority of the justices appeared to favor upholding the law.

Trump’s attitude toward TikTok has evolved considerably over the years. During his first term in office, he attempted to shut the service down in the U.S. Since then, though, he has used the service, with considerable success, to connect with his supporters.

In a press conference in Florida last month, Trump said, “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” and credited the app with helping him get his message out to younger American voters.

Trump has denied that his change of heart about TikTok was influenced by a brief meeting in March with Republican megadonor and ByteDance investor Jeff Yass. Lobbying disclosure reports from 2024 show that ByteDance paid a former Trump campaign aide to lobby lawmakers in Washington in favor of TikTok, and that former senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway has been paid to advocate for TikTok in Congress via the Yass-funded conservative group Club for Growth.

Trump also said TikTok was not mentioned during his meeting with Yass.

Economic concerns

In the years since TikTok took off, thousands of U.S.-based content creators have developed large audiences on the app, and in many cases have been able to monetize their TikTok feeds.

Many small businesses have found success advertising their products to TikTok users. Other TikTok personalities have parlayed fame on the app into broader celebrity that has led to lucrative product endorsements and other deals.

Some members of Congress have expressed concern that abruptly shutting the app down could have economic consequences.

On Monday, Democratic Senator Edward Markey introduced legislation that would delay the TikTok ban by 270 days.

“Let me be clear: TikTok has its problems,” Markey said in a statement released by his office. “Like every social media platform, TikTok poses a serious risk to the privacy and mental health of our young people. I will continue to hold TikTok accountable for such behavior. But a TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen.”

Viability of sale unclear

As the Sunday deadline nears, there have been a number of rumors about a possible sale of the company. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Chinese officials were considering the possibility of selling the service to billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump adviser who already owns the social media service X, formerly Twitter.

Another U.S. billionaire, real estate developer Frank McCourt, told Reuters on Thursday that a consortium of investors he had formed has already made a formal offer to purchase TikTok, valuing the service at $20 billion.

However, it is far from clear that a sale is something the Chinese government is prepared to allow. Any sale worth the buyer’s investment would have to include the “recommendation engine,” TikTok’s name for the algorithm that makes the service so popular and, many would say, addictive.

Last year in a court filing, TikTok characterized such a deal as unavailable.

“Just as the United States restricts the export of U.S.-origin technologies (e.g., certain computer chips), the Chinese government regulates the transfer of technologies developed in China,” the company argued in a court filing. “The Chinese government has made clear in public statements that it would not permit a forced divestment of the recommendation engine.”

Privacy, national security worries

A wildly popular service for sharing short videos, TikTok has an estimated 170 million U.S. users. Federal officials have been concerned about TikTok for years because it collects vast amounts of information about its user base. They have argued that Chinese laws compelling domestic companies to cooperate with intelligence agencies could be used to force the company to share that data with the Chinese Communist Party.

U.S. officials have expressed concern that China could misuse the private information about U.S. users of the service. They have also warned that Beijing could use TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm to shape public discourse in the U.S. to the benefit of China.

In December, when a federal appeals court upheld the law mandating the company’s sale or shutdown, Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, one of the original sponsors of the law, released a statement expressing the thoughts of many of the law’s supporters.

“With today’s opinion, all three branches of government have reached the same conclusion: ByteDance is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance is a national security threat that cannot be mitigated through any other means than divestiture,” Krishnamoorthi said.

“Every day that TikTok remains under the Chinese Communist Party’s control is a day that our security is at risk,” Krishnamoorthi added.
…

US CDC recommends faster testing for bird flu in hospitalized patients

WPScienLeave a comment

People hospitalized for flu should be tested for bird flu within 24 hours, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday, in an expansion of the agency’s efforts to tackle increasing infections in humans. 

The advisory is intended to prevent delays in identifying human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses amid high levels of seasonal influenza. 

The risk to the general public from bird flu is low, and there has been no further evidence of person to person spread, the agency said. 

