Day: February 4, 2025

Chongqing – In this episode, we will visit the Nanchuan District, where we will explore the rich medicinal plant resources of Jinfo Mount, learn about the origins and development of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and show the journey of medicinal plants from the mountains to the dining table, becoming healthy and flavorful culinary delights.

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A couple of weeks ago, PayPal Honey was caught tricking its users and snatching affiliate revenue from creators. The popular browser extension often hides the best deals from customers when the relevant merchant collaborates with it. It also removes YouTubers’ affiliate cookies and injects its own to take credit for users’ purchases. Regardless of its legality, this shady, unethical extension has been harming millions of people, and it’s now being taken to court.
Lawyer Devin Stone (LegalEagle on YouTube) has filed a class action lawsuit against PayPal over Honey’s exploitation of creators. The case claims that Honey violates California’s Unfair Competition Law by meddling with content creators and their business partners.
In a statement to The Verge, PayPal VP of corporate communications Josh Criscoe denied these claims and said: “We dispute the allegations in the lawsuits, and will defend against them vigorously. Honey is free to use and provides millions of shoppers with additional savings on their purchases whenever possible. Honey helps merchants reduce cart abandonment and comparison shopping while increasing sales conversion. Honey follows industry rules and practices, including last-click attribution, which is widely used across major brands.”
If affected creators win this legal battle, PayPal may have to compensate them for Honey’s damage over the years. The case also pushes to prevent the firm from swapping affiliate cookies when customers check out. If you’re an impacted content creator, you can join the lawsuit by filling out LegalEagle’s form.

