No need for one country to control chip industry, Taiwan official says

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — There is no need for one country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex and needs a division of labor, Taiwan’s top technology official said on Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the island’s chip dominance.

Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the industry and he wanted it back in the United States, saying he aimed to restore U.S. chip manufacturing.

Wu Cheng-wen, head of Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council, did not name Trump in a Facebook post but referred to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s comments on Friday that the island would be a reliable partner in the democratic supply chain of the global semiconductor industry.

Wu wrote that Taiwan has in recent years often been asked how its semiconductor industry had become an internationally acclaimed benchmark.

“How did we achieve this? Obviously, we did not gain this for no reason from other countries,” he said, recounting how the government developed the sector from the 1970s, including helping found TSMC, now the world’s largest contract chipmaker, in 1987.

“This shows that Taiwan has invested half a century of hard work to achieve today’s success, and it certainly wasn’t something taken easily from other countries.”

Each country has its own specialty for chips, from Japan making chemicals and equipment to the United States, which is “second to none” on the design and application of innovative systems, Wu said.

“The semiconductor industry is highly complex and requires precise specialization and division of labor. Given that each country has its own unique industrial strengths, there is no need for a single nation to fully control or monopolize all technologies globally.”

Taiwan is willing to be used as a base to assist “friendly democratic countries” in playing their appropriate roles in the semiconductor supply chain, Wu said.

Why US regulators are banning Red Dye Number 3 from American food

U.S. health officials have banned Red Dye No. 3 from American foods, decades after the synthetic coloring was banned in Europe. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, studies have linked the bright red color additive to cancer in male laboratory rats.

Taiwan pledges chip talks and investment in bid to ease Trump’s concerns 

TAIPEI — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te pledged on Friday to talk with the United States about President Donald Trump’s concerns over the chip industry and to increase U.S. investment and buy more from the country, while also spending more on defense.

Trump spoke critically about Taiwan on Thursday, saying he aimed to restore U.S. manufacturing of semiconductor chips and repeating claims about Taiwan having taken away the industry he wanted back in the United States.

Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting of the National Security Council at the presidential office, Lai said that the global semiconductor supply chain is an ecosystem in which the division of work among various countries is important.

“We of course are aware of President Trump’s concerns,” Lai said.

“Taiwan’s government will communicate and discuss with the semiconductor industry and come up with good strategies. Then we will come up with good proposals and engage in further discussions with the United States,” he added.

Democratic countries including the United States should come together to build a global alliance for AI chips and a “democratic supply chain” for advanced chips, Lai said.

“While admittedly we have the advantage in semiconductors, we also see it as Taiwan’s responsibility to contribute to the prosperity of the international community.”

Taiwan is home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, TSMC, a major supplier to companies including Apple and Nvidia, and a crucial part of the developing AI industry.

TSMC is investing $65 billion in new factories in the U.S. state of Arizona, a project begun in 2020 under Trump’s first administration.

TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares closed down 2.8% on Friday, underperforming the broader market, which ended off 1.1%.

A senior Taiwan security official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely, said if TSMC judged it was feasible to increase its U.S. investment, Taiwan’s government would help in talks with the United States.

TSMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The official added that communications between Taiwan and U.S. economic, security and defense officials at present was “quite good” and “strong support from the United States can be felt”.

US support

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but is the democratically governed island’s most important international backer and arms supplier.

Trump cheered Taiwan last week after a joint U.S.-Japan statement following Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s visit to Washington called for “maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and voiced support for “Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.”

But Taiwan also runs a large trade surplus with the United States, which surged 83% last year, with the island’s exports to the U.S. hitting a record $111.4 billion, driven by demand for high-tech products such as semiconductors.

Lai said that the United States is Taiwan’s largest foreign investment destination, and that Taiwan is the United States’ most reliable trade partner.

Trump has also previously criticized Taiwan, which faces a growing military threat from China, for not spending enough on defense, a criticism he has made of many U.S. allies.

“Taiwan must demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves,” Lai said, adding his government is working to propose a special budget this year to boost defense spending from 2.5% of its GDP to 3%.

His government is involved in a standoff with parliament, where opposition parties hold a majority, over cuts to the budget, including defense spending.

“Certainly, more and more friends and allies have expressed concern to us, worried whether Taiwan’s determination for its self-defense has weakened,” Lai said.

 

Federal judge pauses Trump order restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth

BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19.

The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit was filed earlier this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their health care has been compromised by the president’s order. A national group for family of LGBTQ+ people and a doctors organization are also plaintiffs in the court challenge, one of many lawsuits opposing one of the many executive orders Trump has issued.

Judge Brendan Hurson, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order following a hearing in federal court in Baltimore. The ruling, in effect for 14 days, essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. The restraining order could also be extended.

Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an executive order directing federally run insurance programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care. That includes Medicaid, which covers such services in some states, and TRICARE for military families. Trump’s order also called on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.

The lawsuit includes several accounts from families of appointments being canceled as medical institutions react to the new directive.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue Trump’s executive order is “unlawful and unconstitutional” because it seeks to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and because it violates anti-discrimination laws while infringing on the rights of parents.

