The trucks used in the deadly New Orleans attack and the explosion at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas were rented through the same app, it has been revealed.
Both had been rented on the the same peer-to-peer rental app, Turo, according to the company. At least 15 people have been confirmed killed in the New Orleans attack.
The owner of the Ford truck used in New Orleans recognized the vehicle when he saw footage of the incident on the news. He confirmed he rented the truck to the 42-year-old Army veteran.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar had posted videos to social media hours before the carnage saying he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressing a desire to kill.
The truck's owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he rents five cars on the app as a second income stream.
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The Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas was also rented on Turo. So far the connection has been described by officials as a "coincidence," but investigations continue.
Turo said in a statement that it was “actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents.”
“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” the statement said. “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management.”
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said at a news conference.
Investigators found multiple improvised explosives, including two pipe bombs that were concealed within coolers and wired for remote detonation, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
The bulletin, relying on preliminary information gathered soon after the attack, also cited surveillance footage that it said showed three men and a woman placing one of the devices, but federal officials did not immediately confirm that detail and it wasn’t clear who they were or what connection they had to the attack, if any.
Jabbar drove a rented pickup truck onto a sidewalk, going around a police car that was positioned to block vehicular traffic, authorities said. A barrier system meant to prevent vehicle attacks was being repaired in preparation for the Super Bowl in February.
Jabbar was killed by police after he exited the truck and opened fire on responding officers, Kirkpatrick said. Three officers returned fire. Two were shot and are in stable condition.
Investigators recovered a handgun and AR-style rifle, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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ChatGPT Reveals Top Trending Altcoins Of New Year 2025: Solana, Shiba Inu And Yeti Ouro  Analytics Insight
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Researchers are developing an ambitious AI system aimed at bridging the communication gap between humans and animals. The Earth Species Project, a non-profit organisation, has unveiled NatureLM, an artificial intelligence model designed to decode animal communication. This breakthrough could revolutionise how humans interact with the animal kingdom, offering new insights into behaviour and potentially reshaping how society views animal rights.
NatureLM is already capable of identifying the species of the animal “speaking,” along with other contextual details like the animal’s age or whether it is signalling distress or play. Impressively, the system has also shown promise in deciphering communication patterns of species it hasn’t encountered before. By training on a mix of human language, environmental sounds, and other data, the AI model aims to unlock the mysteries of animal communication, bringing humans closer to understanding the natural world.
The Earth Species Project believes the current biodiversity crisis underscores the need to reconnect with the natural world. Its CEO, Katie Zacarian, explained during a demo of NatureLM at the Axios AI+ Summit that decoding animal communication could bridge this gap. According to Zacarian, AI offers a pathway to understanding animals on a deeper level, fostering greater empathy and connection.
NatureLM isn’t alone in this mission. Generative AI, known for its prowess in translating between human languages, is being leveraged to translate the “languages” of animals. From distinguishing between bird songs and alarm calls to recognising that some species use unique identifiers for one another, researchers are making strides. For instance, prairie dogs have been found to use a mix of nouns and adjectives to describe predators, showcasing a complex communication system.
Translating animal communication presents unique challenges, as it involves deciphering largely unknown “languages.” Unlike human translation, where both source and target languages are understood, animal communication remains a puzzle with only partial clues. However, researchers are hopeful, as AI models like NatureLM continue to demonstrate their ability to identify patterns and meanings in previously uncharted areas of animal dialogue.
NatureLM is part of a broader movement to leverage AI for addressing environmental challenges. Microsoft, for instance, recently unveiled SPARROW, an AI system designed to measure biodiversity in remote regions using solar-powered sensors and acoustic monitors. These advancements highlight AI’s potential to tackle pressing issues like climate change and habitat loss.
However, as promising as these developments are, the energy-intensive nature of AI systems has raised concerns. Tech companies are grappling with the challenge of achieving carbon neutrality while advancing such projects. Ethical questions surrounding the responsible use of AI remain critical, as researchers work to ensure that progress benefits both humans and the planet.
With efforts like NatureLM, the dream of communicating with animals is edging closer to reality, potentially transforming humanity’s relationship with the natural world.
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With North Korean workers, particularly IT professionals, increasingly relocating to Russia, cyber operations are expected to escalate
The dawn of 2025 offers a crucial moment to reflect on how 2024 proved remarkably advantageous for North Korea. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has emerged as an unexpected economic lifeline for Pyongyang, while simultaneously drawing the regime out of its diplomatic isolation. North Korea’s cyber operations throughout 2024 have also yielded significant gains for the regime, which continues to view its cyber capabilities as a vital strategic asset.
