Flagship

Officials probe cause of deadly DC collision

A midair collision between an American Airlines flight and a US Army helicopter in Washington, DC, Wednesday night killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft, officials said, making it the country’s deadliest crash since 2001. Authorities are investigating the cause: The defense secretary said the military helicopter was on a proficiency training flight and “a mistake was made,” while a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration said staffing at the air control tower was “not normal” at the time of the crash. President Donald Trump, however, cast blame on Democratic policies like diversity requirements at the FAA. Trump, Politico wrote, “has long used disasters to either buttress his own political standing or attempt to damage that of his opponents.”

Tariffs pose 2025 challenge for US

The US economy finished 2024 on solid footing, but the threat of tariffs weigh on 2025 forecasts. GDP grew 2.5% last year, as some economists warned that growth could weaken if President Donald Trump imposes immediate tariffs on Canada and Mexico: He said Thursday he would follow through on his threat to begin levying them on Feb. 1, as he also considers 10% duties on China. The new GDP figures come a day after the US Federal Reserve decided to hold borrowing rates steady. While inflation remains above the central bank’s 2% target, unemployment is down and consumer spending is strong, indicating the economy is not in need of the additional boost a rate cut might provide.

Foreign aid freeze’s far-reaching impact

The foreign aid freeze imposed by US President Donald Trump last week has sparked a global outcry and could shift diplomatic relations. The cutoff imperils Colombia’s anti-drug trafficking operations, relief efforts in Sudan, and medical facilities in Ukraine — all of which have leaned heavily on US funds, the Financial Times reported. Officials later clarified that “core life-saving programs” were exempt from the 90-day freeze. The suspension also highlighted the difference between Washington’s health and development-focused funding, and China’s infrastructure-centered efforts. In Pakistan, which receives aid for economic, agriculture, and energy programs, a loss in US funding could push the country toward to China or the Gulf nations, altering its geopolitical partnerships, The Times of India wrote.

Tesla ‘in a bind’ over China plans

Tesla achieved record sales in China at the end of 2024 despite fierce local competition — but its larger ambitions in the country face political headwinds. The US electric vehicle giant is “in a bind” over its self-driving system in China, CEO Elon Musk said in an earnings call Wednesday. Beijing doesn’t allow Tesla to transfer training videos of the cars’ autonomous driving outside of the country, he said, while the US restricts AI training in China — a dilemma that underscores the geopolitical sensitivities around high-tech development. Tesla is still expanding self-driving tech, with unsupervised models hitting the streets in Austin, Texas, and several other US cities by the end of 2025.

Migration vote upends Germany election

German conservatives grappled with the ramifications of collaborating with far-right lawmakers to pursue a migration crackdown. The center-right Christian Democratic Union, which is on track to finish first in Germany’s Feb. 23 elections, used votes from the populist Alternative for Germany party Thursday to pass a resolution aimed at restricting migration. The proposal is non-binding but its passage is nonetheless striking: Working with the AfD is seen as taboo among Germany’s mainstream parties, which advocate for a post-World War II “firewall” to block the far right from power. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized her own party’s actions, while populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Germany, “Welcome to the club,” reflecting Europe’s rightward shift on immigration.

What DeepSeek means for India

Indian officials lauded Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek and, in a rare move, said the company’s models will be hosted on domestic servers. New Delhi has banned several other Chinese services, but DeepSeek’s lower-cost models could “mark a major turning point” for Indian tech firms that have relied on expensive US-made AI, CNBC wrote. DeepSeek could also offer a cheaper way to help Indian companies train AI in the country’s many regional languages. Despite India’s massive IT sector and expanding AI infrastructure, it remains a “middle power” in high-tech AI development, The Indian Express wrote. But DeepSeek is a reminder to the country’s tech scene that “money buys many things, but it is not everything.”

AI faces its hardest test

Humans are struggling to create tests that artificial intelligence can’t pass. AI models were assessed using standardized benchmark tests with SAT-levels of math and logic puzzles. But AI systems are now too good, and harder problems — comparable to those given to graduate students — are used. Even those aren’t challenging enough: Frontier models are “getting high scores on many Ph.D.-level challenges,” The New York Times reported, raising the possibility that AI is “getting too smart for us to measure.” Researchers released what they called “Humanity’s Last Exam,” apparently AI’s hardest test ever, featuring questions “from analytic philosophy to rocket engineering.” AI progress is “jagged,” though: Models that breeze through hard exams have sometimes struggled with doing basic arithmetic.

California law could determine EV future

A fight over whether California can impose zero-emission requirements on new vehicles by 2035 could determine the future of electric vehicles, both in the US and the world. The state was granted permission to enact its own standards by the federal government in December, but President Donald Trump’s administration is considering revoking it. California says it will not back down, likely resulting in a lengthy lawsuit, and 17 other states plan to follow its lead on stricter emissions rules. The state’s car market is huge, meaning that automakers tend to take its rules into account even when building for other jurisdictions, and it is particularly important for EVs: A quarter of all new cars sold in California are electric.