Still, influenza A-positive patients, particularly those in an intensive care unit, should be tested ideally within 24 hours of hospitalization to identify the viral subtype and determine whether they have bird flu, the agency said. 

Prior to Thursday’s guidance, hospitals generally sent batches of samples to labs for subtyping every few days. 

Faster testing also aims to help doctors identify how people became infected and provide their close contacts with testing and medicine more quickly, if needed, said Nirav Shah, the agency’s principal deputy director, on a call with reporters. 

The CDC does not believe it has been missing bird flu infections in people, Shah said. No surveillance system detects 100% of cases, he added later. 

“The system is working as it should,” said Shah, adding that health officials want results sooner in case any public health action is needed. “What we need is to shift to a system that tells us what’s happening in the moment.” 

Nearly 70 people in the United States, most of them farmworkers, have contracted bird flu since April, as the virus has circulated among poultry flocks and dairy herds. Three people have tested positive without a clear source of exposure to the virus, according to CDC. 

Most infections in humans have been mild, but one fatality was reported in Louisiana last week. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more than 300 personnel working on its bird flu response and has spent $1.5 billion on its efforts to curb the spread among poultry and dairy cattle, said Eric Deeble, a deputy undersecretary at the agency. 

The USDA last week said it would rebuild a bird flu vaccine stockpile for poultry. 

USDA officials have met several times with the transition team of the incoming Donald Trump administration to try to ensure a smooth handoff on agency actions to curb the spread of the virus, including a tabletop exercise at the White House on Wednesday, Deeble said. 

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, which encompasses CDC, also have repeatedly met with the transition team on Zoom calls and have shared their bird flu playbook, officials said on the press call.  

HHS said on Thursday it plans to put $211 million toward mRNA-based vaccine technology to better respond to emerging infectious diseases such as bird flu.  
…

WHO appeals for $1.5 billion to tackle ‘unprecedented’ global health crisis

WPScienLeave a comment

GENEVA — The World Health Organization appealed Thursday for $1.5 billion for emergency operations this year, warning that conflict, climate change, epidemics and displacement had converged to create an “unprecedented global health crisis.”

The U.N. health agency estimated that health crises would leave 305 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance this year.

“WHO is seeking $1.5 billion to support our lifesaving work for the emergencies we know about and to react swiftly to new crises,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he launched the appeal.

The agency’s emergency request, which was for the same amount as last year’s request, outlined the critical priorities and resources needed to address 42 ongoing health emergencies.

“Conflicts, outbreaks, climate-related disasters and other health emergencies are no longer isolated or occasional — they are relentless, overlapping and intensifying,” Tedros said in a statement.

He pointed to the emergency health assistance provided in conflict zones ranging from the occupied Palestinian territories to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan, as well as its work conducting vaccination campaigns, treating malnutrition and helping control outbreaks of diseases like cholera.

“Without adequate and sustainable funding, we face the impossible task of deciding who will receive care and who will not this year,” Tedros said at Thursday’s event.

“Your support helps to ensure that WHO remains a lifeline, bridging the gap between sickness and health, despair and hope, life and death for millions of people worldwide.”
…

Who will drive Trump’s AI and crypto policies?

WPEntLeave a comment

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he wants the United States to be the world leader in artificial intelligence and crypto currency. To that end, he has tapped a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor to be the AI and crypto czar. Michelle Quinn has the story.
…

US imposes export controls on biotech equipment over AI security concerns

WPEntLeave a comment

On Wednesday the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would implement new export controls on certain biotechnology equipment, citing national security concerns relating to artificial intelligence and data science.

The Commerce Department warned that China could use the biotech equipment’s technology to bolster its military capabilities and help design new weapons using artificial intelligence.

The department said the technology has many applications, including its ability to be used for “human performance enhancement, brain-machine interfaces, biologically inspired synthetic materials and possibly biological weapons.”

The sanctions effectively restrict shipments of the technology to countries without a U.S. license, such as China.

