China, the world’s largest soybean importer, has ramped up orders for Brazilian cargoes of the oilseed after meeting an initial shipment volume from the US as part of a trade truce with Washington. In the past week, importers have booked at least 25 cargoes of the beans for loading mainly in March and April, driven by margins, according to traders with knowledge of the deals. At the same time, sta...
China, the world’s largest soybean importer, has ramped up orders for Brazilian cargoes of the oilseed after meeting an initial shipment volume from the US as part of a trade truce with Washington. In the past week, importers have booked at least 25 cargoes of the beans for loading mainly in March and April, driven by margins, according to traders with knowledge of the deals. At the same time, state-owned companies have appeared to refrain from taking US cargoes, said the people, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to talk to the media. Soybeans emerged as a key point of contention in US-China trade relations, with Beijing initially shunning American cargoes as their ties soured, before agreeing to take shipments as part of a wider rapprochement. China has purchased about 12 million tons of US soybeans in the last three months, meeting a commitment outlined by the Trump administration in November. “It makes complete sense to step up purchases of Brazilian soybeans after meeting the US pledge,” said Meng Zhangyu, an analyst at Wuchan Zhongda Futures Co. “Brazilian supplies are much cheaper.” US soybeans delivered to China on a cost-and-freight basis are at steep premium over comparable Brazilian beans for February, according to the traders. That means crushing them would incur heavy losses, they said. Read More: China Soy Deal Lifts US Farmers But Spotlights Trade Limitations Over the longer term, the US said China has committed to buying at least 25 million tons of US soybeans annually through 2028, and the nation may come back for more American cargoes later this year. “As long as the agreed trade-deal framework reached between China and the US gets implemented smoothly, China should be able to carry out the agreement and continue to buy US soybeans,” said Hanver Li, chief analyst at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co., a China-based commodity consultancy. “Even if this means sacrificing some economic interests, China can meet its targets for the next thr...
champpixs Stock futures showed a mixed performance early Tuesday as investors positioned ahead of major tech earnings and the Federal Reserve's upcoming rate decision later this week. Here are some of Tuesday's biggest stock movers: Biggest stock gainers Salesforce ( CRM ) +2% - Shares gained after its Computable Insights unit won a $5.6B, 10-year IDIQ contract to modernize U.S. military operation...
champpixs Stock futures showed a mixed performance early Tuesday as investors positioned ahead of major tech earnings and the Federal Reserve's upcoming rate decision later this week. Here are some of Tuesday's biggest stock movers: Biggest stock gainers Salesforce ( CRM ) +2% - Shares gained after its Computable Insights unit won a $5.6B, 10-year IDIQ contract to modernize U.S. military operations with cloud tools, AI, and data analytics. The deal, which includes a five-year base period plus a five-year option, positions Salesforce as a key tech partner for the Department of War, with completion estimated by June 2035. Analysts said the shift to a unified IDIQ framework signals the Army’s move from buying software to driving large-scale, outcome-based modernization. Zoom Communications ( ZM ) +1% - Shares rose after Baird drew attention to the company’s under-the-radar $51M stake in Anthropic, calling it a “hidden gem” that could add meaningful value as AI adoption accelerates. Analyst William Power, who reiterated an Outperform and a $95 price target, noted that while investors remain focused on Zoom’s efforts to reaccelerate revenue and expand its AI offerings, its early investment in the maker of the Claude models provides an additional upside lever. Biggest stock losers Humana ( HUM ) -12% , UnitedHealth ( UNH ) -8%, and CVS Health ( CVS ) -8% - Health insurers slumped after the Trump administration proposed nearly flat 2027 Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates, with payments set to rise just 0.09% (~$700M) versus the 4%–6% increase analysts had expected. CMS said that when factoring in risk-score trends tied to coding and population shifts, payments would effectively rise 2.54%, but the headline rate still marked a significant disappointment for the sector. Sanmina ( SANM ) -8% - Shares tumbled after the electronics manufacturer issued quarterly sales guidance that came in well short of Wall Street expectations, overshadowing upbeat FQ1 results. For FQ2, the...
A country where safety is under threat from federal violence on the streets is not fit to stage soccer’s showpiece event Removing the United States as co-host of the 2026 World Cup would hurt for pretty much everyone. Fans would miss out on seeing the sport’s pinnacle in their home towns (or somewhere nearby). Cities and businesses small and large would lose the financial benefits they had banked ...