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Partly cloudy. High 31F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph..
Partly cloudy. Low near 20F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: January 7, 2025 @ 1:53 am
Orthopedic surgeon Robert Gray, right, meets with a patient at his office in Skokie, Illinois.
Orthopedic surgeon Robert Grayholds his iPhone after completing a visit with a patient at his office in the Endeavor Health medical building on Dec. 11, 2024, in Skokie, Illinois. Gray uses an Abridge listening and transcription app on his iPhone made especially for medical professionals. The app uses AI to transcribe the conversation between doctors and their patients that can later be used in charting. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Orthopedic surgeon Robert Gray, right, meets with a patient at his office in Skokie, Illinois.
Orthopedic surgeon Robert Grayholds his iPhone after completing a visit with a patient at his office in the Endeavor Health medical building on Dec. 11, 2024, in Skokie, Illinois. Gray uses an Abridge listening and transcription app on his iPhone made especially for medical professionals. The app uses AI to transcribe the conversation between doctors and their patients that can later be used in charting. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
CHICAGO — It was easy to miss Dr. Robert Gray’s quick movements, tapping the screen of his smartphone at the beginning and end of patient visits on a recent day.
But Gray said those fast finger taps have changed his life. He was tapping an app that records discussions during his appointments and then uses artificial intelligence to find the relevant information, summarize it and zap it, within seconds, into each patient’s electronic medical record.
The technology was meticulously documenting each visit so Gray didn’t have to.
“I enjoy working so much more,” said Gray, an Endeavor Health hand surgeon. He’s no longer trying to consult with patients while simultaneously summarizing the visits on a computer. “I don’t have the feeling I got hit by a truck every day.”
It’s a technology that’s spreading rapidly throughout doctors’ offices in the Chicago area and across the country, and could soon become a standard part of medical appointments. Local health care leaders hope the technology will help combat physician burnout by dramatically cutting the amount of time doctors spend on documentation, and they hope it will improve patients’ experiences. Doctors will be able to spend more time looking patients in the eye, rather than staring at computer screens during appointments, health care leaders say.
“It allows them to get home to be with their families or allows them to focus entirely on the patient,” said Dr. Nadim Ilbawi, system medical director of ambulatory innovation for Endeavor.
About 50 of Endeavor’s primary care doctors and specialists have been using the ambient listening technology, made by a company named Abridge, since September.
Other local health systems have taken generative AI note-taking technologies even further.
Northwestern Medicine has about 300 of its physicians using a similar technology offered by Microsoft called DAX Copilot, and Rush University System for Health has about 100 clinicians using DAX Copilot as well as a technology made by another company. At UChicago Medicine, about 550 clinicians are using the Abridge technology, and about 1,300 providers are using DAX Copilot at Advocate Health Care in Illinois and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin. Beyond Illinois, health care systems Kaiser Permanente and Johns Hopkins Medicine are among those who’ve agreed to offer Abridge across their systems.
Now, the technologies are mostly being used in the Chicago area during appointments with patients in offices and clinics, but several local systems say they plan to soon offer them to doctors in emergency rooms, urgent cares and nurses and to those providing care to patients staying overnight in hospitals. Leaders at the systems say that, so far, they’ve seen positive results from using the technologies, and some say they hope to eventually offer them to all of their providers.
“It’s going to become ubiquitous very soon,” said Dr. Nirav S. Shah, associate chief medical informatics officer for AI and innovation at Endeavor.
So far, health systems say it’s been optional for doctors, and they don’t foresee forcing providers to use it. It’s also optional for patients.
Typically, the doctor or medical staff member will ask the patient for permission to use the technology at the start of the appointment. Generally, if the patient says it’s OK, the doctor will then access it through an app on their phone. The doctor can tap their phone screen, and the app will start recording.
The Abridge app records audio of the conversation and then transcribes it. The transcription is then sent to a cloud — neither the transcription nor the recording is stored on the doctor’s phone. Artificial intelligence sorts the relevant parts of the conversation — such as discussion about medical and socioeconomic issues — from small talk and other irrelevant parts, creating notes about the appointment in the patient’s electronic medical record.
The doctor then reviews the notes in the medical record, making sure they’re accurate, and can make changes before signing off on them. The audio or transcript of the appointment is eventually destroyed, leaving only the medical record behind.
So far, Gray said he hasn’t had any patients say no to the technology. Dr. Douglas Dorman, a family medicine physician at Advocate Health Care in Yorkville, said he’s had fewer than 10 patients reject the idea since he started using the technology.
Catherine Gregory, who saw Gray on a recent day after undergoing surgery for a broken arm, said it seemed like a good idea as a way to help doctors give patients more of their undivided attention.
“I’m for it,” said Gregory, 62, of Chicago, “because I want his attention on me, especially if I’m in pain, like today. I don’t want you to miss anything I’m saying about the pain I’m in.”
Patient Robert Johnston, 61, of West Rogers Park, said he’d never heard of the technology before visiting Gray. At first, he worried it might be intrusive, especially if he were discussing a sensitive topic with a doctor. But he said he can also see how it could help doctors and patients have better relationships.
“It’s a lot better when they’re able to speak directly to me,” he said of doctors. “As long as privacy concerns are protected, I think it’s a great idea.”
Local health systems said the companies they chose to supply the technologies had to meet the systems’ security and privacy requirements. Breaches and cyberattacks have become common at health systems across the country in recent years.
“We take security very, very, very seriously so it was definitely evaluated strongly,” said Dr. Betsy Winga, vice president of medical informatics and chief medical informatics officer for Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care.
She said she couldn’t discuss the costs of the technology, but said, “The benefit we have seen from it, from a clinician experience standpoint, is just priceless.”
Overall, Dorman, with Advocate, said patients seem to appreciate it — or at least what it’s meant for their interactions with him. Patients have told him he seems more relaxed and less stressed, he said.
“I get to come back to work each day refreshed, recharged, excited to be there,” Dorman said. “I really think it improves my demeanor.”
Doctors who’ve used the technology say, in some ways, it’s helped them return to an earlier time in medicine, when they didn’t have to spend as much time on documentation. A federal law passed in 2009 incentivized the use of electronic medical records as a way to make records more easily accessible, increase patient privacy and improve patient safety. Later the federal government began penalizing providers who didn’t use them in a meaningful way. Doctors say that, over time, the amount of information they’ve had to enter in the records has grown.
In many cases, that’s left doctors with two choices: either try to document patients’ visits during their appointments or finish their documentation at the end of the day, which can often mean hours of extra work.
According to an American Medical Association survey, doctors in 2023 said they worked 59-hour workweeks, on average, and nearly eight hours of that time was devoted to administrative tasks. About 48% of the doctors who responded to the AMA survey reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout.
Doctors and health care leaders refer to time spent on administrative tasks outside of the workday as “pajama time.” Northwestern saw a 17% decrease in pajama time among its clinicians who used the AI note-taking technology, and Advocate Health Care saw nearly a 15% reduction.
Dorman, with Advocate, said he used to spend 20 to 25 hours a week working on documentation, after hours. He said he used to be the last one to leave the office each day. Now, he said he spends about 30 minutes a week on the task. He said the technology has been “life-changing.”