The controls apply to parameter flow cytometers and certain mass spectrometry equipment, which according to the Commerce Department, can “generate high-quality, high-content biological data, including that which is suitable for use to facilitate the development of AI and biological design tools.”

Last week, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing “firmly opposes any country’s development, possession or use of biological weapons.”

This latest move by the United States follows recent policy decisions that reflect Washington’s broad aim to limit Beijing’s access to U.S. technology and data.

Washington announced on Monday that it would tighten Beijing’s access to AI chip and technology exports by implementing new regulations that cap the number of chips that can be exported to certain countries, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

This month, the ban on popular Chinese-owned social media TikTok is planned to go into effect due to U.S. concerns over its potential to share sensitive data with China’s government.
…

Pakistan welcomes World Bank’s $20 billion lending pledge

WPbizLeave a comment

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan confirmed on Wednesday that the World Bank has pledged to lend $20 billion over the next decade, commencing in 2026 under its Country Partnership Framework, to help address the impoverished country’s acute development challenges.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif applauded what he described as the lender’s “first-ever” pledge of its kind, saying the program is intended to develop child nutrition, education, clean energy and climate resilience to boost private sector growth.

The Country Partnership Framework “reflects the World Bank’s confidence in Pakistan’s economic resilience and potential,” Sharif said on the social media platform X. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership as we align our efforts for creating lasting opportunities for our people.”

The cash-strapped South Asian nation has been struggling to tackle serious economic challenges for several years and is currently relying on a $7 billion bailout loan program from the International Monetary Fund. Persistent political instability in Pakistan, rising militant attacks, and devastating flooding in 2022 have further strained the troubled economy.

“Our new decadelong partnership framework for Pakistan represents a long-term anchor for our joint commitment with the government to address some of the most acute development challenges facing the country,” said World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine.

The U.S.-based lender stated that the country’s annual commitments under the partnership “are expected to remain in the $1.5 billion to $2 billion range” from 2026 onward. It added that the loans will depend on available funding and the fulfillment of project requirements.

“The pace of economic growth and structural transformation has been long stunted by distortive policies that benefit only a few, who have historically coalesced to oppose growth-oriented reforms as well as increases in progressive public spending in human capital and basic services for the poorest,” the World Bank partnership documented stated.

It added that Pakistan must change its current development model to reduce poverty and achieve shared prosperity on a livable planet.

“We are focused on prioritizing investment and advisory interventions that will help crowd in much-needed private investment in sectors critical for Pakistan’s sustainable growth and job creation,” said Zeeshan Sheikh, International Finance Corporation country manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan from power in 2022 and his subsequent imprisonment over contested corruption charges have plunged Pakistan into a political crisis that experts say is hampering government attempts to attract domestic and foreign investments.

The World Bank’s document highlights that the South Asian nation, home to over 240 million people, ranks among the top 10 countries most affected by climate change and natural disasters worldwide.

It noted that climate change will increasingly strain livelihoods, food security, productivity, and growth caused by rising extreme heat, air pollution, and altered water availability and precipitation.

“These risks can significantly compromise development in an already fiscally constrained environment and make sustained progress in poverty reduction and human development even more challenging than it is today,” the World Bank stated.
…

WHO says suspected outbreak of Marburg disease kills 8 in remote part of Tanzania 

WPScienLeave a comment

ARUSHA, Tanzania — The World Health Organization said Wednesday an outbreak of suspected Marburg disease has killed eight people in a remote part of northern Tanzania. 

“We are aware of 9 cases so far, including 8 people who have died,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “We would expect further cases in coming days as disease surveillance improves.” 

Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces, such as contaminated bed sheets. 

Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88% of people who fall ill with the disease. Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhea, vomiting and in some cases death from extreme blood loss. There is no authorized vaccine or treatment for Marburg. 

WHO said its risk assessment for the suspected outbreak in Tanzania is high at national and regional levels but low globally. There was no immediate comment from Tanzanian health authorities. 