The Chainalysis 2025 Crypto Crime Report reveals that 2024 marked an exceptional year for North Korean cyber heists. The regime’s hackers managed to steal $1.34 billion through 47 separate incidents – a staggering 103% increase from 2023’s $660.50 million across 20 incidents. This dramatic surge has raised serious concerns among the United States, South Korea, and Japan, particularly since an estimated 40% of these illicit funds directly support North Korea’s strategic military programs.
The findings are troubling for three key reasons. First, they demonstrate that the decline following 2022 was merely temporary, not a lasting trend. As shown in Figure 1, North Korean hackers have reached the billion-dollar threshold twice – in both 2022 and 2024. Second, this increased funding could fuel North Korea’s expanding military ambitions, including its submarine development, space program, and drone initiatives. Third, and perhaps most significantly, North Korea’s share of global cyber theft has reached an unprecedented 60% of total stolen funds.
Two significant trends have emerged in North Korea’s cyber operations beyond just the total amount stolen. First, the regime increasingly targets high-value exploits in the $50-100 million and $100+ million categories, demonstrating growing sophistication in its operations. This shift towards larger heists suggests that North Korean hackers are becoming more efficient and skilled – a development that has raised alarms among cybersecurity agencies.
Second, the integration of AI into hacking operations has added a new dimension of concern. These advanced cyber operations are closely tied to North Korea’s IT workforce, whose role has become increasingly central to the regime’s broader cyber strategy.
North Korea’s cyber operations rely heavily on its extensive network of IT workers, who serve as crucial links between the regime and the outside world. These operatives can reportedly earn up to $300,000 annually. While many operations are conducted from relative safe havens in China and Russia, which offer geographic proximity and lenient regulations, domestic North Korean organizations continue to play a significant role.
These IT professionals operate through domestic companies and entities that facilitate malicious cyber operations to generate revenue for the regime. One notable example is the Jinyong IT Operation Company, a regime-affiliated entity that helps channel funds back to North Korea.
Operating from overseas, these IT workers employ various fraudulent schemes targeting countries like the U.S. Their tactics include creating fake job applications and infiltrating companies as IT professionals to steal money or extract sensitive data. In some documented cases, DPRK operatives have collaborated with foreign nationals to establish “laptop farms” for conducting mass targeting operations against foreign citizens.
In late 2024, South Korea and its allies intensified their response to North Korea’s cyber threats through targeted sanctions and enhanced cyber deterrence measures. The United States imposed sanctions on nine individuals and seven entities in December 2024, including Ri Chang Ho, head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), which orchestrates cyber heists. Shortly after, on Dec. 26, South Korea issued its own sanctions targeting 15 North Korean IT professionals and an entity involved in money laundering.
These actions built upon previous sanctions from both nations. In May 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department targeted key institutions including the Pyongyang University of Automation, Technical Reconnaissance Bureau, and 110th Research Centre – all crucial to North Korea’s IT operations. South Korea and the U.S., along with Japan, have also sanctioned prominent North Korean cyber groups like Lazarus and Kimsuky, demonstrating their growing trilateral coordination.
Beyond sanctions, the U.S. and South Korea have strengthened their bilateral cooperation, while also engaging Japan in trilateral efforts to counter North Korean sanctions evasion through IT workers. These partnerships focus on enhancing public-private collaboration, law enforcement coordination, and intelligence sharing. Following Russia’s veto of the DPRK Panel of Experts in March, this cooperation has intensified, leading to the creation of the Multilateral Sanction Monitoring Team – an eleven-nation initiative to track and report sanctions violations.
With North Korean workers, particularly IT professionals, increasingly relocating to Russia, cyber operations are expected to escalate, potentially generating more revenue for the regime. This trend, combined with the growing cyber activities of Russia, China, and Iran targeting the US and its allies, suggests possible future coordination among these nations in the cyber domain. This evolving landscape requires continued vigilance from South Korea and its partners to ensure the effectiveness of both existing and new sanctions monitoring mechanisms.

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Family
TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains material about a suicide attempt. Reader discretion advised.