Like legal challenges to state bans on gender-affirming care, the lawsuit also alleges the policy is discriminatory because it allows federal funds to cover the same treatments when they’re not used for gender transition.

Some hospitals immediately paused gender-affirming care, including prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormone therapy, while they assess how the order affects them.

Trump’s approach on the issue represents an abrupt change from the Biden administration, which sought to explicitly extend civil rights protections to transgender people. Trump has used strong language in opposing gender-affirming care, asserting falsely that “medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex.”

Major medical groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support access to gender-affirming care.

Young people who persistently identify as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth are first evaluated by a team of professionals. Some may try a social transition, involving changing a hairstyle or pronouns. Some may later also receive puberty blockers or hormones. Surgery is extremely rare for minors.

Google drops pledge against AI for weapons, surveillance

Technology company Google recently broke with its long-standing policy against developing AI weapons. VOA’s Matt Dibble has more from Silicon Valley.

Some veterinarians didn’t know they had bird flu, study suggests

NEW YORK — A new study shows that bird flu has silently spread from animals to some veterinarians.

The study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoes two smaller ones that detected evidence of infection in previously undiagnosed farmworkers. In those studies, several of the infected workers remembered having symptoms of H5N1 bird flu, while none of the veterinarians in the new paper recalled any such symptoms.

The new study is more evidence that the official U.S. tally of confirmed human bird flu infections — 68 in the last year — is likely a significant undercount, said Dr. Gregory Gray, an infectious-disease researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

“This means that people are being infected, likely due to their occupational exposures, and not developing signs of illness and therefore not seeking medical care,” Gray said.

He said it shows that officials cannot fully understand bird flu transmission by only tracking people who go to medical clinics with symptoms.

Evidence of antibodies

CDC researchers went to an American Association of Bovine Practitioners veterinary conference in September 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. They recruited 150 vets from 46 states to fill out a questionnaire and agree to have their blood drawn. None said they had suffered red eyes or other symptoms associated with bird flu.

Testing found three of the vets, or 2%, had evidence of antibodies to H5N1 infection. All three worked with dairy cattle, as well as other animals. None had worked with a herd known to be infected, although one had worked with a flock of infected poultry.

Gray and some colleagues did a study last year of 14 dairy farmworkers and found that two, or 14%, had evidence of past infections. Both had experienced symptoms but were never diagnosed.

Another study published last year by the CDC checked 115 dairy workers. The researchers found that eight of them, or 7%, had evidence in their blood of recent infection. Half recalled feeling ill.

The studies were far too small to use as a basis to provide a solid estimate of how many undiagnosed human infections are out there, Gray said. But even just a very small percentage could translate to hundreds or thousands of Americans who were infected while working with animals, he noted.

That’s not necessarily a reason to be alarmed, said Jacqueline Nolting, an Ohio State University researcher who helped CDC with the latest study.

Available studies suggest people who are infected mount antibody responses and may develop natural immunity, which is “good news,” she said.

However, if the virus changes or mutates to start making people very sick, or to start spreading easily from person to person, that would be “a completely different story,” Nolting said.

Caution around sick birds 

The H5N1 bird flu has been spreading widely among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals. Its escalating presence in the environment increases the chances people will be exposed and potentially catch it, officials have said.

Right now, the risk to the public is low, the CDC says. But officials continue to urge people who have contact with sick or dead birds to take precautions, including wearing respiratory and eye protection and gloves when handling poultry.

“No one’s really questioning that the virus has been moving around the country more than has been reported,” said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. 

He said he expected to see stepped-up information reminding veterinarians across the country to protect themselves with gloves, masks and other equipment to halt infection.

Global AI race is on, world leaders say at Paris summit

At this week’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, world leaders and technologists gathered to discuss the rapidly evolving field of generative artificial intelligence. Many are eager to join the global AI race, while others are proceeding with caution. Tina Trinh reports.

Senate confirms Kennedy for top US health post after close vote

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programs for roughly half the country.

Republicans fell in line behind Trump despite hesitancy over Kennedy’s views on vaccines, voting 52-48 to elevate the scion of one of America’s most storied political — and Democratic — families to secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, was the only “no” vote among Republicans, mirroring his stands against Trump’s picks for the Pentagon chief and director of national intelligence. All Democrats opposed Kennedy.

The GOP has largely embraced Kennedy’s vision to “Make America Healthy Again” by directing the public health agencies to focus on chronic diseases such as obesity.

Kennedy, 71, whose name and family tragedies have put him in the national spotlight since he was a child, has earned a formidable following with his populist and sometimes extreme views on food, chemicals and vaccines.

His audience only grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Kennedy devoted much of his time to a nonprofit that sued vaccine makers and harnessed social media campaigns to erode trust in vaccines as well as the government agencies that promote them.

With Trump’s backing, Kennedy insisted he was “uniquely positioned” to revive trust in those public health agencies, which include the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes for Health.

Last week, Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, said he hoped Kennedy “goes wild” in reining in health care costs and improving Americans’ health. But before agreeing to support Kennedy, potential holdout Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican a doctor who leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, required assurances that Kennedy would not make changes to existing vaccine recommendations.