Before the technology, Dr. Melissa Holmes, a pediatrician at Rush, would type some of her notes during the day and others in the evenings, at home, after her kids went to bed. She said she’s still doing some work in the evenings, but it takes much less time to check over and edit the AI notes than it did to type all of her own.
The technology has also helped her be more present with her patients, she said.
“Before, I felt kind of tied to my computer screen because I didn’t want to miss anything,” said Holmes, who is also an associate chief medical information officer for the system. “Now, as a parent is pointing out something they’re concerned about in a child, I can be at the bedside looking at it with the parent rather than typing it in and then looking at it.”
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Moon Active is giving away 60 Coin Master spins and seven million coins on January 7, 2025. These freebies can be redeemed through three links shared on the game’s social media pages. Two links provide 25 spins each, while one offers 10 spins and seven million coins.
This article lists all the links active on January 7, 2025, and offers a guide to redeeming rewards from them.
Looking for Crossword hints & solutions? Check out latest NYT Mini Crossword Answers, LA Times Crossword Answers, and USA Today Crossword Answers
Here are all the Coin Master links that grant free spins and coins on January 7, 2025:
Note that you can only redeem the rewards once per account, and the links expire after three days. It’s important to redeem them as soon as possible so that you do not miss out on any of the freebies.
To obtain rewards from links, connect your device to mobile data or Wi-Fi. Make sure you have the latest version of the game.
Click on an active link from the list above. Follow the prompts to open the app (hit the Continue button instead of Go Back) and wait for it to load all its assets.
Once this is done, a notification will appear with a Collect button and a list of rewards you can claim from the link. Click on the Collect button to get all the applicable freebies from the link.
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Exclusive: Concerns raised over role of Faculty AI, which has worked with NHS and government safety body
A company that has worked closely with the UK government on artificial intelligence safety, the NHS and education is also developing AI for military drones.
The consultancy Faculty AI has “experience developing and deploying AI models on to UAVs”, or unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a defence industry partner company.
Faculty has emerged as one of the most active companies selling AI services in the UK. Unlike the likes of OpenAI, Deepmind or Anthropic, it does not develop models itself, instead focusing on reselling models, notably from OpenAI, and consulting on their use in government and industry.
Faculty gained particular prominence in the UK after working on data analysis for the Vote Leave campaign before the Brexit vote. Boris Johnson’s former adviser, Dominic Cummings, then gave government work to Faculty during the pandemic, and included its chief executive, Marc Warner, in meetings of the government’s scientific advisory panel.
Since then the company, officially called Faculty Science, has carried out testing of AI models for the UK government’s AI Safety Institute (AISI), set up in 2023 under former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Governments around the world are racing to understand the safety implications of artificial intelligence, after rapid improvements in generative AI prompted a wave of hype around its possibilities.
Weapons companies are keen to potentially put AI on drones, ranging from “loyal wingmen” that could fly alongside fighter jets, to loitering munitions that are already capable of waiting for targets to appear before firing on them.
The latest technological developments have raised the prospect of drones that can track and kill without a human “in the loop” making the final decision.
In a press release announcing a partnership with London-based Faculty, the British startup Hadean wrote that the two companies are working together on “subject identification, tracking object movement, and exploring autonomous swarming development, deployment and operations”.
It is understood that Faculty’s work with Hadean did not include weapons targeting. However, Faculty did not answer questions on whether it was working on drones capable of applying lethal force, or to give further details of its defence work, citing confidentiality agreements.
A spokesperson for Faculty said: “We help to develop novel AI models that will help our defence partners create safer, more robust solutions,” adding that it has “rigorous ethical policies and internal processes” and follows ethical guidelines on AI from the Ministry of Defence.
The spokesperson said Faculty has a decade of experience in AI safety, including on countering child sexual abuse and terrorism.
The Scott Trust, the ultimate owner of the Guardian, is an investor in Mercuri VC, formerly GMG Ventures, which is a minority shareholder in Faculty.
“We’ve worked on AI safety for a decade and are world-leading experts in this field,” the spokesperson said. “That’s why we’re trusted by governments and model developers to ensure frontier AI is safe, and by defence clients to apply AI ethically to help keep citizens safe.”
Many experts and politicians have called for caution before introducing more autonomous technologies into the military. A House of Lords committee in 2023 called for the UK government to try to set up a treaty or a non-binding agreement to clarify the application of international humanitarian law when it comes to lethal drones. The Green party in September called for laws to outlaw lethal autonomous weapons systems completely.
Faculty continues to work closely with the AISI, putting it in a position where its judgments could be influential for UK government policy.
In November, the AISI contracted Faculty to survey how large language models “are used to aid in criminal or otherwise undesirable behaviour”. The AISI said the winner of the contract – Faculty – “will be a significant strategic collaborator of AISI’s safeguards team, directly contributing key information to AISI’s models of system security.”
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The company works directly with OpenAI, the startup that began the latest wave of AI enthusiasm, to use its ChatGPT model. Experts have previously raised concerns over a potential conflict of work in the work Faculty has carried out with AISI, according to Politico, a news website. Faculty did not detail which companies’ models it had tested, although it tested OpenAI’s o1 model before its release.
The government has previously said of Faculty AI’s work for AISI: “crucially, they are not conflicted through the development of their own model”.
Natalie Bennett, a peer for the Green party, said: “The Green party has long expressed grave concern about the ‘revolving door’ between industry and government, raising issues from gas company staff being seconded to work on energy policy to former defence ministers going to work for arms companies.
“That a single company has been both taking up a large number of government contracts to work on AI while also working with the AI Safety Institute on testing large language models is a serious concern – not so much ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ as doing both roles at the same time.”
Bennett also highlighted that the UK government has “yet to make a full commitment” to ensure there is a human in the loop for autonomous weapons systems, as recommended by the Lords committee.
Faculty, whose biggest shareholder is a Guernsey-registered holding company, has also sought to cultivate close ties across the UK government, winning contracts worth at least £26.6m, according to government disclosures. Those include contracts with the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Those contracts represent a significant source of revenue for a company that made sales worth £32m in the year to 31 March. I t lost £4.4m during that period.
Albert Sanchez-Graells, a professor of economic law at the University of Bristol, warned that the UK is relying on tech firms’ “self-restraint and responsibility in AI development”.
“Companies supporting AISI’s work need to avoid organisational conflicts of interest arising from their work for other parts of government and broader market-based AI business,” Sanchez-Graells said.
“Companies with such broad portfolios of AI activity as Faculty have questions to answer on how they ensure their advice to AISI is independent and unbiased, and how they avoid taking advantage of that knowledge in their other activities.”
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology declined to comment, saying it would not go into detail on individual commercial contracts.

