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.
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Category: Technology
Silicon valley and technology. Technology refers to the use of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. It encompasses a broad range of tools, machines, systems, and processes that make our lives easier, improve our productivity, and enable us to achieve things that were previously impossible. Here are some key aspects of technology:
Communication: Devices and systems like smartphones, the internet, and social media platforms that allow us to connect and share information with others.
Transportation: Innovations such as cars, airplanes, trains, and bicycles that help us move from one place to another efficiently.
Healthcare: Medical technologies like MRI machines, surgical robots, and telemedicine that enhance our ability to diagnose and treat health conditions.
Entertainment: Gadgets and platforms like televisions, gaming consoles, and streaming services that provide us with entertainment and leisure.
Education: Tools like e-learning platforms, interactive whiteboards, and educational apps that facilitate learning and knowledge dissemination.
Energy: Technologies related to power generation and energy efficiency, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and smart grids.
Manufacturing: Automation and robotics that streamline production processes, increase precision, and reduce labor costs
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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As tariffs take effect, Beijing and Washington look back to 2020 deal
New Chinese tariffs on a range of U.S. goods went into effect Monday, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese products last week. Tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum are next.
Despite the tariffs and rising tensions, both sides seem reluctant to launch into a full-on trade war, analysts say.
Beijing has its plate full battling its own internal economic struggles, and for now President Trump has deferred most of his promised tariffs on the world’s second-largest economy.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Beijing is preparing to offer to return to a so-called “Phase 1” trade deal that was signed during Trump’s first term.
The Trump administration has sent its own signals as well.
Trump has called for the Office of the United States Trade Representative to review the first phase of the U.S.-China trade agreement and determine whether Beijing has fulfilled its commitments in the contract.
Last week, Jamieson Greer, Trump’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, said he would assess China’s compliance with the first phase of the agreement quickly upon his appointment to ensure the implementation of the deal. Greer also said he would use it as a starting point in relations with China.
What is the Phase 1 deal?
On January 15, 2020, Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed the Phase 1 agreement, which laid out several terms for trade between the world’s two biggest economies. The deal called on the United States to cut some of its imposed tariffs on China and included a commitment from Beijing to buy more U.S. products and implement certain reforms.
The 96-page agreement, divided into eight sections, placed a big emphasis on reducing the U.S. trade deficit with China, and protecting domestic industries by cracking down on Chinese trade practices, such as nontariff trade barriers, intellectual property violations and the forced transfer of technology without adequate compensation.
The agreement mandated that China purchase at least $200 billion in U.S. products and services over a two-year period from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021. It also required that Beijing stop subsidizing strategic sectors and give fairer treatment to American companies in terms of regulation.
Despite those commitments from China, data from a report published in 2022 by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington showed that Beijing did not reach its purchase target.
The report also showed that Beijing has completed 57% of the spending laid out in the agreement, a total that is lower than the level of China’s purchase of goods from the United States before the U.S.-China trade war.
Although China was not expected to fully meet its commitments, the agreement did have some benefits for Washington, as it helped decrease Washington’s trade deficit with Beijing.
Starting point
Analysts say the agreement may be revisited as a starting point for new trade discussions.
“The two sides need to start somewhere. Phase 1 may at least provide some common language that both sides will be familiar with so as to get that ball rolling,” Chad Brown, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, explained to VOA in an emailed response Friday.
Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii, says the Phase 1 agreement has two advantages for acting as a foundation for U.S.-China trade discussions.
“First, the two sides reached a similar agreement before, so they know it’s feasible,” he told VOA in an emailed response on Friday.
He also explained that using the agreement “suits both sides’ interests.”
“Trump wants to claim he has resolved the bilateral trade imbalance, which he sees as his primary measure of success,” he explained, noting that this agreement supports that narrative.
He added that the deal benefits Beijing by allowing China to avoid making significant structural reforms.
Roy, however, adds that several factors make an agreement between Washington and Beijing difficult.