Stories of Hope // January 2, 2025, 3:24 pm
Unloved, bullied and given away as a child, Qi Qi found love with Jeffrey Aw and his family. They are pictured right after he proposed to her in the car. Photos courtesy of Aw Qi Qi.
Two years into her marriage, Aw Qi Qi’s past caught up with her.
She began getting flashbacks from the first nine years of her life. She would remember being caned while bathing, restrained in the darkness overnight, chased out of the house, and hit with a belt. 
Qi Qi around the age of one. The photo is among several childhood images she received after tracking down a member of the first family she lived with. They are the only photos she has of her growing up years.
Each time a memory surfaced, it threw her into an emotional tailspin of depression, grief, shame and regret. 
Qi Qi had told her husband about some of these traumatic events from her childhood during their dating days. But when these flashbacks came, she did not know how to tell him about them.
“I just asked for space to deal with them each time they came,” Qi Qi, now 35 and a primary school tutor, told Stories of Hope. She is married to Jeffrey Aw, now a pastor at Bethesda (Bedok-Tampines) Church.
“But it came to a point that I realised that it was affecting our marriage. As I did not want to talk about what was troubling me, we no longer communicated openly,” she said.
The suicidal thoughts that had plagued her during her teenage years also returned.
When she was nine years old, Qi Qi was given away by the people she thought were her biological parents.
Life did not become easier.
Her new foster parents “had their own hurts and did not deal with me in a positive manner”.
Qi Qi when she was about age four.
The effects of feeling abandoned and rejected by both sets of caregivers affected Qi Qi’s school life. (Read her back story here.)
It also spilled over into her dating life, when she started looking for love in the wrong places.
Yearning to be “loved and accepted”, Qi Qi put up with the pressure from this girl to date a boy from the gang.
The bullying that started in primary school got worse in secondary school when Qi Qi hung out with a girl who was “crude and used vulgarities”, and belonged to a gang.
Yearning to be “loved and accepted”, Qi Qi put up with the pressure from this girl to date a boy from the gang.
“He was actually quite a nice guy. But I just didn’t have any feelings for him.
“I wanted to fit into the social circle so I agreed to date him but throughout, I felt that it was wrong.”
When Qi Qi did well enough to get into the top class, a Christian classmate opened her eyes to what was happening.
“He told me, ‘You are a nice girl. Why do you put yourself in such a situation? You need to draw the line and step away from it’.”
“In a sudden fit of bravery, I broke up with the boy from the gang.
“The gangster girl was furious and dragged me to the canal behind school. She slapped me and said nasty stuff like, ‘No one will love you if you don’t want him’.
“She also turned my classmates against me.”
“I need someone physical who can hold my hand … I want to fall in love, I want a relationship.”
Later, Qi Qi got into another relationship for two years.
“Then I found out he was cheating on me by texting another girl. He turned violent when I wanted to break up with him … and the police were involved.”
When she finally broke free, she cried, thinking: “Everything is over. I have no family, no boyfriend. God, I’m tired, I’ve already come so far, how long more?”
Then she heard a voice say: “You want a new life? Come back to church.”
She believes it was the voice of God.
Qi Qi then told God: “I know You are real, but I need someone physical who can hold my hand and journey with me. I want to fall in love, I want a relationship.
“If I go back to church, would You give me a good guy who cares for me and who believes in Jesus?”
On the very day that Qi Qi returned to church, she met an intriguing guy at a small group meeting. He was two years older than her.
It wasn’t love at first sight, claims Qi Qi, who was then 17.
“But every time he cracked a joke, I was the only girl laughing. The rest were immune to his jokes,” she said of Jeff, who was two years older.
Qi Qi when she was 17, and Jeff was 19.
Just as Qi Qi felt that Jeff was God’s answer to her prayer, the reverse was also true.
“I later found out that Jeff had asked God for a partner who lives near him — we lived a 10-minute walk apart — and would like him for who he is. And who would laugh at his jokes.”
Within a few weeks, he asked Qi Qi to be his girlfriend.
“I didn’t know whether to say ‘yes’,” Qi Qi admitted.
“But since I had made that agreement with God, I prayed, ‘If this is true, you wake me at 11.32pm’.” 
She then went to sleep that evening without setting the alarm clock.
“Jeff was grounded, humorous and brought me a lot of happiness,” said Qi Qi.
She woke up at exactly 11.32pm – two minutes after Jeff ended his shift as a part-time fast-food deliveryman.