An outbreak of Marburg in Rwanda, first reported on Sept. 27, was declared over on Dec. 20. Rwandan officials reported a total of 15 deaths and 66 cases, with the majority of those affected healthcare workers who handled the first patients. 

An outbreak in 2023 of Marburg in Kagera, which shares a border with Rwanda, killed at least five people. 

 
…

US, Japanese companies send landers on moon missions

WPEntLeave a comment

Two moon landers built by private U.S. and Japanese companies are on their way to the moon after lifting off early Wednesday on a shared ride aboard a SpaceX rocket.

The launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is the latest in a public-private program that put a spacecraft from Intuitive Machines on the moon last year.

Wednesday’s launch included a lander from Japanese space exploration company ispace that is carrying a rover with the capability of collecting lunar dirt and testing potential food and water sources on the moon.

The spacecraft is also carrying a small red “Moonhouse” built by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg.

The ispace mission is expected to reach its destination on the moon’s far north in four to five months.

The company is making its second attempt at a lunar landing, after a 2023 mission failed in the final stages. 

Also aboard the rocket heading toward the moon is a lander from U.S. company Firefly Aerospace that is set to carry out 10 experiments for NASA.

The planned experiments include gathering dirt and measuring subsurface temperatures.

The spacecraft is expected to arrive in about 45 days.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
…

Why did US exclude India from unrestricted access to AI chips?

WPEntLeave a comment

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden signed on Tuesday an executive order to boost development of artificial intelligence infrastructure in America. A day earlier, his administration announced sweeping measures to block access to the most advanced semiconductors by China and other adversaries.

But the U.S. left India, its strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific, off a list of 18 countries that are allowed unrestricted access to advanced AI chips. Analysts say while a growing technological relationship between the two countries would likely make India eligible in the future to access advanced U.S. AI chips, New Delhi’s existing ties with Moscow and the perception of a less robust technology regulatory framework led to its exclusion from the top list.

Exclusion not a surprise

The Commerce Department’s policy framework divides the world into three categories. The first tier includes the U.S. and 18 countries with unrestricted access, followed by a list of more than 100 countries that will be subjected to new caps on advanced semiconductors with individual exemptions. The third tier includes adversaries such as China and Russia that face maximum restrictions.

India falls in the second category, along with U.S. allies like Israel and close friends such as Singapore.

Bhaskar Chakravorti, the dean of global business at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said that India’s relationship with Russia “puts it outside a super safe category.”

India has had close ties with Russia since the Soviet Union supported its desire for independence from Britain. It maintained those ties during the Cold War, when the U.S. sided with India’s rival Pakistan.

Scott Jones, a non-resident fellow at Washington’s Stimson Center think tank, highlighted recent reports that accused a few Indian companies of aiding Russia’s war on Ukraine, but stressed that while being excluded is a disappointment, it’s “not a setback for India.”

He also pointed to the perception that “India’s ability to control and manage technology is perhaps not as robust as evidenced in some of the 18 countries.”

While India may be off the unrestricted list for now, analysts say its growing technological cooperation with the U.S. may shield it from some curbs.

Richard Rossow, senior adviser and chair on India and Emerging Asia Economies at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the presence of caveats in the new framework would ensure India’s later participation.

“The fact that they have announced that there will be a pathway for some countries to get exemptions that are above what they’re going to consider the standard cap, India, I imagine, would be on the short list of countries,” he told VOA.

In early January, national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to India and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior officials. During the trip, both sides reiterated their commitment to forge a “strategic technology partnership” and strengthen cooperation under the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), a bilateral mechanism focused on technology partnership.

On semiconductors, the U.S. is facilitating investments in India’s semiconductor manufacturing and intensifying R&D collaboration.

During his trip, Sullivan highlighted the investment of $2.7 billion in India by U.S. chipmaker Micron to create semiconductor packaging facilities, which he hoped would contribute to establishing “India as a new hub in the global chip ecosystem.”