“A major bilateral economic deal would depend on avoiding a strategic crisis, which might occur over Taiwan or the South China Sea, or an encounter between U.S. and Chinese ships or aircraft that escalates, or something like the spy balloon incident,” he said.
Early in 2023, the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon floating through U.S. airspace delayed a U.S. diplomatic visit to the country by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The ballon was eventually shot down.
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Trump signs executive orders on steel, aluminum tariffs
Washington — President Donald Trump moved to substantially raise tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Monday, canceling exemptions and duty-free quotas for major suppliers Canada, Mexico, Brazil and other countries in a move that could boost the risk of a multifront trade war.
Trump signed proclamations that raised the tariff rate on aluminum imports to 25% from the previous 10% that he imposed in 2018 to aid the struggling sector. His action reinstates a 25% tariff on millions of tons of steel imports and aluminum imports that had been entering the U.S. duty free under quota deals, exemptions and thousands of product exclusions.
The proclamations were extensions of Trump’s 2018 Section 232 national security tariffs to protect steel and aluminum makers. A White House official said the exemptions had eroded the effectiveness of these measures.
Trump also will impose a new North American standard requiring steel imports to be “melted and poured” and aluminum to be “smelted and cast” in the region to curb imports of minimally processed Chinese steel into the U.S.
The order also targets downstream steel products that use imported steel for tariffs.
Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro said the measures would help U.S. steel and aluminum producers and shore up America’s economic and national security.
“The steel and aluminum tariffs 2.0 will put an end to foreign dumping, boost domestic production and secure our steel and aluminum industries as the backbone and pillar industries of America’s economic and national security,” he told reporters.
“This isn’t just about trade. It’s about ensuring that America never has to rely on foreign nations for critical industries like steel and aluminum.”
Trump first broached the steel and aluminum action on Sunday, adding that he would also announce a further set of reciprocal tariffs later in the week, drawing warnings of retaliation from trade partners.
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High-stakes AI summit in Paris: World leaders, tech titans and challenging diplomatic talks
PARIS — Major world leaders are meeting for an AI summit in Paris, where challenging diplomatic talks are expected as tech titans fight for dominance in the fast-moving technology industry.
Heads of state, top government officials, CEOs and scientists from around 100 countries are participating in the two-day international summit from Monday.
High-profile attendees include U.S. Vice President JD Vance, on his first overseas trip since taking office, and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing.
“We’re living a technology and scientific revolution we’ve rarely seen,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday on national television France 2.
France and Europe must seize the “opportunity” because AI “will enable us to live better, learn better, work better, care better and it’s up to us to put this artificial intelligence at the service of human beings,” he said.
Vance’s debut abroad
The summit will give some European leaders a chance to meet Vance for the first time. The 40-year-old vice president was just 18 months into his time as Ohio’s junior senator when Donald Trump picked him as his running mate.
Vance was joined by his wife Usha and their three children — Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel — for the trip to Europe. They were greeted on French soil Monday morning by Manuel Valls, the minister for Overseas France, and the U.S. Embassy’s charge d’affaires, David McCawley.
On Tuesday, Vance will have a working lunch with Macron, with discussions on Ukraine and the Middle East on the menu.
Vance, like President Donald Trump, has questioned U.S. spending on Ukraine and the approach to isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump promised to end the fighting within six months of taking office.
Vance will attend later this week the Munich Security Conference, where he may meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Leaders in Europe have been watching carefully Trump’s recent statements on threats to impose tariffs on the European Union, take control of Greenland and his suggestion that Palestinians clear out Gaza once the fighting in the Israel-Hamas conflict ends — an idea that’s been flatly rejected by Arab allies.
Fostering AI advances
The summit, which gathers major players such as Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, aims at fostering AI advances in sectors like health, education, environment and culture.
A global public-private partnership named “Current AI” is to be launched to support large-scale initiatives that serve the general interest.
The Paris summit “is the first time we’ll have had such a broad international discussion in one place on the future of AI,” said Linda Griffin, vice president of public policy at Mozilla. “I see it as a norm-setting moment.”