A country where safety is under threat from federal violence on the streets is not fit to stage soccer’s showpiece event Removing the United States as co-host of the 2026 World Cup would hurt for pretty much everyone. Fans would miss out on seeing the sport’s pinnacle in their home towns (or somewhere nearby). Cities and businesses small and large would lose the financial benefits they had banked on. It would be a logistical and political nightmare on an international scale, the likes of which have never been seen before in sports. It would be eminently sad. And it would be entirely justified. It brings me no pleasure to say this. The United States has been eager to host a men’s World Cup for more than a decade and a half. The desire survived and even grew after 2010’s failure to out-bid Russia and Qatar (in public and behind closed doors) for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. With hosting rights for 2026 later secured alongside Canada and Mexico, the US soccer scene prepared to show off that the sport is now part of the nation’s fabric, 32 years after hosting the tournament for the first time in 1994. Soccer’s growing popularity in America has helped inspire other US sports to try new formats, encouraged us to engage more fully with the world in a sporting context, and has been at the center of conversations about our society and culture. The 2026 World Cup was seen as the best chance for the world to fully experience not just how much the US has improved at soccer, but how much soccer has improved the US. Continue reading...
For the first time, a massive group of parents, teens and school districts is taking on the world’s most powerful social media companies in open court, accusing the tech giants of intentionally designing their products to be addictive. The blockbuster legal proceedings may see multiple CEOs, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, face harsh questioning. A long-awaited series of trials kicks off in Los ...
For the first time, a massive group of parents, teens and school districts is taking on the world’s most powerful social media companies in open court, accusing the tech giants of intentionally designing their products to be addictive. The blockbuster legal proceedings may see multiple CEOs, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, face harsh questioning. A long-awaited series of trials kicks off in Los Angeles superior court on Tuesday, in which hundreds of US families will allege that Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube’s platforms harm children. Once young people are hooked, the plaintiffs allege, they fall prey to depression, eating disorders, self-harm and other mental health issues. Approximately 1,600 plaintiffs are included in the proceedings, involving more than 350 families and 250 school districts. “The fact that a social media company is going to have to stand trial before a jury … is unprecedented,” Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center and an attorney representing plaintiffs, said in a press briefing. The initial trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. It involves a 19-year-old who is identified in court documents by the initials KGM. She alleges that she developed mental health issues at a young age after becoming addicted to social media apps. Her case will be the first of around 22 “bellwether” trials, which are used as test cases to gauge juries’ reactions and potential verdicts. Ultimately, the landmark trials will cover thousands of lawsuits that have been coordinated together in what is known as a judicial council coordination proceeding (JCCP). The plaintiffs in these cases are seeking financial damages and injunctive relief that would change the design of the platforms and establish industry-wide safety standards. If they win and prove that millions of children have been harmed by social media, it could profoundly change how these platforms are designed and create new avenues for lawsuits against the tech behemoths. Key wit...
In many ways, Alex Pretti and Renee Good could have been any of the dozens of Minneapolis residents I met last week. Among them were teachers, store clerks, Uber drivers, charity workers and clergymen – a patchwork of humanity withstanding what many have called the Trump administration’s siege on their city, which began in December last year and has led to 3,000 arrests, two fatal shootings, and r...
In many ways, Alex Pretti and Renee Good could have been any of the dozens of Minneapolis residents I met last week. Among them were teachers, store clerks, Uber drivers, charity workers and clergymen – a patchwork of humanity withstanding what many have called the Trump administration’s siege on their city, which began in December last year and has led to 3,000 arrests, two fatal shootings, and routine rights violations in an operation defined by government brutality. What the administration has attempted to laud as the largest immigration operation in US history has instead become a fully fledged crisis, and the sharpest test of American democracy under Trump’s second term. The resistance here goes well beyond activism and protest, as thousands of residents organise, and document what’s going on. As my colleagues have been documenting for weeks, acts of solidarity between neighbours in the frigid cold range from mutual aid to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) watch patrols. Alex Pretti. Photograph: US Department of Veterans Affairs/AFP/Getty Images Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was shot and killed seemingly after rushing to protect a woman as she was pepper-sprayed by Border Patrol agents on Saturday morning. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was observing ICE activity near her home when an agent opened fire earlier in January. But what happened in the minutes preceding these two fatal shootings has effectively played on repeat throughout this mid-sized city as the Trump administration continued to escalate – rhetorically and physically – despite signs of a partial climbdown in the past 24 hours. Wild and false allegations of “domestic terrorism” are levelled against ordinary citizens, and thousands more immigration agents, many of whom lack experience and training, surge through the streets. Minneapolis has long been a target city for rightwing political agitation, known as a focal point for the Black Lives Matter movement and where resid...
