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Tag: Technology

  • TikTok signs deal to sell US unit to American investors

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    TikTok has signed a deal to sell its U.S. business to three American investors — Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX — ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States

    SAN FRANCISCO — TikTok has signed a deal to sell its U.S. business to three American investors — Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX — ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.

    The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22, according to an internal memo seen by The Associated Press. CEO Shou Zi Chew said in the memo that ByteDance and TikTok have signed binding agreements with the three investors.

    The new TikTok U.S. joint venture will be 50% held by a consortium of new investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX with 15% each. Another 30.1% will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors and 19.9% will be retained by ByteDance, according to the memo.

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  • India’s Parliament approves bill to open civil nuclear power sector to private firms

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    NEW DELHI — India’s Parliament approved new legislation Thursday that enables opening the tightly controlled civil nuclear power sector to private companies.

    The government termed it a major policy shift to speed up clean energy expansion while the opposition political parties argued that it dilutes safety and liability safeguards.

    The lower house of parliament passed the legislation Wednesday and the upper house on Thursday. It now needs the assent from the Indian president, which is a formality, to come into force.

    The move carries global significance as India seeks to position itself as a major player in the next wave of nuclear energy, including with small modular reactors at a time many nations are reassessing nuclear power to meet climate targets and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

    Supporters argue the legislation marks a decisive break from decades of state dominance in nuclear energy while critics say it opens the door to risks, mainly health hazards, that could have long term consequences.

    “It marks a momentous milestone for India and signals capable private sector players that the country is open for business in the nuclear energy space,” said Karthik Ganesan, director of strategic partnerships at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a think tank.

    Junior Minister Jitendra Singh, who oversees the department of atomic energy, told lawmakers that the bill — which has been dubbed Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India — seeks to modernize India’s nuclear framework in line with technological, economic and energy realities. It also retains and strengthens core safety, security and regulatory safeguards.

    “India’s role in geopolitics is increasing. And if we have to be a global player effectively, we have to live up to global benchmarks, follow global parameters and adopt global strategies,” Singh said in the lower house, adding that the legislation was necessary to address the country’s growing energy needs.

    India wants more nuclear power and has pledged over $2 billion in recent months toward research and allied activities. Nuclear power is a way to make electricity that doesn’t emit planet-warming gases, although it does create radioactive waste.

    India is one of the world’s biggest emitters of planet-heating gases and over 75% of its power is still generated by burning fossil fuels, mostly coal. India wants to install 100 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2047 — enough to power nearly 60 million Indian homes a year.

    Energy experts say that for the world to move away from carbon-polluting fuels like coal, oil and gas, sources like nuclear that don’t rely on the sun and the wind — which aren’t always available — are needed. But some are skeptical about India’s ambitions as the country’s nuclear sector is still very small, and negative public perceptions about the industry remain.

    Opposition parties flagged concerns related to several provisions of the bill and urged the government to refer it to a parliamentary panel for examination. The government didn’t adhere to the request.

    “The bill doesn’t have sufficient safeguards when it comes to mitigating the bad health of those impacted by living in areas closer to nuclear plants,” Ashok Mittal, a lawmaker from the opposition Aam Admi Party, told The Associated Press.

    G. Sundarrajan, an anti-nuclear energy activist, called the bill a “disastrous law,” saying it takes away essential safeguards that are needed to make sure companies invest in safety and reduce the chances of a major disaster that can impact millions from occurring.

    “It also provides little recourse for any Indian citizen to claim damages from nuclear companies even if they are affected by radiation leaks or suffer from any other health impact as a result of a nuclear plant in their region,” he said.

    ___

    AP journalist Sibi Arasu contributed to this report.

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  • Trump Media to merge with nuclear fusion company

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    Trump Media & Technology will merge with a fusion power company in an all-stock deal that the companies said Thursday is valued at more than $6 billion.

    Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman who resigned in 2021 to become the CEO of Trump Media, will be co-CEO of the new company with TAE Technologies CEO Michl Binderbauer.

    Shares of Trump Media & Technology, the parent company of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social media platform, have tumbled 70% this year but jumped 20% before the opening bell Thursday.

    TAE is a private company and the merger with Trump Media would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies.

    “We’re taking a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations,” Nunes said in a prepared statement.

    TAE focuses on nuclear fusion, a technology that combines two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one. It releases enormous amount of energy, a process that occurs on the sun and other stars, according to the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

    TAE and Trump Media shareholders will each own approximately 50% of the combined company.

    The companies say the transaction values each TAE common stock at $53.89 per share.

    At closing, Trump Media & Technology Group will be the holding company for Truth Social and TAE, along with its subsidiaries TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences.

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  • One Tech Tip: Spend quality time with loved ones, not a screen, over the holidays

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    The Christmas holiday season is a time to step back from the busy pace of modern life and connect with our nearest and dearest instead of screens, apps and chatbots.

    Here are some suggestions on how to unplug from the online world for the next few weeks as you sit down for a festive meal, exchange gifts or take time out for some self-reflection.

    Your phone already has built-in features that can help you stop getting distracted.

    To temporarily silence all those attention-seeking notifications, use the Focus setting on your iPhone or Android device. This mode is designed to stop interruptions when you want to concentrate. You can customize it by blocking specific apps or muting only when you’re doing certain things, like sleeping or reading.

    Android and iOS also have related screen time controls to manage overall device usage. Too much Instagram scrolling? Limit yourself to a daily total of 20 minutes.

    There are other tricks you could try, like turning the screen gray to make it less appealing. On iPhones or Android devices, tweak the color filter or adjustment settings. On Android, activating Bedtime Mode also turns the screen gray.