Nick Reiners, senior geotechnology analyst at Eurasia Group, noted an opportunity to shape AI governance in a new direction by “moving away from this concentration of power amongst a handful of private actors and building this public interest AI instead.”
However, it remains unclear if the U.S. will support such initiatives.
French organizers also hope the summit will lead to major investment announcements in Europe.
France is to announce AI private investments worth a total of $113 billion over the coming years, Macron said, presenting it as “the equivalent” of Trump’s Stargate AI data centers project.
Indian PM co-hosting the summit
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is co-hosting the summit with Macron, in an effort to involve more global actors in AI development and prevent the sector from becoming a U.S.-China battle.
India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, stressed the need for equitable access to AI to avoid “perpetuating a digital divide that is already existing across the world.”
Macron will also travel Wednesday with Modi to the southern city port of Marseille to inaugurate a new Indian consulate and visit the ITER nuclear research site.
France has become a key defense partner for India, with talks underway on purchasing 26 Rafale fighter jets and three Scorpene submarines. Officials in New Delhi said discussions are in final phase and the deal could be inked in a few weeks.
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Trump to announce 25% steel, aluminum tariffs in latest trade escalation
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will announce on Monday new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., which would come on top of existing metals duties in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, also said he will announce reciprocal tariffs Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately.
Trump, during his first term, imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, but later granted several trading partners duty-free quotas, including Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
Former President Joe Biden extended these quotas to Britain, Japan and the European Union, and U.S. steel mill capacity utilization has dropped in recent years.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that the new tariffs would come on top of the existing duties on steel and aluminum.
Trump on Friday announced that he would impose reciprocal tariffs — raising U.S. tariff rates to match those of trading partners — on many countries this week. He did not identify the countries, but the duties would be imposed “so that we’re treated evenly with other countries.”
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Soaring egg prices in US pique interest in backyard chickens
NEW YORK — Thinking about backyard chickens as egg prices soar? Think hard, especially in light of the bird flu outbreak.
Keeping home chickens as a pastime has continued to grow since the pandemic. But if eggs are the goal, remember that it takes planning and investment to raise the chickens and protect against bird flu. Costs might go well beyond the nationwide average of $4.15 a dozen that commercial eggs sold for in December.
“Anyone who’s done an ounce of research will very quickly understand that there are no free eggs, there are no inexpensive eggs in keeping chickens,” said Kathy Shea Mormino, a home chicken blogger and author who has about 50 of the birds at her Suffield, Connecticut, home.
“You’re going to pay more, particularly in your first several years, in your setup and in your birds. And there’s a huge learning curve on how to care for animals that are really unusual pets,” said Mormino, who has kept chickens for 15 years and calls herself the Chicken Chick.
Costs vary wildly, from about $200 to $2,000 for a coop alone. Feeders and waterers range from about $8 to $50 or more, depending on the size and type.
Bird flu has forced farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, contributing (along with inflation) to the steep price of commercial eggs and resulting in some scantily stocked stores around the country. The scarcity and high prices are causing some to look for a backyard alternative.
“We’ve seen a real uptick in calls recently from people wanting to start their own backyard flocks. With the egg shortages at grocery stores, many are excited about the idea of raising chickens and taking steps toward sustainability,” said Matthew Aversa, a co-owner of Winding Branch Ranch, a nonprofit sanctuary and farm animal rescue outside San Antonio.
“We adopt out whole flocks. We’re receiving at least a dozen inquiries per week,” he said.
Kate Perz, the animal science coordinator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, New York, said that unlike other pandemic pastimes, raising home chickens has only grown.
“It’s not always cost-effective,” she said. “You have to really look at how many eggs you’re eating and what the cost of those are versus what you would be spending.”
There are other reasons, of course, to keep chickens at home, not the least of which is the sheer joy of their presence. Mormino and other “chickeneers,” as she calls home enthusiasts, have a coop full of tips on how to get started.
Tend to legal matters
You may be ready to dive right in. Your town may not. Mormino, who wrote The Chicken Chick’s Guide to Backyard Chickens, said the first thing to consider is whether chickens are right for you. After that, don’t assume your county, town or city will allow it.