The problem You brush past a favourite plant and hear that horrible snap as a stem bends or breaks. The break is rarely clean enough to propagate, yet not detached enough to ignore. You are left with a drooping limb and a sinking feeling. People on Reddit swear by a first-aid kit of drinking straws and cinnamon – can it save the day? The hack A straw acts as a splint to hold a bent stem upright wh...
The problem You brush past a favourite plant and hear that horrible snap as a stem bends or breaks. The break is rarely clean enough to propagate, yet not detached enough to ignore. You are left with a drooping limb and a sinking feeling. People on Reddit swear by a first-aid kit of drinking straws and cinnamon – can it save the day? The hack A straw acts as a splint to hold a bent stem upright while it heals. Cinnamon is sprinkled on the wound as a natural antifungal, said to help keep rot at bay. The method Cut a drinking straw lengthwise so it opens up, dust the damaged area of the plant with cinnamon, wrap the straw around it, and secure it loosely with string. Add a stake if needed, and avoid disturbing the plant by moving it. The test I used the splint on a bent Monstera stem. After a few weeks, the damaged section had callused and firmed up, and I was able to remove the straw without the stem collapsing. On a more severely damaged begonia, the splint simply delayed the inevitable. The verdict Straws and cinnamon will not perform miracles on a serious snap, but can buy a plant time to repair minor damage.
China is tightening approvals for intercity railways and urban metro projects – long-standing pillars of fixed-asset investment – as policymakers pay closer attention to debt risks while shifting the growth model towards consumption. The move comes as President Xi Jinping has specifically flagged operational strains at some high-speed rail stations and subway lines – a sign that the old growth dri...
China is tightening approvals for intercity railways and urban metro projects – long-standing pillars of fixed-asset investment – as policymakers pay closer attention to debt risks while shifting the growth model towards consumption. The move comes as President Xi Jinping has specifically flagged operational strains at some high-speed rail stations and subway lines – a sign that the old growth driver may be further curtailed in the coming years. According to an online statement on Sunday by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner said it was “strictly prohibited to covertly build high-speed rail lines or urban metro systems in the name of intercity railways”. Advertisement The remarks followed the commission’s guidance last week to promote the sustainable development of intercity railways. Proposed intercity rail projects must achieve projected two-way passenger flows of at least 15 million trips a year, the NDRC said. That is an average of 41,000 passengers per day. Regions where existing intercity lines fail to reach half of forecast passenger volumes after five years, or to achieve cash-flow break-even after a decade of operation, will be barred from launching new projects, the guidance said, citing debt-risk concerns. Advertisement For decades, large-scale infrastructure spending has powered China’s economic expansion, enabling the country to construct one of the world’s largest rail networks at remarkable speed. But overbuilding, weaker-than-expected passenger demand and rising operating and maintenance costs have increasingly weighed on local government finances.
Did your latest energy bill give you sticker shock? You’re not alone. Energy costs are surging nationwide and outstripping overall inflation. Last year, consumer prices rose 2.7%, but electricity costs jumped 6.7%. Fuel oil — the primary heating source in the Northeast — was up 7.4%, and utility gas spiked 10.8%. The weekend’s Winter Storm Fern and the preceding blast of cold arctic air are only l...
Did your latest energy bill give you sticker shock? You’re not alone. Energy costs are surging nationwide and outstripping overall inflation. Last year, consumer prices rose 2.7%, but electricity costs jumped 6.7%. Fuel oil — the primary heating source in the Northeast — was up 7.4%, and utility gas spiked 10.8%. The weekend’s Winter Storm Fern and the preceding blast of cold arctic air are only likely to add to the stress. Extra heating demand has already sent natural gas prices to the highest level since 2022. And consumers’ price fatigue is increasingly catching the attention of politicians: Earlier this month, President Trump noted that utility bills had gone up “MASSIVELY,” which he blamed on data centers. The rapidly rising costs are placing increasing strain on homeowners and renters. Utility debt was up 31% between the end of 2023 and mid-2025, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, and shutoffs have been rising, too, to an estimated 4 million last year, up from 3.5 million in 2024. The uptick in costs can’t be blamed on any single reason, energy experts told Yahoo Finance. Instead, a multitude of factors, including the cost of upgrading aging equipment, post-disaster repairs, lingering supply chain shortages, and yes, demand from data centers, all play a role. Ice covers power lines during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) · ASSOCIATED PRESS Aging infrastructure America’s power grid is aging. Many of the components that go into delivering power were built more than 50 years ago and are nearing the end of their natural life. The cost of replacing and updating technology like wires, poles, transformers, and towers ultimately ends up being passed on to consumers. Brattle Group, a consultancy that worked with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory last year to identify factors influencing retail electricity prices, estimates that spending on aging power transmission infrastructur...
