Політика

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence security, setting the stage for deregulation for AI companies by nominating pro-business, pro-startups Silicon Valley leaders.

The nomination of Jacob Helberg, an outspoken China critic, for a key State Department post indicates Trump’s intention to lead over China in AI, according to analysts.

“We’re likely to see quite a great focus on countering China when it comes to AI – beating China, when it comes to having the most advanced AI capabilities,” says Ruby Scanlon, a researcher on technology and national security at Center for a New America Security.

Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton was admitted Monday to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington after developing a fever. 

The 78-year-old was admitted in the “afternoon for testing and observation,” Angel Urena, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement. 

“He remains in good spirits and deeply appreciates the excellent care he is receiving,” Urena said. 

Clinton, a Democrat who served two terms as president from January 1993 until January 2001, addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer and campaigned ahead of November’s election for the unsuccessful White House bid of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
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«Ми обговорили й тиск на Росію за війну, і особливо цінуємо санкції проти тіньового флоту, який забезпечує Путіну гроші на війну»
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«Росіяни скинули два КАБи на Степногірськ. Вибуховою хвилею пошкоджено п’ятиповерховий будинок, загорівся одноповерховий будинок»
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Вранці 22 грудня до медиків звернувся 16-річний хлопець
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«Під час розбору завалів рятувальники виявили тіло загиблої жінки. Наразі її особу встановлюються»
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Drivers and airline passengers without reindeer and sleighs better make a dash for it: it’s beginning to look like another record for holiday travel in the U.S.

The auto club AAA predicts that more than 119 million people will travel at least 80 kilometers from home between Saturday and New Year’s Day, which would top the previous holiday-season high set in 2019. The two weekends on either side of Christmas look to be some of the most crowded times on the road and at airports.

Trade group Airlines for America also foresees record travel, saying it expected U.S. airlines to carry 54 million passengers during a 19-day period that started Thursday and ends Jan. 6. The number would represent a 6% increase over last year.

What will be the busiest travel days?

Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Friday and Sunday, and on Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 29. Flight traffic is expected to be light on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The slowest U.S. air-travel day this year — by a wide margin — was Thanksgiving Day.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers over the holidays and through Jan. 2.

About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA.

“Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday,” AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said.

Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was about $.99 a liter, down from $1 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state.

Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation’s highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. Boston, New York City, Seattle and Washington, D.C., are the metropolitan areas primed for the greatest delays, according to the company.

Weather and other wildcards

Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. And any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions.

That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have “interline agreements” that let them put stranded customers on another carrier’s flights.

This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them.

Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. That’s because finding a last-minute flight on another airline yourself tends to be very expensive.

“When they rebook you, they will pay for the fare difference. If my flight to visit grandma that I booked six months ago for $200 gets canceled, and I turn around and book a flight four hours from now for $400, I have to pay that difference,” said Sally French, a travel expert at consumer-affairs company Nerdwallet.

People traveling on budget airlines with fewer flights and no partnerships with other carriers may face a difficult choice in the event of a canceled flight.

“They will put you on the next outgoing Spirit or Frontier flight, but that could be a while from now. Sometimes waiting three days for that next flight is not going to work for you,” and paying more to rebook on a big airline might be worthwhile, French said.

Some airlines are taking advantage of a provision in the new Transportation Department rule that defined a significant delay as three hours for a domestic flight and six hours for an international flight. According to Brett Snyder, who runs the Cranky Flyer website, airlines that previously issued refunds for shorter delays — Delta, United and JetBlue, for example — are now using the government standard.

Delayed flights increase the risk that bags will get lost. Passengers who get separated from their bags should report it to the airline and ask what the airline will cover. Links to the customer-service plans of major U.S. airlines are at the bottom of this page.

Planning ahead for 2025

Airline fares were up 4.7% in November, compared with a year earlier, according to U.S. government figures. But early 2025 is a good time to start planning next year’s trips, including for spring breaks and summer vacations.

“Because travel is so popular, you’re not going to find anything that feels very rock-bottom, but January and February are great times to plan for March, April and May,” Laura Motta, an editor at travel-guide publisher Lonely Planet, said. “If you want to go to Paris in the spring, you need to be thinking about that in January.”
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NEW YORK — Teen drug use hasn’t rebounded from its drop during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results from a large annual national survey released Tuesday.