Look up zoning and building codes yourself if you feel capable. Otherwise, consult an attorney who specializes in municipal law in your area.
Don’t rely on word of mouth or even a town worker to know the ins and outs. Is a building permit required to build a coop? Are roosters banned under noise ordinances? Sometimes, zoning codes are silent on the subject. Don’t assume that’s a green light. Many codes are “permissive use” regulations, Mormino said, essentially meaning that if the code doesn’t say you’re permitted, you’re not!
If chicken-keeping is allowed, is there a limit on how many birds? Are there restrictions on where a coop can be built in relation to neighboring property lines. Most homeowners associations have rules on animal keeping.
Mormino lives in a farming town and had a neighbor who kept three horses and a small flock of chickens, so she assumed they were legal. They weren’t. She called the town clerk’s office to ask whether a building permit was required to build a coop and was told it wasn’t. It was.
In the end, she successfully defended a lawsuit against her (she’s an attorney) and prevailed in a long battle to amend the law, legalizing backyard chickens in her town.
What about bird flu?
Bird flu is highly contagious. It spreads mostly by migrating waterfowl in their droppings. Chickens are far from immune if they spend any time free ranging or in a run without protection from wild fowl droppings.
“There’s a limited number of things that we can do because our birds live where wildlife live,” Mormino said. “People need to know if they have a bird or birds that die suddenly from some of the symptoms, they need to contact the USDA to get the postmortem exam and the birds tested for bird flu.”
Don’t bring sick birds into the house for care. That raises the risk of transmission to humans. Once the virus is confirmed, the entire flock needs to be euthanized, she and Perz said.
Symptoms of bird flu include: sudden death without any clinical signs; swelling of the head, eyelids, comb, wattles or hocks; diarrhea; stumbling or falling down; decreased egg production and/or soft-shelled or misshapen eggs; and coughing and sneezing.
Don’t feed any wildlife in areas where your chickens dwell or roam. Wash hands thoroughly after tending to chickens and dedicate a pair of shoes or boots strictly for use around them.
“The biggest mistake backyard chickeneers make is to bring new chickens into their flock that have lived someplace else. That’s the fastest way to bring disease into your chicken yard,” Mormino said.
Consider your costs
Sarah Penny has turned her 7,000-square-foot home lot in Knoxville, Tennessee, into a beautiful garden and chicken home. She has nine birds and grows more than half the food she and her 13-year-old son eat.
She’s had chickens since 2021 and estimates her startup costs at about $2,500.
Monthly costs vary based on what chickens are fed and how coops are kept. Penny, for instance, uses the deep litter method and composts from her coop, meaning she’s not mucking out her coop more than twice a year.
“But the cost of starting with backyard chickens is definitely quite expensive. I don’t know if a lot of people know that,” Penny said.
Her coop alone, which her family built themselves, cost about $2,000. It had to be outfitted to keep predators out, including rats that tunnel under the ground.
Many people start with buying hatchlings, which just got more expensive to ship via the U.S. Postal Service due to new fees. Raising hatchlings requires a chick brooder involving a separate enclosure, heat lamp, feeders and other supplies.
Penny buys a bag of feed every two weeks for $15 to $20 a bag. There’s also the cost of calcium, such as oyster shells, and grit to aid digestion if chickens are not free-ranging or getting those elements in their feed.
She estimates her monthly costs at about $60, saving a bit by also feeding her chickens healthy human leftovers. She’s careful not to include foods that are toxic for chickens, including onions, potatoes and avocados.
It’s all worth it to Penny.
“We eat a lot of eggs,” she said. “We probably go through a dozen every two days. We bake a lot. We’re an ingredient household, so the majority of our food is cooked from scratch. Eggs are a main staple for our breakfast.”
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Baltic states switch to European power grid, ending Russia ties
VILNIUS — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said on Sunday they had successfully synchronized their electricity systems to the European continental power grid, one day after severing decades-old energy ties to Russia and Belarus.
Planned for many years, the complex switch away from the grid of their former Soviet imperial overlord is designed to integrate the three Baltic nations more closely with the European Union and to boost the region’s energy security.