The Indian government too is investing billions of dollars through its dedicated program called the India Semiconductor Mission and Production Linked Incentive scheme.

Rossow argued that the Indian government would not have been “terribly surprised” that “they were not included” in the list.

Jones of the Stimson Center agreed.

“Jake Sullivan was in New Delhi last week, and I would be very surprised if he did not inform his Indian counterparts of what was going to happen,” he said.

Ensuring America’s leadership in AI

The Biden administration has focused on the centrality of artificial intelligence to America’s security and economic strength. According to a White House factsheet, the latest steps are part of its effort to prevent offshoring this critical technology and ensure that “the world’s AI runs on American rails.”

Since October 2022, the U.S. government has enacted a series of export controls, blocking access of advanced semiconductors to China to prevent its use for military applications. While initially the measures adversely affected the Chinese semiconductor industry, Beijing has continued to advance its capabilities and is attempting to narrow the technology gap.

According to Chakravorti of the Fletcher School, there are numerous implementation challenges of this expansive global strategy.

“From lobbying from the U.S. chipmakers that will start as soon as Trump takes office to potential leaks in the carefully calibrated list of countries. Will there be a secondary market? How does this affect where future data centers are built?” he asked.

Jones of the Stimson Center argued that the policy is more a “symbolic gesture than a practical consideration” but has a stern message for the rest of the world.

“The U.S. is clearly saying, if you want to participate in the U.S.-sponsored AI ecosystem, you have to pick now. You pick China or you pick us. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t play one off against the other. You have to choose,” he concluded.
…

US finalizes rules banning Chinese, Russian smart cars

WPEntLeave a comment

The White House says it has finalized rules that crack down on Chinese and Russian automobile technology effectively banning all personal smart cars from the two countries from entering the U.S. market.

In a White House fact sheet detailing the decision, the Biden administration Tuesday said that while connected vehicles offer advantages, the involvement of foreign adversaries such as China and Russia in their supply chains presents serious risks granting “malign actors unfettered access to these connected systems and the data they collect.”

“The Department of Commerce has issued a final rule that will prohibit the sale and import of connected vehicle hardware and software systems, as well as completed connected vehicles, from the PRC and Russia,” the fact sheet said.

PRC is the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

Connected vehicles are smart cars that are designed to be convenient for consumers and provide safety for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians through the use of many connected parts such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, and satellite connectivity.

“Cars today aren’t just steel on wheels; they’re computers,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo when speaking on the rule.

“This is a targeted approach to ensure we keep PRC- and Russian-manufactured technologies off American roads,” said Raimondo.

The new rule is the “culmination of a year-long examination” of potential risks posed by connected vehicles and will “help the United States defend against the PRC’s cyber espionage and intrusion operations, which continue to pose a significant threat to U.S. critical infrastructure and public safety.”

The crackdown on cars follows Washington’s announcement earlier this month that the U.S. consider new rules aimed at addressing risks posed by drones that utilize technology from China and Russia.

The U.S. has repeatedly emphasized the need to balance technological progress with the protection of national security interests.
…

Trump says he will create an ‘External Revenue Service’ agency to collect tariff income

WPbizLeave a comment

Washington — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign nations.

“We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying,” Trump said Tuesday on his social media site, Truth Social. He compared his planned creation to the Internal Revenue Service, which is the nation’s domestic tax collector.

The creation of a new agency requires an act of Congress, and Republicans hold the majority of both the House and the Senate.

Trump, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to perform functions already handled by existing agencies, including the Commerce Department and the Customs and Border Patrol, which collect duties and revenues from other nations.

The president-elect has tapped two business titans to lead his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a nongovernmental task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, all part of what he calls his “Save America” agenda for a second term in the White House.

Billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are leading the DOGE’s ambitious efforts to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.