During Senate hearings, Democrats tried to prod Kennedy to deny a long-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. Some lawmakers also raised alarms about Kennedy financially benefiting from changing vaccine guidelines or weakening federal lawsuit protections against vaccine makers.

Kennedy made more than $850,000 last year from an arrangement referring clients to a law firm that has sued the makers of Gardasil, a human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. If confirmed as health secretary, he promised to reroute fees collected from the arrangement to his son.

Kennedy will take over the agency amid a massive federal government shakeup, led by billionaire Elon Musk, that has shut off — even if temporarily — billions of taxpayer dollars in public health funding and left thousands of federal workers unsure about their jobs.

On Friday, the NIH announced it would cap billions of dollars for medical research given to universities and hospitals to develop treatments for diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Kennedy, too, has called for a staffing overhaul at the NIH, FDA and CDC. Last year, he promised to fire 600 employees at the NIH, the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research.

China’s fuel demand may have passed its peak, IEA says

London — China’s demand for road and air transport fuels may have passed its peak, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday, citing data showing that the country’s consumption of gasoline, gasoil and jet fuel declined marginally in 2024. 

Combined consumption of the three fuels in China last year was at 8.1 million barrels per day (bpd), which was 200,000 bpd lower than in 2021 and only narrowly above 2019 levels, the IEA said in a monthly report. 

“This strongly suggests that fuel use in the country has already reached a plateau and may even have passed its peak,” it said. 

After decades of leading global oil demand growth, China’s contribution is sputtering as it faces economic challenges as well as making a shift to electric vehicles (EVs). 

The decline in China’s fuel demand is likely to accelerate over the medium term, which would be enough to generate a plateau in total China oil demand this decade, according to the Paris-based IEA. 

“This remarkable slowdown in consumption growth has been achieved by a combination of structural changes in China’s economy and the rapid deployment of alternative transportation technologies,” the IEA said. 

A slump in China’s construction sector and weaker consumer spending reduced fuel demand in the country, it said, adding that uptake of EVs also weighed.  

New EVs currently account for half of car sales and undercut around 250,000-300,000 bpd of oil demand growth in 2024, while use of compressed and liquified natural gas in road freight displaced around 150,000 bpd, it said. 

Chinese apps face scrutiny in US but users keep scrolling 

Seoul — As a high school junior in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, Daneel Kutsenko never gave much thought to China.

Last month, though, as the U.S. government prepared to ban TikTok – citing national security concerns about its Chinese ownership – Kutsenko downloaded RedNote, another Chinese video-sharing app, which he felt gave him a new perspective on China.

“It just seems like people who live their life and have fun,” Kutsenko told VOA of RedNote, which reportedly attracted hundreds of thousands of U.S. users in the leadup to the now-paused TikTok ban.

Kutsenko’s move is part of a larger trend. Even as U.S. policymakers grow louder in their warnings about Chinese-owned apps, they have become a central part of American life.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, boasts 170 million U.S. users. China’s AI chatbot DeepSeek surged to the top of Apple’s App Store rankings, including those in the United States, for several days after its release last month.

Another major shift has come in online shopping, where Americans are flocking to digital Chinese marketplaces such as Temu and Shein in search of ultra-low prices on clothes, home goods, and other items.

According to a 2024 survey by Omnisend, an e-commerce marketing company, 70% of Americans shopped on Chinese platforms during the past year, with 20% doing so at least once a week.

Multifaceted threat

U.S. officials warn that Chinese apps pose a broad range of threats – whether to national security, privacy, human rights, or the economy.

TikTok has been the biggest target. Members of Congress attempting to ban the app cited concerns that China’s government could use TikTok as an intelligence-gathering tool or manipulate its algorithms to push narratives favorable to Beijing.

Meanwhile, Chinese commerce apps face scrutiny for their rock-bottom prices, which raise concerns about ethical sourcing and potential links to forced labor, Sari Arho Havrén, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based research organization, said in an email conversation with VOA.

“It raises questions of how sustainably these products are made,” Havrén, who focuses on China’s foreign policy and great power competition, said. Moreover, he said, “the pricing simply kills local manufacturers and businesses.”

Many U.S. policymakers also warn Chinese apps pose greater privacy risks, since Chinese law requires companies to share data with the government on request.

‘Curiosity and defiance’

Still, a growing number of Americans appear unfazed. Many young people in particular seem to shrug off the privacy concerns, arguing that their personal data is already widely exposed.

“They could get all the data they want. And anyway, I’m 16 – what are they going to find? Oh my gosh, he goes to school? There’s not much,” Kutsenko said.

Ivy Yang, an expert on U.S.-China digital interaction, told VOA many young Americans also find it unlikely that they would ever be caught up in a Chinese national security investigation.

“What they’re chasing is a dopamine peak. They’re not thinking about whether or not the dance videos or the cat tax pictures they swipe on RedNote are going to be a national security threat,” Yang, who founded the New York-based consulting company Wavelet Strategy, said.

Yang said the TikTok ban backlash and surge in RedNote downloads may reflect a shift in how young Americans see China – not just as a geopolitical rival, but as a source of apps they use in daily life.