“We did it!,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said in a post on social media X.
After disconnecting on Saturday from the IPS/UPS network, established by the Soviet Union in the 1950s and now run by Russia, the Baltic nations cut cross-border high-voltage transmission lines in eastern Latvia, some 100 meters from the Russian border, handing out pieces of chopped wire to enthusiastic bystanders as keepsakes.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, herself an Estonian, earlier this week called the switch “a victory for freedom and European unity.”
The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after power cable, telecom links and gas pipeline outages between the Baltics and Sweden or Finland. All were believed to have been caused by ships dragging anchors along the seabed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia has denied any involvement.
Poland and the Baltics deployed navy assets, elite police units and helicopters after an undersea power link from Finland to Estonia was damaged in December, while Lithuania’s military began drills to protect the overland connection to Poland.
Analysts say more damage to links could push power prices in the Baltics to levels not seen since the invasion of Ukraine, when energy prices soared.
The IPS/UPS grid was the final remaining link to Russia for the three countries, which re-emerged as independent nations in the early 1990s at the fall of the Soviet Union, and joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
The three staunch supporters of Kyiv stopped purchases of power from Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but have relied on the Russian grid to control frequencies and stabilize networks to avoid outages.
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US stocks slide amid inflation, tariff worries
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks slumped Friday amid worries about higher inflation and tariffs, while a closely watched report gave a mixed picture of the U.S. job market.
The S&P 500 was down almost 1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 400 points, or almost 1%. A sharp drop for Amazon following its latest profit report helped drag the Nasdaq composite down about 1.4%.
Treasury yields also climbed in the bond market after a discouraging report on Friday morning suggested sentiment was unexpectedly souring among U.S. consumers. The preliminary report from the University of Michigan said U.S. consumers were expecting inflation in the year ahead to hit 4.3%, the highest such forecast since 2023.
That’s a full percentage point above what they were expecting a month earlier, and it’s the second straight increase of an unusual amount. Economists pointed to the possibility of U.S. tariffs on a wide range of imported products, which President Donald Trump has proposed, and which could ultimately push up prices for U.S. consumers.
Trump said Friday that he was likely to have an announcement on Monday or Tuesday on “reciprocal tariffs, where a country pays so much or charges us so much, and we do the same.”
Jobs report
The consumer-sentiment data followed a mixed report on the U.S. job market. It showed hiring last month was less than half of December’s rate, but it also included encouraging nuggets for workers: The unemployment rate eased, and workers saw bigger gains in average wages than economists expected.
All the data taken together could keep the Federal Reserve on hold when it comes to interest rates. The Fed began cutting its main interest rate in September in order to relax the pressure on the economy and job market, but it warned at the end of the year that it might cut fewer times in 2025 than it had expected, given worries about inflation staying stubbornly high.
Interest rates are one of the things Wall Street cares most about, because lower rates can lead to higher prices for stocks and other investments. The downside is they can also give inflation more fuel.
For Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, the jobs report did nothing to change his forecast for the Fed to cut the federal funds rate just once in 2025. That’s a touch more conservative than many traders on Wall Street, who collectively see a roughly 45% chance that the Fed will cut at least twice, according to data from CME Group. Of course, some traders are also betting on the possibility of zero cuts.
Wren said financial markets could stay shaky in the near term, not only because of uncertainty about interest rates but also because of Trump’s tariffs and other unknowns around the world.
Worries about a potentially punishing global trade war, which rocked markets earlier in the week, have eased a bit after Trump gave 30-day reprieves for tariffs on Mexico and Canada. But “Europe might be next, and even if the final outcome is benign, uncertainty could weigh on global investment,” Bank of America economists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.
A fear among economists is that when U.S. households expect inflation to be high in the future, they could begin buying things in advance and making other moves that can set off a self-fulfilling cycle that worsens inflation.
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Trump signals his support for cryptocurrency
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to make the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world. He is putting his plan into place in the early weeks of his second presidential term. VOA’s Michelle Quinn has the story.
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