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KYODO NEWS – 4 minutes ago – 16:29 | All, Japan
The Japanese government is likely to soon replace national security adviser Takeo Akiba with Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano, government sources said Tuesday.
Okano, 60, will coordinate the country’s diplomatic and security policies, including those related to Japan’s key security ally the United States, after he is formally named secretary general of the National Security Secretariat under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Tokyo has decided on the change ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Ishiba, who took office in October, seeks to visit the United States later this year to hold his first in-person talks with Trump.
Okano is also expected to make efforts to improve Japan’s relations with China, as the incoming Trump administration is expected to pursue its “America First” policy and take a tough stance against the Communist-led government.
Moreover, Okano will play a key role in introducing “active cyber defense,” an approach aimed at monitoring and detecting signs of cyberattacks and, if necessary, disrupting enemy servers with computer viruses to neutralize them, the sources said.
Okano, currently the top bureaucrat at the Foreign Ministry, held key government posts under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ishiba’s predecessor, serving as chief of the ministry’s Foreign Policy Bureau and assistant chief Cabinet secretary.
Akiba, also a former vice foreign minister, assumed his current post in July 2021 under Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and led the compilation of three key documents in December 2022 outlining Japan’s fundamental national security strategy over the following 10 years.
The government is considering appointing Takehiro Funakoshi to succeed Okano as vice foreign minister, the sources said. Funakoshi is currently serving as senior deputy foreign minister for political affairs.
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African swine fever (ASF) continues to pose a significant threat to global pork production, with new outbreaks confirmed in South Korea and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, ASF remains an ongoing challenge in parts of Europe and Southeast Asia, where containment efforts are ramping up.
Authorities in Hong Kong have confirmed ASF outbreaks on two licensed pig farms in Yuen Long, New Territories, marking the latest in a series of cases. Combined, the farms housed over 2,200 pigs, and culling efforts have now exceeded 6,000 swine across three affected locations.
The Hong Kong veterinary authority has notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) of the cases, as the region works to contain the virus. These outbreaks are another reminder of ASF’s ability to disrupt local production and pose economic risks to pig farmers.
On January 28, South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture confirmed a second ASF outbreak of the year, this time at a farm in Yangju County, Gyeonggi Province. The outbreak impacted approximately 4,450 pigs and followed another confirmed case in the same province just days earlier.
Since ASF was first detected in South Korea in 2019, the nation has now recorded 51 outbreaks in domestic pig herds, leading to the culling of approximately 190,700 animals. Additionally, ASF continues to spread among wild boar populations, with more than 4,200 cases confirmed to date.
ASF remains a persistent issue across several Asian countries:
ASF outbreaks remain a concern across Europe, affecting both domestic pigs and wild boar.
With ASF continuing to disrupt swine production worldwide, producers are urged to reinforce biosecurity measures, particularly in regions where the virus remains active. Enhanced surveillance, controlled pig movements, and vaccination strategies are critical to limiting the spread.
As global pork markets navigate the ongoing ASF threat, industry stakeholders are closely watching new containment strategies, regionalization agreements, and vaccination efforts to mitigate the impact of this devastating disease.