About two-thirds of 12th graders this year said they hadn’t used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days. That’s the largest proportion abstaining since the annual survey started measuring abstinence in 2017.

Among 10th graders, 80% said they hadn’t used any of those substances recently, another record. Among eighth graders, 90% didn’t use any of them, the same as was reported in the previous survey.

The only significant increase occurred in nicotine pouches. About 6% of 12th graders saying they’d used them in the previous year, up from about 3% in 2023.

Whether that has the makings of a new public health problem is unclear. The University of Michigan’s Richard Miech, who leads the survey, said: “It’s hard to know if we’re seeing the start of something, or not.”

The federally funded Monitoring the Future survey has been operating since 1975. This year’s findings are based on responses from about 24,000 students in grades eight, 10 and 12 in schools across the country. The survey is “one of the best, if not the best” source of national data for substance use by teens, said Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher who has studied teen drug use.

Early in the pandemic, students across the country were told not to go to schools and to avoid parties or other gatherings. They were at home, under parents’ supervision. Alcohol and drug use of all kinds dropped because experimentation tends to occur with friends, spurred by peer pressure, experts say.

As lockdowns ended, “I think everyone expected at least a partial rebound,” Miech said.

Even before the pandemic, there were longstanding declines in teen cigarette smoking, drinking and use of several types of drugs. Experts theorized that kids were staying home and communicating on smartphones rather than hanging out in groups, where they sometimes tried illicit substances.

But marijuana use wasn’t falling before the pandemic. And vaping was on the upswing. It was only during the pandemic that those two saw enduring declines, too.

Some experts wonder if the pandemic lockdowns had a deeper influence.

Miech noted that a lot of teens who experiment with e-cigarettes or drugs start in the 9th grade, sometimes because older adolescents are doing it. But the kids who were 9th graders during the lockdowns never picked up the habit, and never had the opportunity to turn into negative influencers of their younger classmates, he said.

“The pandemic stopped the cycle of new kids coming in and being recruited to drug use,” Miech said.

Mental health may also be a factor. There were increased reports of depression and anxiety in kids after the pandemic began. Depression is often associated with substance use, but some people with depression and anxiety are very wary of messing with drugs, said Dr. Duncan Clark, a University of Pittsburgh psychiatrist who researches substance use in kids.

“Some teens with anxiety are worried about the effects of substances. They may also be socially inhibited and have less opportunity to use drugs,” Clark said. “It’s a complicated relationship.” 
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WASHINGTON — Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for U.S. ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand control of the waterway be returned to Washington.

He also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, a worrying trend for American interests as U.S. businesses depend on the channel to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

“Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.”

The Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States in 1914, was returned to the Central American country under a 1977 deal signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter.

Panama took full control in 1999.

“It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”

He continued that if Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the channel, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question.”

Authorities in Panama did not immediately react to Trump’s post.

Although he does not officially take office until next month, Trump has nevertheless been flexing his political influence in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration.

The real estate mogul boasted on the campaign trail that as an entrepreneur, he was uniquely positioned to fight for U.S. business interests.

An estimated 5% of global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, which allows ships traveling between Asia and the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long, hazardous route around the southern tip of South America.

The main users of the passage are the United States, China, Japan and South Korea.

The Panama Canal Authority reported in October that the waterway had earned record revenues of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year. 
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Mark Burnett, the power producer who helped reintroduce Donald Trump to a national television audience with The Apprentice, is being tapped by the president-elect as special envoy to the United Kingdom in his upcoming administration.

“With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role,” Trump announced Saturday.

Burnett, who was born in London, helped produce hits like Survivor and The Voice, but is perhaps best known for teaming up with Trump for The Apprentice, which first aired on NBC in 2004.

Trump had been well-known in real estate and pop culture circles for decades. But the show helped again make him a household name. Trump severed ties with NBC in 2015, the same year he launched his first White House run.

The selection of Burnett continues Trump’s trend of filling out his incoming administration with people who have high-profile backgrounds in television or politics, or both, including his choice to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, and ex-television doctor and unsuccessful Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz.

Trump’s first campaign in 2016 was rocked by allegations about his conduct on The Apprentice and other appearances during his association with NBC, notably in footage in which he said he could sexually assault women and get away with it because he was a “star.”