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang bought street snacks worth 65 yuan (US$9) at a market in Shanghai while giving its owner a lai see of 600 yuan (US$90), but the operator did not recognise the artificial intelligence (AI) chip mogul. Huang recently sparked a storm on mainland social media thanks to his down-to-earth and friendly demeanour during a visit to a wet market in Shanghai. It is his routine to visi...
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang bought street snacks worth 65 yuan (US$9) at a market in Shanghai while giving its owner a lai see of 600 yuan (US$90), but the operator did not recognise the artificial intelligence (AI) chip mogul. Huang recently sparked a storm on mainland social media thanks to his down-to-earth and friendly demeanour during a visit to a wet market in Shanghai. It is his routine to visit his company’s offices in mainland China before flying to Taiwan before the Lunar New Year each year. One of the market vendors shows off the lai see she received from Jensen Huang. Photo: Jimu At noon on January 24, Huang and his entourage left their cars near Jinde Market in the city’s Lujiazui area. Advertisement Huang first bought some chestnuts and candied hawthorns at Haohao Chestnuts King, a small outlet near the entrance to the market. An employee with Huang scanned a QR code to pay 65 yuan for him. Advertisement Huang took out a New Year lai see bearing the Chinese character for his surname, signed his English name on the back before passing it to the shop owner, surnamed Xu. Xu said on social media that there was 600 yuan cash inside the packet, Jimu News reported.
Trump to hold de facto midterm kickoff in Iowa focused on the economy, energy prices toggle caption Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images President Trump will hold a rally in Iowa on Tuesday to preview the administration's campaign message ahead of the midterm elections. It comes as polls show that voters are unhappy with many elements of his messaging so far. Tuesday's speech in Clive, I...
Trump to hold de facto midterm kickoff in Iowa focused on the economy, energy prices toggle caption Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images President Trump will hold a rally in Iowa on Tuesday to preview the administration's campaign message ahead of the midterm elections. It comes as polls show that voters are unhappy with many elements of his messaging so far. Tuesday's speech in Clive, Iowa, is expected to focus on energy and the economy — two areas where Trump's policy changes in the last year have negatively impacted the state. Trump was last in Iowa on the eve of July 4, 2025, where he kicked off a yearlong celebration of America's 250th birthday and touted Congress' passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted sweeping cuts to taxes and social safety net programs. Sponsor Message As the tax season starts, voters will begin to see the impact of the law's signature policies, like no tax on tips and overtime and an expanded child tax credit. Later this week, the Treasury Department will hold a summit to release more details about the "Trump Accounts" created by the law, which will be seeded with a $1,000 government contribution for babies born between 2025 and 2028 and which will serve as investment accounts for newborns. Much has changed in those six months, though, as polling data suggests the American public has soured on the Trump administration's overhaul of the country's foreign and domestic agenda. That includes an aggressive immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota where federal agents shot and killed two people in two different incidents this month. Last week, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that his message for Iowa was "straight to the farmers," touting the billions of dollars the administration made available as bridge payments to farmers negatively affected by the president's tariff policies. "You know, the farmers like Trump, and I like the farmers," Trump said. "The farmers have been very special to me. Very succ...
A new risk assessment has found that xAI’s chatbot Grok has inadequate identification of users under 18, weak safety guardrails, and frequently generates sexual, violent, and inappropriate material. In other words, Grok is not safe for kids or teens. The damning report from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that provides age-based ratings and reviews of media and tech for families, comes as xAI face...
A new risk assessment has found that xAI’s chatbot Grok has inadequate identification of users under 18, weak safety guardrails, and frequently generates sexual, violent, and inappropriate material. In other words, Grok is not safe for kids or teens. The damning report from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that provides age-based ratings and reviews of media and tech for families, comes as xAI faces criticism and an investigation into how Grok was used to create and spread nonconsensual explicit AI-generated images of women and children on the X platform. “We assess a lot of AI chatbots at Common Sense Media, and they all have risks, but Grok is among the worst we’ve seen,” said Robbie Torney, head of AI and digital assessments at the nonprofit, in a statement. He added that while it’s common for chatbots to have some safety gaps, Grok’s failures intersect in a particularly troubling way. “Kids Mode doesn’t work, explicit material is pervasive, [and] everything can be instantly shared to millions of users on X,” continued Torney. (xAI released ‘Kids Mode’ last October with content filters and parental controls.) “When a company responds to the enablement of illegal child sexual abuse material by putting the feature behind a paywall rather than removing it, that’s not an oversight. That’s a business model that puts profits ahead of kids’ safety.” After facing outrage from users, policymakers, and entire nations, xAI restricted Grok’s image generation and editing to paying X subscribers only, though many reported they could still access the tool with free accounts. Moreover, paid subscribers were still able to edit real photos of people to remove clothing or put the subject into sexualized positions. Common Sense Media tested Grok across the mobile app, website, and @grok account on X using teen test accounts between this past November and January 22, evaluating text, voice, default settings, Kids Mode, Conspiracy Mode, and image and video generation features. xAI laun...