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Google’s Quick Share levels up with this handy AirDrop feature  Android Police
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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 02-04-2025 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Lured by financial gains, the two 19-year-olds were tasked by Russian intelligence to place a bomb at a police station – not knowing the bomb was meant to detonate before they got away.
Russian intelligence hired two 19-year-olds to bomb a police station in Rivne in western Ukraine – with plans to kill them in the process, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) stated.
The SBU said they were caught while planting the bomb, during which the bomb and “additional covert surveillance equipment with a remote access function for the Russian special services” were seized upon their arrest, the SBU said in its Monday press release.

A UN report on Monday records an escalation in the mistreatment of captured Ukrainian military personnel including summary executions over the last six months.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, cited in a UN press release on Monday, Feb. 3, has documented 24 separate incidents in which Russian troops have executed 79 captured Ukrainian soldiers since late August – which are war crimes.
The UN report was based on video and photo evidence, obtained from both Ukrainian and Russian sources, which it said had been verified using geolocation, chronolocation [time confirmation] along with eyewitness testimonies. It said these incidents occurred in areas where it had been documented that Russian forces were conducting offensive operations.

What the latest vote in the Bundestag – on tightening immigration controls – portends for the federal elections on Feb. 23.
A majority of the German Bundestag on Wednesday approved a non-binding motion put forward by the CDU/CSU faction to tighten the country’s migration policy, which includes the introduction of permanent border controls. The vote was hotly contested as it passed with the votes of the AfD, which is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist organization. Europe’s press weighs in.
Deep rifts in the center

A trade war between the EU and the U.S. would be “a cruel paradox,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said, adding that such an “unnecessary” conflict must be avoided at all costs.
Tusk’s remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday warned he would “absolutely” impose tariffs on the EU after announcing levies of 25% on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10% on Chinese goods.
The U.S. paused new tariffs on Mexico on Monday for one month, after Mexico agreed to tighten controls at its northern border to curb illegal drug trafficking. But tariffs on Canada and China are still set to take effect on Tuesday.