Almost a decade after he left his reality TV role, Trump’s television career remains central to his biography and political rise. The show presented Trump Tower to tens of millions of people as a symbol of power and success before Trump launched his first campaign from the building’s lobby.

“Mark is known for creating and producing some of the biggest shows in Television History,” Trump wrote in his statement on Burnett, listing many of his biggest hits including, “most notably, The Apprentice” and noting that Burnett “has won 13 Emmy Awards!”

Special envoys are usually picked by presidents for the world’s traditional hotspots, including the Middle East, where Trump has said he’d like Steven Witkoff to fill the role. The United Kingdom, which has long enjoyed a “special relationship” with the U.S. that makes it one of Washington’s strongest global allies, is not typically a candidate for such posts.

But Trump has announced a series of special envoy positions to several top loyalists ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20, including his former ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell who he chose as envoy for special missions. That announcement joined previous ones including Adam Boehler as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, and Keith Kellogg to serve as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

The president-elect said Burnett “will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges.” 
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WASHINGTON — A nearly two-year investigation by Democratic senators of Supreme Court ethics details more luxury travel by Justice Clarence Thomas and urges Congress to establish a way to enforce a new code of conduct. 

Any movement on the issue appears unlikely as Republicans prepare to take control of the Senate in January, underscoring the hurdles in imposing restrictions on a separate branch of government even as public confidence in the court has fallen to record lows. 

The 93-page report released Saturday by the Democratic majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee found additional travel taken in 2021 by Thomas but not reported on his annual financial disclosure form: a private jet flight to New York’s Adirondacks in July and jet and yacht trip to New York City sponsored by billionaire Harlan Crow in October, one of more than two dozen times detailed in the report that Thomas took luxury travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors. 

The court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023, but it leaves compliance to each of the nine justices. 

“The highest court in the land can’t have the lowest ethical standards,” the committee chairman, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, said in a statement. He has long called for an enforceable code of ethics. 

Republicans protested the subpoenas authorized for Crow and others as part of the investigation. No Republicans signed on to the final report, and no formal report from them was expected. 

Attorney Mark Paoletta, a longtime friend of Thomas who has been tapped for the incoming Trump administration, said the report was aimed at conservatives whose rulings Democrats disagreed with. 

“This entire investigation was never about ‘ethics’ but about trying to undermine the Supreme Court,” Paoletta said in a statement posted on X. 

The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Thomas has said he was not required to disclose the trips that he and his wife, Ginni, took with Crow because the big donor is a close friend of the family and disclosure of that type of travel was not previously required. The new ethics code does explicitly require it, and Thomas has since reported some earlier travel. Crow has maintained that he has never spoken with his friend about pending matters before the court. 

The report traces back to Justice Antonin Scalia, saying he “established the practice” of accepting undisclosed gifts and hundreds of trips over his decades on the bench. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and retired Justice Stephen Breyer also took subsided trips but disclosed them on their annual forms, it said. 

The investigation found that Thomas has accepted gifts and travel from wealthy benefactors worth more than $4.75 million by some estimates since his 1991 confirmation and failed to disclose much of it. “The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history,” according to the report. 

It also detailed a 2008 luxury trip to Alaska taken by Justice Samuel Alito. He has said he was exempted from disclosing the trip under previous ethical rules. 

Alito also declined calls to withdraw from cases involving Donald Trump or the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol after flags associated with the riot were seen flying at two of Alito’s homes. Alito said the flags were raised by his wife. 

Thomas has ignored calls to step aside from cases involving Trump, too. Ginni Thomas supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that the Republican lost to Democrat Joe Biden. 

The report also pointed to scrutiny of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who, aided by her staff, has advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade. Justices have also heard cases involving their book publishers or involving companies in which justices owned stock. 

Biden has been the most prominent Democrat calling for a binding code of conduct. Justice Elena Kagan has publicly backed adopting an enforcement mechanism, though some ethics experts have said it could be legally tricky. 

Justice Neil Gorsuch recently cited the code when he recused himself from an environmental case. He had been facing calls to step aside because the outcome could stand to benefit a Colorado billionaire whom Gorsuch represented before becoming a judge. 

The report also calls for changes in the Judicial Conference, the federal courts’ oversight body led by Chief Justice John Roberts, and further investigation by Congress. 
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he has selected David Fink to serve as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. 