How German Media Cast Trump As Evil, And Davos Elites As Moral Saviors Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Donald Trump’s appearance at the World Economic Forum was portrayed by the German media as the very embodiment of evil against the pristine white backdrop of Davos’ snow. To cast politicians like von der Leyen, Merz, and Macron as the “good” counterparts only exposes this media spectacle for what it is...
How German Media Cast Trump As Evil, And Davos Elites As Moral Saviors Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Donald Trump’s appearance at the World Economic Forum was portrayed by the German media as the very embodiment of evil against the pristine white backdrop of Davos’ snow. To cast politicians like von der Leyen, Merz, and Macron as the “good” counterparts only exposes this media spectacle for what it is: farce. A love-hate relationship has developed between U.S. President Donald Trump and the German press. Almost every time he appears in public—which, in fact, happens daily—the bureaucrats in newsrooms react with a Pavlovian reflex. Even his Davos speech on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum, delivered without rancor despite Europe’s noticeably skeptical stance toward the U.S., provoked a maximal defensive reaction. Establishing the Contrast Der Stern portrays Trump as the West’s isolator, a power politician who “ate humble pie” in Davos, and labels his speech simultaneously as a declaration of NATO’s bankruptcy. As if to keep the German fight against Trump alive at all costs, the Frankfurter Rundschau warned not to be lulled by the U.S. President’s moderate tone. The headline reads martial—Trump reliably sells well. It also irritates the German media that Trump regularly exposes European leaders like Emmanuel Macron to public ridicule. Naturally, even Tagesschau dispatches its fact-checkers against him. His speech was reportedly riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods. If only they were as precise and attentive when Macron, Merz, and von der Leyen stack lie upon lie—whether regarding their domestic policies, the state of the economy, the Ukraine conflict, or the failed energy transition now driving Europe into a spiral of poverty. Even the fact that an Orwellian surveillance state is rising before our eyes, heavily supported by Germany, does not trouble German journalists. In short: we are the good, the evil sits in the White House. And we, the good, are merely prote...
Minneapolis killings put a focus on use of body cameras toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Federal immigration enforcement authorities are facing scrutiny and widespread criticism over their tactics, including the lack of body-worn cameras, following the killing of two U.S. citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis. Several factors have led to this: Federal law does not mandate the use ...
Minneapolis killings put a focus on use of body cameras toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Federal immigration enforcement authorities are facing scrutiny and widespread criticism over their tactics, including the lack of body-worn cameras, following the killing of two U.S. citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis. Several factors have led to this: Federal law does not mandate the use of body cameras by the two agencies tasked with leading the efforts to arrest and detain illegal immigrants — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Additionally, there is a shortage of cameras and a de-prioritization of body-camera programs in the second Trump administration. Sponsor Message This month, immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti – in separate incidents, and have since been confronted by large crowds of protesters and legal observers. The administration has defended the actions of the two officers involved in the shootings. After Pretti's killing Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the VA nurse was committing an "act of terrorism" by "attacking" officers and "brandishing" a weapon. The video evidence and eyewitness accounts that have surfaced so far refute that assertion. There has been no evidence that NPR has verified of Pretti brandishing his handgun at any time during the encounter with federal agents. "There is body camera footage from multiple angles which investigators are currently reviewing," a DHS official told NPR in a statement Monday. The investigation is being led by Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, and supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. CBP will also do an internal investigation. There are about 2,000 immigration officers rotating through Minneapolis for what the administration dubs "Operation Metro Surge." Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates have criticized the rapid deployment of I...
Meta, TikTok and YouTube are on trial over whether their apps hurt children toggle caption Spencer Platt/Getty Images Social media apps have long been accused of being harmful to children. Now those claims will come before a jury for the first time in a trial kicking off Tuesday in a Los Angeles courtroom. A key question will be whether tech companies deliberately built their platforms to hook you...