Tariffs, with the threat of a potential 25% levy on all goods from allies like Canada and Mexico and 60% on goods from China, have become a benchmark of Trump’s economic agenda as he heads into his second term.

Economists have said the cost of the tariffs will be passed on to consumers, and are generally skeptical of them, considering them a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money and promote prosperity.

Democratic lawmakers were quick to criticize the External Revenue Service plan.

“No amount of silly rebranding will hide the fact that Trump is planning a multi-trillion-dollar tax hike on American families and small businesses to pay for another round of tax handouts to the rich,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.
…

Despite international concerns, doctors say China flu-like virus is no COVID-19

WPScienLeave a comment

China says HMPV infections in the northern part of the country are declining. News of increased respiratory illnesses in China kindled international concerns about another potential pandemic. But, as VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, medical experts say HMPV is nothing like COVID-19. VOA Mandarin contributed to this report.
…

Biden issues executive order for building AI data centers on federal land 

WPbizLeave a comment

— U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order Tuesday directing the development of artificial intelligence data centers on six federal land sites, with a special focus on powering them with clean energy and upholding high labor standards. 

Biden said in a statement that the United States is the world leader in AI, but cannot take that lead for granted. 

“We will not let America be out-built when it comes to the technology that will define the future, nor should we sacrifice critical environmental standards and our shared efforts to protect clean air and clean water,” Biden said. 

The order calls for the Department of Defense and Department of Energy to each identify three suitable sites where private companies will lease the land, pay for the construction and operation of the data centers and ensure the supply of enough clean energy to fully power the sites. 

The developers will also have to buy “an appropriate share” of semiconductors produced in the United States to help ensure there is a “robust domestic semiconductor supply chain,” the White House said. 

In addition to identifying the sites, the federal government will also commit under the order to expedite the permitting process for the data center construction. 

Senior administration officials, in a phone call with journalists previewing the order, highlighted the national security need for the United States to have its own powerful AI infrastructure, both to protect it for its own use but also to prevent adversaries such as China from possessing those capabilities. 

“From the national security standpoint, it’s really critical to find a pathway for building the data centers and power infrastructure to support frontier AI operations here in the United States to ensure that the most powerful AI models continue to be trained and stored securely here in the United States,” an official said. 

A senior administration official cited the priority of making sure the AI industry had an anchor in the United States to avoid repeating the history of other technologies that moved offshore to areas with lower labor and environmental standards as well. 

AI chip restrictions 

Tuesday’s order comes a day after the Biden administration announced new restrictions on the export of the most advanced artificial intelligence chips and proprietary parameters used to govern the interactions of users with AI systems.    

The rule, which will undergo a 120-day period for public comments, comes in response to what administration officials described as a need to protect national security while also clarifying the rules under which companies in trusted partner countries could access the emerging technology in order to promote innovation.   

“Over the coming years, AI will become really ubiquitous in every business application in every industry around the world, with enormous potential for enhanced productivity and societal, health care and economic benefits,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters. “That being said, as AI becomes more powerful, the risks to our national security become even more intense.”   

A senior administration official said the new rule will not include any restrictions on chip sales to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom or the United States.   

The rules build on 2023 curbs limiting the export of certain AI chips to China, a strategic competitor in the production of advanced semiconductors. Beijing attacked the new U.S. AI edict as a “flagrant violation” of international trade rules.  

China’s Ministry of Commerce said the Biden administration announcement “is another example of the generalization of the concept of national security and the abuse of export control, and a flagrant violation of international multilateral economic and trade rules.”  

Beijing said it would “take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.” 

Countries that are under U.S. arms embargoes are already subject to export restrictions on advanced AI chips, but a senior administration official said they will now be under restrictions for the transfer of the most powerful closed weight AI models.    

The weights in an AI model determine how it processes the inputs from a user and determines what to provide the user as a response, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. In a closed weight system, those parameters are secret, unlike with an open weight system in which users could see the settings the model is using to make its decisions.    