“I called him to say ‘yes’. He wasn’t expecting me to reply so quickly!” she said.
They started dating. It happened so quickly that even their small group leaders at church were worried.
A year later, Jeff proposed to Qi Qi before he went to serve National Service (NS).
“It was very unromantic. We were driving in his dad’s car along Seletar. I was looking at the scenery when he said, ‘Would you marry me?’.
“I didn’t know he was proposing and said ‘Yes, of course!’ without even looking at him. Then I saw the ring, and I was shocked.”
Qi Qi felt accepted and loved by Jeff’s parents.
Jeff and his family knew that she had a difficult childhood, but didn’t know the full extent and details of her pain.
“Jeff’s mum treated me like her own child.
“Every year, Jeff’s mum would cook eggs and noodles on my birthday,” said Qi Qi, pictured on her 18th birthday, with Jeff.
“She gave me an allowance when I went for exchange programmes, and paid for my medical bills when I was sick.
“I wanted to be part of his family. Not just Jeff as a person, but the entire package.”
“Jeff’s family helped me to know what family really is,” said Qi Qi, who was 22 when they tied the knot in 2010.
Qi Qi was overwhelmed by God’s provision. “I saw them as a gift from God. It was like He restored to me the family I didn’t have.
“I told God, ‘Wow, God, You provided me with a guy and a family.”
But two years into their marriage, Qi Qi started getting flashbacks from her childhood.
“Each time one memory was unlocked, I would be in pain for a long time.
“Just when I thought I was better, another memory would surface. It would take months to process.
“Each time one memory from my childhood was unlocked, I would be in pain for a long time.”
This ongoing cycle would last for 10 years.  
One Sunday morning, Qi Qi felt that she had exceeded her pain threshold “and could not bear it any longer”.
“Jeff was away at a work-related retreat, and I decided that I would go to church, say my goodbyes and then jump to my death.”
But to her surprise, people at church she hadn’t spoken much to hugged her and asked her how she was. None of them were aware of what she had been struggling with.
“God loves you a lot,” said one person.
“Hope you are good, see you next week,” said another.
To her surprise, people at church she hadn’t spoken much to hugged her and asked her how she was.
Said Qi Qi. “I remember thinking that there wasn’t going to be a ‘next week’.” 
During the church service that day, Qi Qi broke down and cried out to God.
“I told God: ‘I know You love me. You sent people to tell me You love me.’ But there must be a way out.”
After the service, she felt a small voice inside her telling her to go to the front of the church to ask for prayer.
She obeyed.
The prayer seemed to help. She gave up her plans to kill herself that day. 
Qi Qi, Jeff and their elder daughter.
However, she would struggle to carry on even after their children were born.
Over the years, Qi Qi realised she couldn’t keep “sweeping everything under carpet”, and told God: “God, You must do something for my marriage.”
After fasting for three days and praying, she felt God prompting her to plan a holiday with her husband.
As she did, things started falling into place. 
Out of the blue, her mother-in-law also called to offer to take care of the children if she and Jeff wanted to travel.
The Aws with their three daughters.
Furthermore, Jeff readily agreed to go, even though he didn’t enjoy travelling. 
She saw it as a confirmation that she had heard God correctly. 
“Even before the plane took off, we sat down at the airport and had a heart to heart talk for the first time. 
“Jeff urged me to open up to him, especially when I felt myself slipping into depression. He promised to support me through it,” she recalled.
Shortly after, they went for couples counselling. 
“It helped improve our communication. We also started to pray together regularly for each other and for our marriage.”
Qi Qi also sought help from her pastors and mentors at church when the anxiety attacks and suicidal thoughts came.
Someone who was praying for her saw a vision of the restraints that had been part of Qi Qi’s abusive childhood.
“This person said, ‘I think God wants to give you closure.’
“I doubted these words, as the restraints had been a painful part of my childhood.
“I saw Jesus sitting with me in the dark room where I was restrained; He was crying with me.”
Qi Qi’s mentors prayed for her and they taught her to invite Jesus into each painful memory from her childhood. 
“I saw Jesus sitting with me in the dark room where I was restrained; He was hugging me, and crying with me.
“I also felt Jesus climb into the pit of darkness and despair to be with me.
“I felt His love and companionship, and His presence brought light into every dark situation.
“My feelings of loneliness and pain began to leave me.”
Her mentors also taught her to spot the signs that she was spiralling into depression, and how to call on Jesus to help her “overcome the spirits of rejection and death” each time it happened.