She also attributes their skepticism to a broader cultural mindset – one shaped by a mix of curiosity, defiance, and a growing distrust of institutions, including conventional media.

Jeremy Goldkorn, a longtime analyst of U.S.-China digital trends and an editorial fellow at the online magazine ChinaFile, said growing disillusionment with America’s political turmoil and economic uncertainty has intensified these shifts.

“It makes it much more difficult for, particularly, young people to get worked up about what China’s doing when they feel so horrified about their own country,” Goldkorn said during a recent episode of the Sinica podcast, which focuses on current affairs in China.

Polling reflects this divide. A 2024 Pew survey found 81% of Americans view China unfavorably, but younger adults are less critical – only 27% of those under 30 have strongly negative views, compared to 61% of those 65 and older.

Digital barrier

While Chinese apps are expanding in the United States, in many ways the digital divide remains as impenetrable as ever.

China blocks nearly all major Western platforms and tightly controls its own apps, while the U.S. weighs new restrictions on Chinese tech.

Though President Donald Trump paused the TikTok ban, his administration has signaled broader efforts to curb China’s tech influence.

Trump officials have hinted they could take steps to regulate DeepSeek, the Chinese digital chatbot.

The Trump administration also recently signaled it intends to close a trade loophole that lets Chinese retailers bypass import duties and customs checks.

Broader challenges

Even as Washington debates how to handle the rise of Chinese apps, some analysts say the conversation risks obscuring the deeper issue of the broader role of social media itself.

Rogier Creemers, a specialist in digital governance at Leiden University, told VOA that while Chinese apps may raise valid concerns for Western countries, they are just one part of a larger, unaddressed problem.

“There’s a whole range of social ills that emerge from these social media that I think are far more important than anything the Chinese Communist Party could do,” he said, pointing to issues like digital addiction, declining attention spans, and the way social media amplifies misinformation and political unseriousness.

“And that would apply whether these apps are Chinese-owned or American-owned or Tajikistani-owned, as far as I’m concerned,” he added.

The United States, Creemer said, has taken a more hands-off approach to regulating online platforms, in part due to strong free speech protections and pushback by the tech industry.

Apps or influence?

For millions of Americans, the bigger debates about China and digital influence barely register when they open TikTok.

Kutsenko said neither he nor his friends have strong opinions about U.S.-China tensions. They just wanted an alternative to TikTok – one that felt fun, familiar, and easy to use.

It’s a sign that while policymakers see Chinese apps as part of a growing tech rivalry, for many Americans they’re just another way to scroll, shop, and stay entertained, no matter where they come from.

Trump pushes for lower interest rates alongside reciprocal tariffs

WASHINGTON — As his trade advisers finalized plans to enact reciprocal measures on every country that charges duties on U.S. imports, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he will push for lower interest rates alongside his tariff policies.

“Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!! Lets Rock and Roll, America!!!” Trump said on social media Wednesday morning.

To maintain the Federal Reserves’ autonomy from politics, U.S. presidents traditionally avoid even the appearance of meddling in monetary policy and the nation’s interest rates, which is the purview of the central bank.

Trump, however, has not shied from the practice. In a videoconference address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Trump said he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately.”

“I know interest rates much better than they do,” he said of Fed officials. He has ramped up his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed in 2017 for a term that ends in 2026.

Trump’s push to lower interest rates is intended to go hand in hand with punitive measures on trading partners.

The president said Wednesday afternoon that he would approve reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday or Thursday.

“We’re going to be doing reciprocal tariffs,” he said. “Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them.”

Reciprocal tariffs are “absolutely a high priority for the president,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters Wednesday, promising “a lot more action on it today.”

Hassett said the White House has begun negotiations with other countries early to lay the groundwork for imposing such tariffs, although he acknowledged the details about which sectors or how they will be implemented is a “work in progress.”

Under World Trade Organization rules, member countries have the right to impose tariffs on imports. Countries negotiate those rates at the WTO to determine the maximum tariff rate a member country can impose on imports from other member countries.

Inflation, looming trade war

U.S. inflation rose to 3% in January, according to government data released Wednesday. Last month, the annual pace was 2.9%.

Trump campaigned on lowering high consumer prices he blamed on his predecessor, Joe Biden. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt again attributed the increase to the previous administration.

“This is an indictment on the Biden administration’s mismanagement of the inflation crisis and their lack of transparency,” she said during her briefing Wednesday.

Trump wants to lower interest rates and inflation, she said. “He believes that the whole of government economic approach that this administration is taking will result in lower inflation.”

However, some economists warn that combining high tariffs and low interest rates will have the opposite effect.

Trump’s plan reflects a “misunderstanding of how the economy works,” said Joseph Gagnon, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“Tariffs raise prices directly, that is inflationary, but also cutting interest rates is inflationary if you do it excessively,” he told VOA. “Especially with today’s data, cutting interest rates would not be a good idea.”

During testimony Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said the Fed was in no rush to cut interest rates because the economy had stabilized. He noted that inflation, while still above the Fed’s 2% target, was at 2.6% last year, and he said the labor market was cooling without plummeting, with the unemployment rate at 4%.