The world in focus, as seen by Canadian leading global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw in a quick review of the biggest news in international media today.
Donald Trump says the US will “definitely” impose trade tariffs on the EU, after already announcing tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China. The 25% import tax on goods from Canada and Mexico, and 10% on goods from China, begin on Tuesday. Asked by the BBC if the EU was next, President Trump says “it will definitely happen.” On tariffs on UK goods, Trump says the UK is “out of line. But… I think that one can be worked out.” Trump has given a range of reasons for imposing tariffs on countries, including border security, inflows of drugs, and trade deficits. A European Commission spokesperson said the EU will “respond firmly to any trading partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU goods”. Meanwhile, stock markets fell in Asia during Monday’s trading, while European markets dropped shortly after opening – BBC
A day after signing steep new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, Donald Trump acknowledged what economists, members of Congress and even some of his own aides — in their previous lives — have been saying all along: Americans may find themselves paying the costs. “THIS WILL BE THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA! WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” Trump posted, in all capital letters, on his Truth Social platform. The message, which appeared in the hour before Trump arrived to his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf club for the second day in a row, amounted to an advance warning. Trump is serious about fulfilling his campaign promises to end illegal immigration, curb the flow of deadly drugs and rebalance continental trade. But doing so will be uncomfortable, Trump is suggesting, and could serve to undermine another of his top campaign vows: lowering costs for Americans – CNN

One US official told Reuters that divisions within the administration remain over how much support Washington should continue providing to Kyiv.
US military aid to Ukraine was briefly paused in recent days before resuming over the weekend, as the Trump administration deliberated its policy toward Kyiv, Reuters reported on Feb. 3, citing four sources familiar with the matter.
According to two of the sources, shipments restarted after the White House reversed an initial assessment to halt all military aid to Ukraine.

The air raid alert in Kyiv was declared twice—first from 1:06 to 3:58 a.m., and again from 5:00 to 6:05 a.m.
Kyiv came under a Russian drone attack early on Tuesday, Feb. 4, with explosions heard as air defense systems engaged the UAVs, according to city officials.
The air raid alert in Kyiv was declared twice—first from 1:06 to 3:58 a.m., and again from 5:00 to 6:05 a.m.

One reason for this may be the occurrence of many casualties, but the exact details are still being monitored, South Korea’s spy agency told AFP.
North Korean soldiers previously fighting alongside Russia’s army on the Kursk front line appear not to have been engaged in combat since mid-January, South Korea’s spy agency told AFP Tuesday, after Ukraine claimed they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.
“Since mid-January, it appears that the North Korean troops deployed to the Kursk region of Russia have not engaged in combat,” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said.

Trump’s $500B AI push was meant to secure U.S. dominance—but days later, a Chinese startup delivered a ChatGPT rival at a fraction of the cost. Panic hit Wall Street, stocks plunged.
The rollercoaster ride involving Artificial Intelligence (AI) garnered headlines with a half-trillion-dollar announcement by Trump about American dominance, followed by a trillion-dollar correction following an announcement that China had overtaken America in AI development. This marked the latest twists and turns in the 21st-century contest for global technological dominance. On January 22, President Donald Trump announced the $500-billion AI Stargate project to build data centers and double electricity in America to serve them. Just days later, a Chinese startup called DeepSeek revealed its own AI model, equivalent to America’s ChatGPT and produced at a fraction of the cost. Investors panicked, and shares plunged. The innovation shocked Wall Street, embarrassed Silicon Valley and Washington, and hoisted Beijing’s status to the top of the global tech sweepstakes. But the significance was captured best by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who described it as “one of the most remarkable breakthroughs I’ve ever seen… It’s AI’s Sputnik moment.”

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:

“Independent media plays a vital role in ensuring the continued flow of information to Russian audiences,” Brussels explains.
Ukrainska Pravda on Monday wrote that the European Commission would provide almost €3 million in aid to independent journalists exiled from Russia and Belarus who have found shelter in the European Union and have continued their reporting from there.
Brussels announced that those funds will go toward supporting independent media and journalists from Belarus and Russia working in EU countries, enabling them to continue producing and distributing content to their audiences without “editorial interference.”