Meta, TikTok and YouTube are on trial over whether their apps hurt children toggle caption Spencer Platt/Getty Images Social media apps have long been accused of being harmful to children. Now those claims will come before a jury for the first time in a trial kicking off Tuesday in a Los Angeles courtroom. A key question will be whether tech companies deliberately built their platforms to hook young users, contributing to a youth mental health crisis. The jury's decision could have big consequences for the tech industry and how children use social media. The case in California state court is the first of a wave of lawsuits headed for trial this year that have been brought against social media companies by more than 1,000 individual plaintiffs, hundreds of school districts and dozens of state attorneys general. It's drawing comparisons to the legal campaign against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, which accused cigarette makers of covering up what they knew about the harms of their products. Sponsor Message The suits accuse Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok of engineering features that make their apps nearly impossible for kids to put down, like infinite scroll, auto-play videos, frequent notifications and recommendation algorithms, leading in some cases to depression, eating disorders, self-harm and even suicide. (Snapchat is also named as a defendant in these lawsuits, but it settled with the plaintiff in the case going to trial on Tuesday.) The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages as well as changes to the way social media apps are designed. The trial starting on Tuesday in LA will give a rare look inside how the most popular and powerful social media platforms operate. Jurors will be presented with thousands of pages of internal documents, including research on children conducted by the companies; expert witnesses; and the testimony of the teenage plaintiff, identified as K.G.M., who says her excessive use of social media led to mental health problems. Mark Zuc...
In China, AI is no longer optional for some kids. It's part of the curriculum toggle caption John Ruwitch/NPR In an elementary school classroom in Beijing's university district, 11-year-old Li Zichen was demonstrating a small robot. It's a remote-controlled vehicle that lifts and moves blocks and that can be programmed using artificial intelligence. It's a small project, but it got him thinking bi...
In China, AI is no longer optional for some kids. It's part of the curriculum toggle caption John Ruwitch/NPR In an elementary school classroom in Beijing's university district, 11-year-old Li Zichen was demonstrating a small robot. It's a remote-controlled vehicle that lifts and moves blocks and that can be programmed using artificial intelligence. It's a small project, but it got him thinking big — about the rovers that China sent to Mars and the Moon. "If a rover comes across a crater in front of it, for instance, it can't decide what to do after communicating with Earth," he says, because sending signals across space takes too long. "It must decide on its own. So I think AI is very important for the nation's deep space exploration." Sponsor Message Meanwhile, Li's classmate, Song Haoyue, has used artificial intelligence as a graphic design tool to help her make a poster for a competition. "I used Wukong, an AI image software, to create drawings," she said. She had it render a poster about a mythical bird that tries to fill in the ocean, one pebble at a time — a parable about perseverance. Debate about artificial intelligence in U.S. schools has simmered for years, with some highlighting the risks of AI in schools — like it stunting cognitive or social development — and others concerned about it exacerbating a growing digital divide. In China, the authorities have taken a stand. Wang Le, Zichen and Haoyue's computer skills teacher at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications Affiliated Primary School, a public school, said that the Ministry of Education has enacted a new framework. "They require integrating AI courses into the information technology curriculum," she said. toggle caption John Ruwitch/NPR/NPR Starting in the fall, every student in elementary and middle school in Beijing, and several other districts, began learning about AI. Third graders learn the basics. Fourth graders focus on data and coding. By fifth grade, students are learning about ...
Trump heads to Iowa hoping to refocus attention from shootings to the economy toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP President Trump is heading on Tuesday to Iowa, where he's looking to change the subject to his economic agenda as his administration faces growing backlash over his immigration crackdown in Minnesota. More Republicans are calling for an investigation after a second U.S. citizen was shot by ...
Trump heads to Iowa hoping to refocus attention from shootings to the economy toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP President Trump is heading on Tuesday to Iowa, where he's looking to change the subject to his economic agenda as his administration faces growing backlash over his immigration crackdown in Minnesota. More Republicans are calling for an investigation after a second U.S. citizen was shot by a federal agent in Minneapolis. The president is expected to tour a local business and give a speech on energy and the economy. His chief of staff, Susie Wiles, says the trip is the beginning of what will eventually be weekly travel across the U.S. in support of Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections. But Trump is unlikely to escape the controversy surrounding his administration's immigration tactics in Minneapolis. Sponsor Message "The primary news story at the moment isn't just the ICE-related shooting. It's the response to the ICE-related shooting," said Ryan Williams, a veteran Republican strategist who helped lead Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. "That's what's going to be the focus. And the president can attempt to focus on the economy, on what he views are successes of his administration on the economic front. But he's going to be stuck talking about this issue for a significant period of time." The Republican Party has struggled with how to respond to Saturday's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a VA hospital. The shooting happened just weeks after another Minneapolis protester, Renee Macklin Good, was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. A number of Republican lawmakers are pushing for more details about the second shooting, including Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. This weekend, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma questioned Trump's broader goals. "Americans are asking themselves, 'What is the endgame? What is the soluti...