Gagnon also warned of a looming trade war. Trump already had announced Monday his decision to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports beginning March 12.

The duties will hit top U.S. steel supplier Canada, followed by Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Germany. Additionally, Canada is the leader in aluminum exports to the American market.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday the move “will not go unanswered,” saying it will trigger tough countermeasures from the 27-nation bloc, potentially targeting iconic American industries such as bourbon, jeans and motorcycles. EU trade ministers are meeting Wednesday to determine their next moves.

China, Mexico and Canada

Last week, Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods, which the White House said was aimed at halting the flow of fentanyl opioids and their precursor chemicals.

On Monday China began slapping retaliatory actions on some American goods, including 15% duties on coal and natural gas imports and 10% on petroleum, agricultural equipment, high-emission vehicles and pickup trucks. The country also immediately implemented restrictions on the export of certain critical minerals, and it launched an antitrust investigation into American tech giant Google.

Trump delayed enacting a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada for a month — until March 4 — to allow negotiations over his demands for the U.S. neighbors to secure their borders and stop the flow of the illegal drug fentanyl.

The duties could affect about $1.323 trillion in trade imports that come from China, Mexico and Canada, according to U.S. government data. This accounts for 43% of U.S. imports and 5% of the $27 trillion U.S. gross domestic product.

If enacted, the new import taxes on Canada, Mexico and China will increase the average tariff rate from its current level of 3% to 10.7% based on contemporary trade patterns, said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at financial advisory firm RSM.

“Should the trade skirmishes escalate to include the European Union and turn into an all-out trade war, expect U.S. economic growth to ease back to 2% as the tariffs drag down growth and employment, stoke inflation and widen the current account deficit, all amid higher interest rates,” he wrote on RSM’s Real Economy Blog.

VOA’s Celia Mendoza contributed to this report.

Zimbabwe to pay displaced, foreign white farmers

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Zimbabwe’s government said Wednesday it will compensate foreign investors who lost assets in the country’s controversial land reforms in the early 2000s but were protected by bilateral investment protection agreements.

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in a statement the government will pay 94 former farmers from countries such as Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia.

The farmers are covered under Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements, or BIPPAs, that Zimbabwe signed with the farmers’ countries.

Ncube said $20 million is being paid out of the 2024 budget and another $20 million would come from the 2025 budget.

“This is a very important issue for our arrears clearance and debt resolution process for Zimbabwe, because some of the countries for which we want support, their farmers, their investors, into Zimbabwe were affected by the land reform program in the early 2000s,” Ncube said. “But we’re only targeting those countries where the BIPPAs were ratified properly.”

The aim, he said, is to have cleared the entire $146 million liability for BIPPA farmers by the end of 2028.

“We believe that this is very important for building trust, for honoring our commitments,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s government is aiming to rebuild its financial reputation after requesting debt relief and restructuring from international financial institutions and other countries in 2022.

According to the African Development Bank, Zimbabwe’s total foreign debt is $21 billion — including interest — which it has been failing to service for years.

However, Eddie Mahembe, an independent economist based in Harare, says resettled farmers, not the government, should pay the $146 million, to prevent increasing the country’s debt.

“Why is the government paying for the farms which were allocated to individuals?” Mahembe said. “They are farming. Some are doing tobacco. They’ve been selling their tobacco over the years, and we are seeing … that there is now a move toward giving them title deals. Why is the government assuming that debt?”

Others are concerned that Harare is paying only former farmers of foreign origin. Displaced white Zimbabwean farmers want to be compensated as well, as per a 2020 agreement.

That agreement called for Harare to pay $3.5 billion to the farmers driven off their land under a program backed by then-President Robert Mugabe starting in 2000.

Trevor Gifford, former head of Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers Union, said, “Twenty-five years from the start of land reform in Zimbabwe, the majority of displaced title deed holders remain destitute due to the nonpayment of compensation. The government failed to honor its commitment on paying [on time] under the global compensation agreement, which is now expired.”

He said the government’s move to give title deeds to the farmers who took over the land will create confusion and keep away foreign investors.

“The issuing of title deeds on top of existing title deeds, which have still not been paid for in terms of the international norms for land reform, is reckless and does not create any confidence for prospective investments in Zimbabwe,” Gifford said.

Graham Rae was displaced from his farm about 100 kilometers east of Harare and is now farming in neighboring Zambia. He said that until he is compensated, he will not surrender title deeds to the land for which he was dispossessed.

“You can’t steal a car and then sell it to me and think you’ve washed your hands and now it’s a legal car,” Rae said. “It’s still illegal and by the mere fact that I’m buying a stolen car from you, I’m complicit in the theft, so there are going to be lots of problems. I find that fraudulent, I just find that very sad that Zimbabwe has regressed into a basket case where there’s no rule of law, and that the rule really is at the barrel of a gun — if you don’t agree, you disappear.”

For now, the Zimbabwe government says it will issue titles to the resettled farmers so that they can use them to borrow money for capitalization of their businesses.