“If we are attacked in terms of trade, Europe, as a true power, will have to stand up for itself,” Macron warns.
The threat of a transatlantic trade war loomed large Monday over a gathering of European leaders aimed at boosting the continent’s defenses in the face of an aggressive Russia.
The EU’s 27 leaders, Britain’s prime minister and the head of NATO were in Brussels to brainstorm ways to ramp up European defense spending, a key demand that President Donald Trump has made to America’s allies.

As stalled military shipments to Kyiv resume, the US President says Zelensky is open to the idea of barter, which likely would include lithium, a key component of batteries for electric cars.
Speaking to reporters from his desk in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump announced his idea of sending more military aid to Ukraine in exchange for that country’s rare earth metals.
“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said on Monday. “They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it.”

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LYON, France – Nearly 20,000 live animals, all endangered or protected species, have been seized in a global operation against wildlife and forestry trafficking networks, jointly coordinated by INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization (WCO).
Operation Thunder 2024 (11 November – 6 December) brought together police, customs, border control, forestry and wildlife officials from 138 countries and regions, marking the widest participation since the first edition in 2017.
Authorities arrested 365 suspects and identified six transnational criminal networks suspected of trafficking animals and plants protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Such species are illegally trafficked to meet specific market demands, whether for food, perceived medicinal benefits, “luxury” and collector items or as pets and competition animals.
The live animals, which included big cats, birds, pangolins, primates and reptiles were rescued in connection with 2,213 seizures made worldwide.
Where possible, wildlife forensic experts collected DNA samples before transferring the animals to conservation centres, where their health was assessed while awaiting repatriation or rehabilitation, in line with national frameworks and relevant protocols.
The collection of DNA is a crucial part of supporting prosecutions, as it helps confirm the type of species and its origin or distribution, shedding light on new trafficking routes and emerging trends.
In addition to the live animals, participating countries seized hundreds of thousands of protected animal parts and derivatives, trees, plants, marine life and arthropods.
Timber cases represent the most significant seizures, primarily occurring in sea cargo container shipments, while most other seizures took place at airports and mail processing hubs.
Authorities also investigated online activities and found suspects using multiple profiles and linked accounts across social media platforms and marketplaces to expand their reach.
More than 100 companies involved in the trafficking of protected species were also identified.
Valdecy Urquiza, INTERPOL Secretary General said:
“Organized crime networks are profiting from the demand for rare plants and animals, exploiting nature to fuel human greed. This has far-reaching consequences: it drives biodiversity loss, destroys communities, contributes to climate change and even fuels conflict and instability.
“Environmental crimes are uniquely destructive, and INTERPOL, in cooperation with its partners, is committed to protecting our planet for future generations.”
Ian Saunders, WCO Secretary General, said:
“Operation Thunder continues to shed light on a crime that is often not a priority for enforcement actors. Through our joint efforts we have established cooperation mechanisms that facilitate the exchange of information and intelligence, and we have refined our enforcement strategies.
“The illegal wildlife trade is still rapidly growing, highly lucrative and has devastating effects. The WCO remains committed to supporting its members and partners to effectively combat this serious crime.”
Significant seizures include:
Regular operations such as Thunder enable investigators to build a comprehensive global intelligence picture and detailed offender profiles, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of enforcement efforts and resolution of cross-border cases.
Cooperation between various stakeholders is essential for effectively combating transnational criminal networks, from seizure to arrest and prosecution, as the data collected enable customs administrations to refine their risk management and compliance strategies, and stay one step ahead of criminals, ensuring that their contribution to the fight against wildlife crime is dynamic and responsive.
Ahead of the operation, countries exchanged actionable intelligence on ongoing cases and high-value targets, updating critical information on 21 INTERPOL Red Notices for suspected traffickers wanted internationally. This exchange continued throughout the operation, with officers using the secure channels provided by both INTERPOL and the WCO to communicate in real time.
The Operation Thunder series is backed by the CITES Secretariat and carried out under the partnership framework of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC). The 2024 edition was co-funded by the European Union, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

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