Heathrow’s third runway faces hurdles

The British government backed a third runway at Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports. Despite enormous demand — Heathrow is a hub for transatlantic travel — the number of flights there has not risen in 25 years. A third runway has been proposed for decades as a way to boost the UK’s stagnant growth, but opponents argue that it is incompatible with climate commitments. The runway will also face challenges getting through the country’s zoning laws: “The only ones who will win from this are lawyers,” one expert told the Financial Times. The UK’s planning regulations make it “difficult to build almost anything, anywhere,” economists wrote in a recent essay: It is “the most important economic fact about modern Britain.”

Afghan women’s cricket team returns

The Afghan women’s cricket team played an international match Thursday for the first time since fleeing from under Taliban rule. The government does not officially recognize the team that is made up of women who left for Australia after the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. Cricket is the country’s most popular sport, and the players hope their appearance bolsters global efforts to restore women’s rights in Afghanistan, The Diplomat reported: The Taliban removed the head of the country’s cricket board shortly after seizing power, which “suggests that they understand [cricket’s] soft power potential, but want to tightly constrain it within party lines.” One player said that Thursday’s match will tell the women of Afghanistan, “We are representing you. We are with you, and never give up.”

Jan. 31:

• The UK marks the five-year anniversary of its exit from the EU.
• Chevron, Samsung, and Novartis report earnings.
• The Six Nations international rugby tournament begins in Paris, with France playing Wales.

WeChat  is the center of the Chinese internet — powering everything from messaging to payments — and the main portal where China’s news outlets and bloggers publish their work.

Not so crystal clear

The “World’s Crystal Capital” is in trouble, according to Southern Weekly Magazine. China’s Donghai County is known for its rocky terrain filled with gem seams. When China first opened up to free trade in the 1990s, a handful of family businesses seized the opportunity to sell their mined crystals abroad — and some are now among the region’s biggest employers, with thousands of workers.

But the industry is in trouble. Global inflationary trends mean overseas customers are forgoing luxury items. Meanwhile, younger Chinese people working in the gem business are more interested in live-streaming and e-commerce than they are in the art of crystal carving. Industry veterans, however, warn their younger peers that, unlike marketing, carving is “a skill that can support a family.”

Tricky maneuvers

China’s video game live-streaming community is in crisis. Huya, Douyu, and Kuaishou — the three main apps used by gamers — all reported net losses in 2024, according to Shǒuyóu Jǔzhèn, a gaming blog. The apps have agreed to bundle some of their services, letting gamers live-stream on all three simultaneously through just one app, in a bid to avert a “slow death.” The industry’s decline seems to be partly due to the platforms enforcing new, state-imposed restrictions on live-streamers, as well as the immense popularity of rival app Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.

Douyin also allows users to live-stream, but China’s top game influencers “are actually unable to adapt to Douyin’s environment,” Shǒuyóu Jǔzhèn wrote. Douyin’s algorithm rewards content creators who prioritize short-form video and those promoting e-commerce products, neither of which are the kinds of content that gamers are fluent in.

Sweet memories

Italian luxury chocolate maker Ferrero Rocher wants to make “the golden experience” a part of the Lunar New Year celebration. The brand is perhaps the most successful foreign company to find a foothold during the annual holiday in China, Sanlian Lifeweek Magazine wrote. Families traditionally enjoy luxury products during the Spring Festival, and the chocolates — introduced to Chinese supermarkets in 2007 — have a reputation as “fashionable, high-end and exquisite.”

Ferrero Rocher this year has unveiled a suite of new themed treats, including a confectionary box decorated with red tassels and traditional blessings, and another aimed at children that includes QR codes to unlock Lunar New Year-themed games.

A new London exhibition showcasing the more than 500-year history of tarot cards proves that the art form is still evolving. At the Warburg Institute, founded by art historian and tarot scholar Aby Warburg, divination diehards can spot a 1906 tarot deck — described as a “lost relic” of British occultism — as well as modern interpretations. That includes work by one artist who uses the esoteric symbols to help “unlock today’s hidden structures that can include covert, and sometimes conspiracy-friendly, areas such as systems of surveillance and control,” the institute’s director told The Guardian. Though tarot is historically associated with the occult, it is now being viewed as a “serious game that allows individuals to mediate the complexity of the world around them.”

The billionaire CEO of a company racing to produce low-carbon power from natural gas remains bullish about energy groups’ chance to benefit from the AI revolution, Semafor’s Tim McDonnell reported in an exclusive interview. Following the debut of DeepSeek’s R1 model, which claims to be a less energy-intensive alternative to its industry peers, many energy groups suffered a share price plunge. Nonetheless, NET Power CEO Danny Rice believes the US grid is still underprepared for the knock-on effects of AI, and sees ample growth opportunities for providers.