Most countries — those not included in the closed partner or arms embargo lists — will not face licensing requirements for obtaining the equivalent of 1,700 of the most advanced AI chips currently available, nor for any less advanced chips.   

Companies in the United States and allied countries will not face restrictions in using the most powerful closed weight AI systems, provided they are stored under adequate security, a senior administration official said. 

 
…

UK’s antitrust regulator to investigate Google’s search services

WPEntLeave a comment

LONDON — Britain’s antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it would investigate Google’s search services using its new powers to see how they impact consumers and businesses, including advertisers, news publishers and rival search engines.

The Competition and Markets Authority, which has gained new powers to examine big tech, said search was vital for economic growth and it was critical that competition was working well.

“Millions of people and businesses relied on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90% of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there,” CMA boss Sarah Cardell said in a statement.

“It’s our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal.”

The CMA’s move comes after U.S. prosecutors in November argued to a judge that Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data, and search results with rivals, and take a range of other measures to end its monopoly on online search.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
…

Jeff Bezos’ space company tries to launch rocket after last-minute postponement

WPEntLeave a comment

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin will try again to launch its massive new rocket as early as Tuesday after calling off the debut launch because of ice buildup in critical plumbing.

The 98-meter New Glenn rocket was supposed to blast off before dawn Monday with a prototype satellite. But ice formed in a purge line for a unit powering some of the rocket’s hydraulic systems and launch controllers ran out of time to clear it, according to the company.

Founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin said Tuesday’s poor weather forecast could cause more delay. Thick clouds and stiff wind were expected at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The test flight already had been delayed by rough seas that posed a risk to the company’s plan to land the first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic.

New Glenn is named after the first American to orbit Earth, John Glenn. It is five times taller than Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that carries paying customers to the edge of space from Texas.

Bezos founded the company 25 years ago. He took part in Monday’s countdown from Mission Control, located at the rocket factory just outside the gates of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

No matter what happens, Bezos said this weekend, “We’re going to pick ourselves up and keep going.”
…

Elon Musk says third patient got Neuralink brain implant

WPScienLeave a comment

Elon Musk said a third person has received an implant from his brain-computer interface company Neuralink, one of many groups working to connect the nervous system to machines.

“We’ve got … three humans with Neuralinks and all are working well,” he said during a recent wide-ranging interview at a Las Vegas event streamed on his social media platform X.

Since the first brain implant about a year ago, Musk said the company has upgraded the devices with more electrodes, higher bandwidth and longer battery life. Musk also said Neuralink hopes to implant the experimental devices in 20 to 30 more people this year.

Musk didn’t provide any details about the latest patient, but there are updates on the previous ones.

The second recipient — who has a spinal cord injury and got the implant last summer — was playing video games with the help of the device and learning how to use computer-aided design software to create 3-D objects. The first patient, also paralyzed after a spinal cord injury, described how it helped him play video games and chess.

But while such developments at Neuralink often attract notice, many other companies and research groups are working on similar projects. Two studies last year in the New England Journal of Medicine described how brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, helped people with ALS communicate better.

Who’s working on brain-computer interface technology?

More than 45 trials involving brain-computer interfaces are underway, according to a U.S. database of studies. The efforts are aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain injuries and other uses.

Many research labs have already shown that humans can accurately control computer cursors using BCIs, said Rajesh Rao, co-director of the Center for Neurotechnology at the University of Washington.

Rao said Neuralink may be unique in two ways: The surgery to implant the device is the first time a robot has been used to implant flexible electrode threads into a human brain to record neural activity and control devices. And those threads may record from more neurons than other interfaces.

Still, he said, the advantages of Neuralink’s approach have yet to be shown, and some competitors have eclipsed the company in other ways. For example, Rao said companies such as Synchron, Blackrock Neurotech and Onward Medical are already conducting BCI trials on people “using either less invasive methods or more versatile approaches” that combine neural recording with stimulation.

What are the benefits of BCIs?