New York health department confirms first case of new mpox strain

The New York State Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed its first case of the new mpox strain, adding to the global concerns over the spread of the little-known variant.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were three confirmed cases in the country — in California, Georgia and New Hampshire — caused by the clade Ib strain. The agency said the three cases were not linked.

The World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years in August, following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighboring countries.

The New York State Department of Health declined to provide further information on the case.

Vance stakes claim to US leadership in AI

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday vowed that the United States would maintain its leadership position in the development of advanced artificial intelligence and warned leaders of other countries not to adopt regulatory standards that might “kill” the new technology “just as it’s taking off.” 

“The United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep it that way,” Vance told an audience of world leaders at an AI summit in Paris. He said the administration of President Donald Trump “will ensure that the most powerful AI systems are built in the U.S. with American-designed and manufactured chips.” 

Vance said that the U.S. is open to collaboration with its allies. “But,” he said, “to create that kind of trust, we need international regulatory regimes that foster the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it, and we need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation.” 

Regulations criticized 

The vice president criticized the European Union’s regulatory structure, in particular the privacy-focused General Data Protection Regulation and the misinformation-focused Digital Services Act, and he said the Trump administration will not accept foreign governments “tightening the screws on U.S. tech companies with international footprints.” 

Vance also appeared to criticize the effort in Europe to replace power generated by burning fossil fuels with more sustainable sources, saying that countries are “chasing reliable power out of their nations” at a time when AI systems demand ever-greater access to electricity. 

“The AI future is not going to be won by handwringing about safety,” Vance said. “It will be won by building — from reliable power plants to the manufacturing facilities that can produce the chips of the future.” 

While dozens of countries in attendance at the summit signed a joint declaration on “building trustworthy data governance frameworks to encourage development of innovative and privacy-protective AI,” the U.S. and U.K. did not. 

More calls for reduced regulation 

Although not as dismissive of regulations and safety concerns as Vice President Vance, other leaders at the summit appeared to agree that the regulatory burden on companies in the AI field should be lightened. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, the summit’s host, said that while safety concerns are important, Europe also needs to make it easier for AI firms there to move quickly and innovate at the same pace as other countries. 

“At the national and European scale, it is very clear that we have to resynchronize with the rest of the world,” Macron said. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended the bloc’s privacy regulations and other standards, pointing out that they are meant to help businesses by creating rules that apply uniformly across all 27 member countries. 

“At the same time, I know that we have to make it easier, and we have to cut red tape — and we will,” von der Leyen said. 

Veiled China comments 

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, who also attended the summit, said Beijing is prepared to work with other countries to develop AI technology, and it is willing to share its discoveries in the field with the aim of creating “a community with a shared future for mankind.” 

In his remarks on Tuesday, Vance did not mention China by name but appeared to warn other nations against engaging in the kind of collaboration that Zhang described. 

Vance spoke of “hostile foreign adversaries” that “have weaponized AI software to rewrite history, surveil users and censor speech” and authoritarian regimes that have “stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities to capture foreign data and create propaganda to undermine other nations national security.” 

Partnering with authoritarian regimes, Vance said, “means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure.” 

The remarks came at a time when the U.S. is taking wide-ranging action to prevent China from gaining access to the most cutting-edge AI technologies. Recent news reports revealing that a seemingly innovative Chinese AI chatbot known as DeepSeek has been collecting user data and storing it on insecure servers in China has led several nations to restrict access to the service. 

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gou Jiakun said in a press conference: “We take the safety and security of AI seriously, and support entrepreneurial innovation by Chinese companies, thus contributing China’s part to global AI development.” 

“We have helped developing countries enhance capacity building, advocating that AI technologies should be open-sourced and there should be greater accessibility to AI services so that the benefits of AI can be shared by all countries. That said, we are against drawing lines along ideological difference, overstretching the concept of national security, or politicizing trade and tech issues,” Gou said.  

Tech researchers concerned 

Vance’s remarks about excessive AI safety concerns were in sync with actions taken so far by the Trump administration. On the day he took office, President Trump rescinded an executive order signed by his predecessor entitled, “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” 

Following Vance’s remarks Tuesday, U.S.-based artificial intelligence researchers warned that a world in which the U.S. declines to require companies to adopt AI safety precautions could make collaboration with colleagues in countries with stronger protections difficult. 

“In order to build effective AI, you have to source data globally, so you have more accurate, complete and representative data sets,” Susan Ariel Aaronson told VOA. She is a professor at George Washington University and co-leader of the National Science Foundation’s Trustworthy AI Institute for Law and Society. 

“Many AI researchers believe we’re running out of data,” Aaronson said. “The future for these firms, the future [for these] markets are overseas, and so we need rules to govern how we interact with policymakers and users in those markets.”  

Mona Sloane, a professor at the University of Virginia who leads an AI research lab, told VOA that maintaining access to those data sets is a prevailing concern. 

“If you talk to people in the research community in the United States, those folks are acutely worried about access to data sets, about collaborating [internationally] on AI questions, or using AI in their research,” she said. 

“There will be very severe implications for research in the United States on AI — but also with AI — by getting cut off from these international conversations,” Sloane said. 