“David will bring his 45+ years of transportation leadership and success, which will deliver the FRA into a new era of safety and technological innovation,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
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Rhiannon Giddens is a Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning musical artist whose latest project tells the story of the U.S. transcontinental railroad — a story told through the eyes of its builders, including African American, Chinese, Japanese, Irish and Native American workers. It’s called “American Railroad,” and Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov
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Generative artificial intelligence companies are racing to build on the popularity of programs like ChatGPT, but AI regulation has not kept pace with the technology. Now, an incoming administration could favor U.S. domination over risk mitigation. Tina Trinh reports.
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У Генштабі ЗСУ визнали, що визначену чисельність військових зі ПС ЗСУ справді перепризначено, але це не стосується фахових спеціалістів ППО, які забезпечують захист українського неба
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KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday dismissed as unfounded and “devoid of rationality” assertions by a senior U.S. official that its missile program could eventually pose a threat to the United States.

Earlier this week, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Pakistan’s development of long-range ballistic missiles made it an “emerging threat.”

Finer’s comments, which came a day after Washington announced a new round of sanctions related to the ballistic missile program, underscored the deterioration in once-close ties between Washington and Islamabad since the 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Addressing Finer’s remarks, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the perception of an alleged threat was “unfortunate.”

“These allegations are unfounded, devoid of rationality and sense of history,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that its strategic capabilities were solely for defending its sovereignty and maintaining regional stability, and that they should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

It also highlighted Pakistan’s long history of cooperation with the U.S., particularly in counterterrorism efforts, and reiterated its commitment to engaging constructively on all issues, including regional security and stability.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan have seen significant ups and downs. The countries collaborated during the Cold War and in the fight against al-Qaida after 9/11.

Ties have been strained, however, due to coups in the South Asian country by Pakistan’s military, support for the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan, and over the nuclear weapons program.
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WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he’s threatening with tariffs — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods. 

“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump posted shortly after 1 a.m. on social media. “Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!” 

In 2023, the United States’ trade imbalance with the EU on goods was $209 billion, according to the Census Bureau. There were $576 billion in imports from Europe and $367 billion in exports from the United States. 

Trump’s transition team did not respond to questions seeking greater clarity on the message, which for all its bluntness was unclear on next steps. 

When Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs in November, the leaders of both countries spoke with him to try to resolve any tensions. But the European Union lacks a single figure who can make the purchase commitments of natural gas and oil on behalf of its 27 member states that Trump is seeking. 

EU Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in reaction to Trump’s post that “we are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further strengthen an already strong relationship, including by discussing our common interests in the energy sector.” 

Gill noted that the EU is already “committed to phasing out energy imports from Russia and diversifying our sources of supply. We’re not going to go into any details about what that might entail in the future, given that the new administration isn’t even in place yet.” 

Scott Lincicome, a vice president at the libertarian Cato Institute, said it was difficult to parse what Trump was trying to say relative to European trade, given that natural gas exports to the continent are already up after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

“What we really need to chalk all of this up to is Trump laying the groundwork for future negotiations,” Lincicome said. “This is for better or worse a lot of what we’re going to see for the next four years.” 

While there is a $209 billion trade imbalance, a more complicated relationship lies beneath those numbers. A company such as German automaker BMW can import parts needed to assemble vehicles at its factory in South Carolina, such that the trade totals also reflect the flow of goods within European companies that employ U.S. workers. 

More than half of the liquified natural gas imported by the EU and the United Kingdom in 2023 came from the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The volume of LNG going to the EU and UK has tripled since 2021. 

On Tuesday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm issued a statement based on a new study saying that unfettered exports of LNG could increase prices domestically and increase carbon emissions. Trump ran for president on the idea that increased oil and natural gas production would reduce costs for U.S. voters who were left frustrated by a 2022 inflationary spike that still lingers. 

Trump’s demands on Europe to buy more oil and natural gas were not especially new. He also made them during his initial term as president and in 2018 reached a deal with Jean-Claude Juncker, then-president of the European Commission, to sell more LNG to Europe. 

The problem with that agreement, as noted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, is that the U.S. “cannot force companies to send products to a specific region or country” and the EU cannot force its members to buy American fossil fuels. 
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