“I tell God, ‘I surrender to You. I know I am a child of God, I know I am loved, I am favoured by You’,” she said.
The episodes that used to take her months to recover from are now gone in a day.
Jeffrey too, is also able to support her through the flashbacks and talk her out of moments of depression. 
Each time the flashbacks happened, Qi Qi found that she needed to forgive the people who had inflicted the pain on her.
“As much as I asked God for healing, I also had to ask Him to help me forgive those who had hurt me.
“It was an ongoing process that helped to free me from pain and fear, and have closure,” she said. 
“Perhaps I will just hug my original family if they want to find me.”
In 2024, Qi Qi felt she had healed sufficiently to share her story.
Today, she is able to say: “If my original family wants to find me and acknowledge me as their own, I’d really welcome that.
“I’d want to know how they are doing, and if they are healthy, and if they are happy.
“I don’t know what I will say to them. But perhaps I will just hug them. 
“I forgave them a long time ago.
“I really hope they’ll get to know God.”
Qi Qi used to ask herself and God: “How can all the pain and hurt I’ve been through amount to any good?”
She initially struggled with the Bible verse Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Qi Qi, Jeff and their daughters, who are now 4, 8 and 11.
Looking back, she realises that the darkness she has been through has helped her to be “more sensitive to the emotional hurts and needs of a child” – and have meaningful conversations with their own children, students whom God has put into her life, or young people she meets at church.
More than once, she’s been able to discern that a student has been struggling with suicidal thoughts.
“Together with Jeff, we were able to speak with their parents to help them,” she said. 
“They are a gift from God,” says Qi Qi of Jeff’s family.
Qi Qi also realised: “If I had not gone through those darkest days, I would never know Who God is, I would never be able to understand what it means to be saved.
“I will use my story of how God saved me from the pit of hell, death and darkness to tell others about Him.”
A version of this story first appeared on Stories of Hope.
RELATED STORIES: 

Unloved, bullied and given away, Qi Qi asked: “Would I have someone I can call Father?”
How a victim of childhood abuse found the healing to minister to others in Thailand
“The true therapy that set me free”: Letting go of anger against an abusive father
Trapped in a string of unhealthy and abusive relationships, this single mother finally broke free
 
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Stories of Hope
Stories of Hope is a growing collection of real accounts by real people of how they found hope in their darkest hour. It is the companion site of Salt&Light.
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2025 College Football Playoff odds, prediction: Georgia vs. Notre Dame picks, best bets by expert on 22-9 roll  CBS Sports
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Can 4G feature phones rise again on the back of QVGA, thin clients, and remote browsers?  The Register
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5 Heartfelt Hollywood Films Reflecting Past Love Stories  Filmibeat
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A report by Corriere dello Sport claims Davide Frattesi is not happy with his situation at Inter.
After a year and a half at Inter, Frattesi still plays too little. And there are no signs that the situation could change at least in the future.
The news of these days is that Frattesi’s entourage is moving not only for next summer, but also for the immediate future.
In fact, the newspaper suggests that Frattesi would want nothing more than to return to Roma which he still considers his home.
Ranieri would welcome Frattesi with open arms.
Inter would not bar the door to Frattesi’s exit, if he were to directly ask to go and play elsewhere. But the conditions would still be dictated by the Nerazzurri.
The first obstacle lies in his evaluated pricetag, also because, as reported in the latest balance sheet, the investment to bring him to Milan was almost 32 million euros. Evidently, a club that aim to bring him in now would not go below that figure. In fact, it is likely that the Nerazzurri’s requests will even reach 40 million.
Roma do not have that much capital to cover such a fee.
An alternative route could be to recover resources through sales. After all, there is no shortage of players that the Giallorossi club would like to place in January. 
Additionally, there is talk of an exchange involving Lorenzo Pellegrini who is well liked by Inter.
Roma eyeing Gladbach’s Rocco Reitz as Le Fée’s replacement
Shomurodov’s departure to enable Beto joining Roma
Ranieri addresses Roma fans during open training session: “You make us feel loved.”
Ex-Roma man Sardar Azmoun videocalls El Shaarawy: “I miss you.”
Frattesi-Pellegrini swap more than an idea for Roma and Inter
Inter monitoring Lorenzo Pellegrini’s situation

MatchDay 19
5 Jan 21:45
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