American EV makers adjust to possible end of federal tax credit

The latest offerings for electric vehicles take center stage at the 2025 Chicago Auto Show as some federal tax incentives could end. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more.

Europe announces plans to ease AI regulations in bid to become heavyweight

Europe says it will ease regulations on artificial intelligence at a key AI summit in Paris on Feb. 11, 2025, that brought together the U.S. and other global tech giants and politicians. But some experts see bigger challenges stalling the bloc’s ambitions to be an AI heavyweight, from the need to pool resources to attracting more investment and talent.

After U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive Stargate investment project and China’s DeepSeek startup, Europe wants to get a share of the artificial intelligence pie. Among other announcements at the Paris summit, co-host French President Emmanuel Macron outlined plans for $113 billion in private AI investment.

The two-day summit underscored tensions between fears of too much AI regulation and not enough.

“At this moment, we face the extraordinary prospect of a new Industrial Revolution, one on par with the steam engine or Bessemer steel,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance told summit attendees Tuesday. “But it will never come to pass if overregulation deters innovators from taking the risks necessary to advance the ball.”

Macron, who’s been nicknamed France’s startup president, outlined caveats. He said advancing international governance of AI will enable the consolidation of trust, acceleration and innovation in order to set the rules for AI, which are necessary to move forward.

Currently, Europe’s AI industry lags behind those of the U.S. and China. But the right policies, some experts believe, can help close the gap.

“Europe really has pretty much everything else it needs to lead in AI or other complex technologies,” said Pierre Alexandre Balland, chief data scientist at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. “The talent is absolutely incredible. … [T]he scale of the European economy is also huge … the education system. Essentially, we see a wind of change in the EU really led by France, and Emmanuel Macron is very much behind that.”

Beyond easing EU regulations, Balland sees bigger challenges — such as pooling European research and other resources, calling for investing pension funds to finance AI’s growth, and concentrating on a single AI hub in Europe.

“Paris is absolutely by far the leading AI ecosystem in Europe,” he said.

Alicia Garcia-Herrero, senior fellow at Brussels-based Bruegel policy institute, agreed France is leading the way. She believes Europe should narrow its goals — focusing on areas like AI applications for robotics.

“Can the AI make the EU more competitive? No doubt,” Garcia-Herrero said. “But I think there’s many other issues that need to be solved beyond AI. The most important one is having a single market.”

Paris summit organizers have also pushed for commitments on making AI more ethical, accessible and environmentally sustainable.

Vance tells Europeans that heavy regulation could kill AI 

Paris — U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Europeans on Tuesday their “massive” regulations on artificial intelligence could strangle the technology, and rejected content moderation as “authoritarian censorship.”

The mood on AI has shifted as the technology takes root, from one of concerns around safety to geopolitical competition, as countries jockey to nurture the next big AI giant.

Vance, setting out the Trump administration’s America First agenda, said the United States intended to remain the dominant force in AI and strongly opposed the European Union’s far tougher regulatory approach.

“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry,” Vance told an AI summit of CEOs and heads of state in Paris.

“We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” he added.

Vance criticized the “massive regulations” created by the EU’s Digital Services Act, as well as Europe’s online privacy rules, known by the acronym GDPR, which he said meant endless legal compliance costs for smaller firms.

“Of course, we want to ensure the internet is a safe place, but it is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation,” he said.

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc’s AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.

Vance is leading the American delegation at the Paris summit.

Vance also appeared to take aim at China at a delicate moment for the U.S. technology sector.

Last month, Chinese startup DeepSeek freely distributed a powerful AI reasoning model that some said challenged U.S. technology leadership. It sent shares of American chip designer Nvidia down 17%.

“From CCTV to 5G equipment, we’re all familiar with cheap tech in the marketplace that’s been heavily subsidized and exported by authoritarian regimes,” Vance said.

But he said that “partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure. Should a deal seem too good to be true? Just remember the old adage that we learned in Silicon Valley: if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.”

Vance did not mention DeepSeek by name. There has been no evidence of information being able to surreptitiously flow through the startup’s technology to China’s government, and the underlying code is freely available to use and view. However, some government organizations have reportedly banned DeepSeek’s use.

Speaking after Vance, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he was fully in favor of trimming red tape, but he stressed that regulation was still needed to ensure trust in AI, or people would end up rejecting it. “We need a trustworthy AI,” he said.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also said the EU would cut red tape and invest more in AI.

In a bilateral meeting, Vance and von der Leyen were also likely to discuss Trump’s substantial increase of tariffs on steel.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was expected to address the summit on Tuesday. A consortium led by Musk said on Monday it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit controlling OpenAI.

Altman promptly posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

The technology world has closely watched whether the Trump administration will ease recent antitrust enforcement that had seen the U.S. sue or investigate the industry’s biggest players.

Vance said the U.S. would champion American AI — which big players develop — he also said: “Our laws will keep Big Tech, little tech, and all other developers on a level playing field.”

EU’s AI push to get $50 billion boost, EU’s von der Leyen says

PARIS — Europe will invest an additional $51.5 billion to bolster the bloc’s artificial intelligence ambition, European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.