Reporter's Notebook: Living and reporting from Minneapolis in crisis toggle caption Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Last Thursday, I sat idling in my car, waiting for a photographer colleague to finish an assignment. An SUV pulled up in front of me. A middle-aged white woman, with a no-nonsense haircut, dressed in a puffy coat and big sunglasses, opened the car door. She leaned out of the driver's se...
Reporter's Notebook: Living and reporting from Minneapolis in crisis toggle caption Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Last Thursday, I sat idling in my car, waiting for a photographer colleague to finish an assignment. An SUV pulled up in front of me. A middle-aged white woman, with a no-nonsense haircut, dressed in a puffy coat and big sunglasses, opened the car door. She leaned out of the driver's seat and stared at me for a while. I realized she was trying to decide if I was an ICE officer. I took the large press badge sitting on my dashboard and raised it for her to see. She waved and got back inside her car. A moment later, a woman who looked Latina stepped out of the passenger side, and walked to the house across the street. toggle caption Adam Gray/AP I saw my first ICE vehicle in Minneapolis at the very start of the new year. It passed in front of the car I was in with my husband, and entered an alley a few blocks from my home, the slogan Defend The Homeland written on its side. Later, the vehicles would rarely be marked. Sponsor Message I ate arepas that night with friends at a restaurant where, a month earlier, immigration agents without a signed judicial warrant were turned away. The restaurant's owner was praised for knowing her rights as a business owner. Over the course of the last three weeks, I have had the experience of being a member of this community while also reporting on it, alongside local reporters: Minnesota Public Radio, Sahan Journal, The Minnesota Star Tribune, The Minnesota Reformer, and others. I cover criminal justice nationally for NPR, and I live in Minneapolis. For the last year, I have been reporting occasionally on the massive immigration enforcement campaign across the country, sticking mostly to the moments it intersected clearly with my beat. Late last year, for instance, I reported a story on shuttered prisons — almost all owned by private prison companies — reopening as immigration detention centers across a dozen states. But in e...
Betting on ongoing advancements within the world of technology is a smart way to invest. On Nov. 30, 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT. And it was an immediate hit. The popularity of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, which had 800 million weekly users in November, spurred a historic race in the corporate world to invest incredible amounts of money to develop AI-related infrastructure, hardware...
Betting on ongoing advancements within the world of technology is a smart way to invest. On Nov. 30, 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT. And it was an immediate hit. The popularity of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, which had 800 million weekly users in November, spurred a historic race in the corporate world to invest incredible amounts of money to develop AI-related infrastructure, hardware, and software. Many experts believe that AI will usher in a new era of human prosperity, essentially commoditizing intelligence and adding to global GDP. Investors should consider ways to build exposure in their portfolios. Instead of choosing individual stocks, here's one AI exchange-traded fund (ETF) to buy with $1,000 and hold forever. Despite owning 100 stocks, there is a high concentration among a select few A popular way to get access to companies at the forefront of AI is to consider buying the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ +0.44%). This ETF tracks the performance of the 100 largest non-financial companies that trade on the Nasdaq exchange. There are 100 stocks. However, investors should understand that there is concentration among certain businesses. The "Magnificent Seven" group combined makes up 41% of the QQQ's asset base. These are some of the most innovative companies the world has ever seen, with forward-thinking management teams and technologically advanced product and service offerings. These businesses also give investors plenty of exposure to AI. Nvidia's graphics-processing units power AI training and inference. Alphabet's Gemini app not only has 650 million monthly active users, but the company also runs the thriving Google Cloud Platform. Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure also have a huge presence in the cloud computing industry. Tesla, the sixth-largest holding, is leveraging AI capabilities to build self-driving software and robotics. And social media giant Meta Platforms uses AI to boost engagement on its apps, while also driving higher return on spe...
Written by Emily J. Thompson , Senior Investment Analyst Source: PRnewswire ORCL $ 182.44 + Infinity % 1D 1D 5D 1M 3M 6M YTD 1Y 5Y 1D Line Candle Analyst Views on ORCL Wall Street analysts forecast ORCL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ORCL is 309.59 USD with a low forecast of 180.00 USD and a high forecast of 400.0...