Marco Baptista, chief scientific officer of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, called BCI technology “very exciting” with potential benefits to people with paralysis.

Through clinical trials, “we’ll be able to see what’s going to be the winning approach,” he said. “It’s a little early to know.”

Baptista said his foundation generally tries to support research teams financially and with expert help – though it hasn’t given any money to Neuralink.

“We need to really support high-risk, high-reward endeavors. This is clearly high-risk, high-reward. We don’t know how safe it’s going to be. We don’t know how feasible it’s going to be,” he said.

How are BCIs tested and regulated?

Neuralink announced in 2023 that it had gotten permission from U.S. regulators to begin testing its device in people.

While most medical devices go on the market without clinical studies, high-risk ones that undergo pre-market approval need what’s called an “investigational device exemption” from the Food and Drug Administration, said Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies high-risk devices.

Neuralink says it has this exemption, but the FDA said it can’t confirm or disclose information about a particular study.

Redberg said the FDA tends to be involved in all steps from recruiting patients to testing devices to analyzing data. She said this regulatory process prioritizes safety.

She also pointed to another layer of protection: All research involving people needs an institutional review board, or IRB. It can also be known as an ethical review board or an independent ethics committee. Members must include at least one non-scientist as well as someone not affiliated with the institution or organization forming the board.

The role of such boards “is to assume there is reasonable risk and reasonable chance of benefit and that patients are informed of those before they enroll,” said Redberg.
…

China’s EV sales surge in 2024; foreign automakers struggle in shifting market

WPbizLeave a comment

A new industry report released Monday shows China made big strides last year toward an EV-driven future, as domestic sales of all types of electric vehicles rose by 40% in 2024. Sales of gasoline powered cars tumbled, including foreign imports.

In 2024, a total of 31.4 million total vehicles were sold in the world’s largest automobile market by sales, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That marked a 4.5% rise compared with the previous year.

Despite the uptick in sales, foreign automobile importers are increasingly finding it hard to compete with local brands in China who have been offering a wide variety of affordable EVs and intensified market competition.

One example is German luxury car maker Porsche, who closed several of its physical stores in China in 2024. Porsche sales in China were down 29% year on year which marked the third consecutive year of decline.

In addition to Porsche, luxury carmakers BMW, Mercedes, and Audi each saw a drop in their vehicle sales in China in 2024 with BMW sales falling 13.4%, Mercedes sales by 7%, and Audi sales by 11%. 

Tai Chih-yen, an associate researcher at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research in Taipei told VOA’s Mandarin service that a sense of patriotism and support for national brands has created additional pressures that have contributed to the struggles international automakers are facing. 

“Higher-end consumers have started to abandon foreign brands and are turning to comparatively better priced high-end domestic cars,” Tai told VOA. “This is not a so-called consumption downgrade, but more a reflection of the current situation, where many are choosing to be more discreet [in the kinds of cars they drive] and show their patriotism by driving domestic luxury brands.”

The industry report also noted that sales of traditional gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles in China sank 17% in 2024, from 14 million to 11.6 million, a slide that coincides with Beijing’s focus on transitioning to electric vehicles.

At the same time, Chinese vehicle exports were up 19.3% in 2024, according to the report. However, export growth is expected to cool with the report estimating only a 5.8% increase in 2025.

China faced a backlash in 2024 as it moved to expand EV sales overseas, with the U.S., Canada and EU unveiling steep tariffs to stop a flood of cheap electric vehicles into their markets. The U.S., Canada and EU have raised concerns about subsidies that the Chinese government provides EV makers that allows them to sell their cars for lower prices.

They have also voiced concerned that China has too much production of EVs and that cars are being dumped into foreign markets, allegations that Beijing has repeatedly denied. 

China argues that its EV subsidies are similar to those of other countries and that sales of electric vehicles help with climate change. China has filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization over the EU’s tariff decision.

Michael Baturin and VOA Mandarin Service reporter Nai-chuan Lin contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters. 
…