It will come on top of the European AI Champions Initiative, that has already pledged 150 billion euros from providers, investors and industry, von der Leyen told the Paris AI Summit.

“Thereby we aim to mobilize a total of 200 billion euros for AI investments in Europe,” she said.

Von der Leyen said investments will focus on industrial and mission-critical technologies.

Companies which have signed up to the European AI Champions initiative, spearheaded by investment company General Catalyst, include Airbus, ASML, Siemens, Infineon, Philips, Mistral and Volkswagen.

France seeks AI boom, urges EU investment in the sector

French President Emmanuel Macron wants Europe to become a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, he told a global summit of AI and political leaders in Paris Monday where he announced that France’s private sector has invested nearly $113 billion in French AI.

Financial investment is key to achieving the goal of Europe as an AI hub, Macron said in his remarks delivered in English at the Grand Palais.

He said the European bloc would also need to “adopt the Notre Dame strategy,” a reference to the lightning swift rebuilding of France’s famed Notre Dame cathedral in five years after a devastating 2019 fire, the result of simplified regulations and adherence to timelines.

“We showed the rest of the of the world that when we commit to a clear timeline, we can deliver,” the French leader said.

Henna Virkkunen, the European Union’s digital head, indicated that the EU is in agreement with simplifying regulations. The EU approved the AI Act last year, the world’s first extensive set of rules designed to regulate technology.

European countries want to ensure that they have a stake in the tech race against an aggressive U.S. and other emerging challengers. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to address the EU’s ability to compete in the tech world Tuesday.

Macron’s announcement that the French private sector will invest heavily in AI “reassured” Clem Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face, a U.S. company with French co-founders that is a hub for open-source AI, that there will be “ambitious” projects in France, according to Reuters.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s head, told the gathering that the shift to AI will be “the biggest of our lifetimes.”

However, such a big shift also comes with problems for the AI community. France had wanted the summit to adopt a non-binding text that AI would be inclusive and sustainable.

“We have the chance to democratize access [to a new technology] from the start,” Pichai told the summit.

Whether the U.S. will agree to that initiative is uncertain, considering the U.S. government’s recent moves to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is attending the summit and expected to deliver a speech on Tuesday. Other politicians expected Tuesday at the plenary session are Chinese Vice Premier Zhan Guoqing and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. About 100 politicians are expected.

There are also other considerations with a shift to AI. The World Trade Organization says its calculations indicate that a “near universal adoption of AI … could increase trade by up to 14 percentage points” from what it is now but cautions that global “fragmentation” of regulations on AI technology and data flow could bring about the contraction of both trade and output.

A somewhat frightening side effect of AI technology is that it can replace the need for humans in some sectors.

International Labor Organization leader Gilbert Houngbo told the summit Monday that the jobs that AI can do, such as clerical work, are disproportionately held by women. According to current statistics, that development would likely widen the gender pay gap.

Musk-led group makes $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI

A consortium led by Elon Musk said Monday it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire’s fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm.

Musk’s bid is likely to ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman on Monday promptly posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of tech and social media company X, is a close ally of President Donald Trump. He spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. Musk recently criticized a $500 billion OpenAI-led project announced by Trump at the White House.

OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models.

Musk sued Altman and others in August last year, claiming they violated contract provisions by putting profit ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI. In November, he asked a U.S. district judge for a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI from converting to a for-profit structure.

Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money.

“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement Monday. “We will make sure that happens.”

Musk and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Musk’s bid puts another wrinkle into OpenAI’s quest to remove the nonprofit’s control over its for-profit entity,” said Rose Chan Loui, executive director of the UCLA Law Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits.

“This bid sets a marker for the valuation of the nonprofit’s economic interests,” she said. “If OpenAI values the nonprofit’s interests at less than what Musk is offering, then they would have to show why.”

The consortium led by Musk includes his AI startup xAI, Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund III, Emanuel Capital Management, and Eight Partners.

XAI could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to The Wall Street Journal which first reported Musk’s offer earlier Monday. XAI recently raised $6 billion from investors at a valuation of $40 billion, sources have told Reuters.

Throwing a wrench

“This (bid) is definitely throwing a wrench in things,” said Jonathan Macey, a Yale Law School professor specializing in corporate governance.

“The nonprofit is supposed to take money to do whatever good deeds, and if OpenAI prefers to sell it to somebody else for less money, it’s a concern for protecting the interests of the beneficiaries of the not-for-profit. If this was a public company, plaintiffs’ lawyers would justifiably be lining up down the block to sue that transaction.”

OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, Reuters reported in January.

Aside from any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds.

“Musk’s offer to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit should significantly complicate OpenAI’s current fundraising and the process of converting into a for-profit corporation,” said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson.

“The offer seems to be backed by more credible investors … OpenAI may not be able to ignore it. It will be the fiduciary responsibility of OpenAI’s board to decide whether this is a better offer, which could call into question the offer from SoftBank.”

Musk’s stock in Tesla is valued at roughly $165 billion, according to LSEG data, but his leverage with banks is likely to be thin after his $44 billion buyout of the social media platform that was called Twitter in 2022.