Written by Emily J. Thompson , Senior Investment Analyst Source: PRnewswire ORCL $ 182.44 + Infinity % 1D 1D 5D 1M 3M 6M YTD 1Y 5Y 1D Line Candle Analyst Views on ORCL Wall Street analysts forecast ORCL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ORCL is 309.59 USD with a low forecast of 180.00 USD and a high forecast of 400.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals. 34 Analyst Rating Wall Street analysts forecast ORCL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ORCL is 309.59 USD with a low forecast of 180.00 USD and a high forecast of 400.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals. 25 Buy 9 Hold 0 Sell Moderate Buy Current: 177.160 Low 180.00 Averages 309.59 High 400.00 Current: 177.160 Low 180.00 Averages 309.59 High 400.00 Morgan Stanley Equal Weight downgrade $320 -> $213 2026-01-23 New Reason Morgan Stanley Price Target $320 -> $213 AI Analysis 2026-01-23 New downgrade Equal Weight Reason Morgan Stanley lowered the firm's price target on Oracle to $213 from $320 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares. GPU-as-a-Service is "a sizable revenue opportunity," but the firm's work suggests the buildout will push Oracle EPS below targets and drive materially higher funding needs, the analyst says. The firm struggles to see a viable path to Oracle's EPS targets, which is a view factored into the current share price and reduced price target, the analyst tells investors. Meanwhile, even after underperformance, the firm thinks key risks, including its own new higher forecasts for funding nee...
TLDR Bank of America identified Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD, and Credo as attractive compute chip stocks with valuations below historical levels These four stocks are projected to grow sales by 42% and adjusted earnings by 49% from 2025 to 2027 The stocks trade at 24 times 2027 earnings or just 0.5 times PEG ratio BofA’s cloud spending tracker suggests 38% year-over-year growth in 2026, potentially reac...
TLDR Bank of America identified Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD, and Credo as attractive compute chip stocks with valuations below historical levels These four stocks are projected to grow sales by 42% and adjusted earnings by 49% from 2025 to 2027 The stocks trade at 24 times 2027 earnings or just 0.5 times PEG ratio BofA’s cloud spending tracker suggests 38% year-over-year growth in 2026, potentially reaching 50% by year-end Large cloud providers continue to invest heavily in computing infrastructure, supporting double-digit revenue growth 💥 Find the Next KnockoutStock! Get live prices, charts, and KO Scores from KnockoutStocks.com , the data-driven platform ranking every stock by quality and breakout potential. Bank of America flagged four compute-focused chipmakers as investment opportunities despite the ongoing artificial intelligence boom. Analyst Vivek Arya identified Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD, and Credo Technology Group as stocks trading below their historical valuations. NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA The bank released its analysis on Monday, describing the semiconductor sector as mixed. Some chip stocks appear overvalued while compute-related companies offer better value propositions. The four recommended stocks are expected to deliver strong financial performance over the next two years. BofA projects average sales growth of 42% and adjusted earnings growth of 49% between 2025 and 2027. Despite these growth projections, the stocks trade at 24 times 2027 earnings. This translates to just 0.5 times their price-to-earnings growth ratio. Arya characterized this pricing as compelling compared to other semiconductor stocks. The valuation gap exists even as artificial intelligence investment continues to accelerate across the industry. Cloud Infrastructure Investment Drives Growth Large cloud providers view computing infrastructure investment as essential to their operations. BofA expects this spending to support double-digit sales growth for the recommended chip companies. The ban...
(RTTNews) - ABB Ltd. (ABBN.SW, ABBNY), a Switzerland-based industrial technology group, on Tuesday said it has been selected by Bruce Power under a multi-year contract to modernize excitation systems at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario. The project will support the life extension, reliability, and efficiency of eight nuclear units, with financial terms undisclosed. The first excitat...
(RTTNews) - ABB Ltd. (ABBN.SW, ABBNY), a Switzerland-based industrial technology group, on Tuesday said it has been selected by Bruce Power under a multi-year contract to modernize excitation systems at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario. The project will support the life extension, reliability, and efficiency of eight nuclear units, with financial terms undisclosed. The first excitation systems are expected to be delivered on site by the end of 2027. The contract was booked in the fourth quarter of 2025, covers the replacement of existing excitation systems at both Bruce A and Bruce B stations with ABB's Canadian-built UNITROL 6000 X-power technology. The company said the technology will enhance grid stability, safety, and operational efficiency, supporting safe and reliable low-carbon power generation in Canada. The systems are engineered to meet nuclear-grade requirements and ensure compliance with grid codes, with engineering and design work scheduled over the next two years. The project aligns with Bruce Power's Major Component Replacement program, under which Units 3 to 8 are scheduled to be refurbished by 2033. ABB is currently trading 1.49% higher at CHF 61.28 on the Swiss Stock Exchange. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.