    If you need to be more strict with yourself, then delete any or apps you’re addicted to. An effective way to stop looking at your phone is by removing those apps that you spend the most time scrolling through, even if temporarily. You can always reinstall them again if the withdrawal symptoms become too much.

    When the temperature drops, it’s tempting to hunker down inside and stay cozy. But don’t sit on the couch all day. Head outdoors, away from Wi-Fi signals. If it’s been snowing where you are, have a snowball fight or go sledding. To keep your hands warm, don’t forget to put on bulky mittens — which your phone’s touch screen won’t respond to.

    Even if there’s no snow, take a walk in the woods, a park or along some tree-lined streets. Time spent outdoors, and away from screens, can benefit your mental health and physical well-being. There’s even a term for it: forest bathing.

    There’s an app you can use to force yourself to — literally — get back in touch with nature. Touch Grass takes its name from a viral catchphrase for when someone has lost their connection to the real world because they’re consumed by what’s on their screens.

    It’s similar to other apps designed to restrict screen time by forcing users to take a timeout from scrolling. The difference is that Touch Grass requires users to go outside and take a picture of themselves physically touching some grass.

    Touch Grass has a free service level that allows you to block two apps. I found it was quite effective at stopping me from opening two of my favorite time-wasters, Reddit and Instagram, though I ended up spending more time on other apps like Facebook. To block all apps, you’ll have to shell out for a subscription — $6 a month or $50 annually.

    If you can’t find grass because it’s winter, there’s also the option to touch snow or sand. It’s only available for iPhones so far, but there are copycat versions for both iOS and Android, though we haven’t tested them.

    When was the last time you sent a Christmas card? Most digital natives find it easier to type out holiday greetings or send digital cards over chat apps, than to put pen to paper.

    The consequence of all the time that we spend tapping, typing or swiping on our devices is that handwriting is becoming something of a dying art. But there are neurological and cognitive benefits of handwriting, research suggests. For example, taking notes by hand is a better way for students to learn and to remember information.

    So use this time of year to write a thoughtful message to someone special, a letter to a long-lost friend, or thank you notes for presents received.

    If you still don’t know what you want for Christmas, why not ask for a book? It’s easy to find inspiration and ideas at this time of year, when many people like to share the books they’ve read over the past 12 months, and outlets including The Associated Press compile their list of the year’s best books.

    Reading long-form literature or non-fiction has many benefits that can’t be gained from glancing at short-form bursts of text on your device, including a deeper understanding of a topic, developing empathy, increasing your focus and concentration and more.

    If you’re looking for a last-minute gift, how about a time-lock vault to put your devices out of reach for, say, 15 minutes, a few hours or even weeks?

    There are plenty of versions for sale online. For about $30, I bought a battery-powered gray plastic model that can hold several smartphones. The instruction leaflet says it’s intended to “enhance self-discipline.”

    Punch in the amount of time — up to 30 days — and a digital display will count down until it unlocks. The lid has portholes so you can thread in cables for charging while you wait.

    One evening, I locked my phone up for an hour and then grabbed my laptop to do some online Christmas shopping. But my plans were foiled because I forgot that authentication requests for my credit card and Amazon went to my phone.

    For another gift idea, consider putting a brick phone under the tree. Also known as a feature phone, these devices cater to those who want a back-to-basics phone without all the digital stimulation that comes with a smartphone.

    Retro devices from Nokia evoke the early days of the cellphone era — no touch screens, numeric keypads and throwback video games like Snake. Most can only make voice calls and send text messages.

    If that sounds too primitive, there are so-called digital minimalist phones that serve a similar market niche. Devices from Light, Punkt and Balance offer sleek, modern designs but with a stripped-down experience.

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    Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

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  • Senate confirms Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator in do-over after Musk feud

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    WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator on Wednesday, placing him atop the agency after a monthslong saga where President Donald Trump revoked his nomination as part of a feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk.

    Isaacman, who has promised to bring a business-minded approach to the space agency, was confirmed in a bipartisan vote, 67-30.

    He will take over after an unusual confirmation process upended by the Republican president’s oscillating and at times tumultuous relationship with prominent tech leaders who backed his campaign, most notably Musk, the Tesla CEO who is a close ally of Isaacman.

    Trump picked Isaacman last year but withdrew the nomination in May after feuding with Musk over the administration’s policies on issues such as electric vehicles and the performance of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

    Musk was the largest contributor of donations to Trump’s 2024 campaign and after the administration took office, he assembled a team for DOGE that blitzed through the federal government’s departments, contracts and critical infrastructure. The monthslong operation led to major cuts to federal contracts focused on foreign aid, global health and mass layoffs of federal workers.

    But the effort did not lead to significant reductions in the federal budget deficit, the stated goal. Musk also feuded with some senior Cabinet officials and, eventually, Trump himself. Musk is also CEO of the space flight company SpaceX and has ambitions for humans to colonize space.

    Trump nominated Isaacman for the job again in November. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had been serving as NASA’s interim administrator until a permanent head was in place.

    Isaacman is the founder of Shift4 Payments, a payment processing and technology solutions company based in Pennsylvania. He is also the co-founder of Draken International, a Florida-based aerospace company. He has done business with Musk’s Starlink and other ventures tied to the fellow billionaire.

    During Isaacman’s second confirmation hearing in December, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., pressed Isaacman to “explain what happened to make President Trump reconsider the decision to pull your nomination and what assurances you may have provided with Elon Musk and SpaceX would not create a significant conflict of interest in this role.”

    Isaacman replied that he “wouldn’t even want to begin to speculate why the president nominated and then renominated me.” He said he pledged to be free of conflicts of interest in his role. In a June letter, Isaacman had promised to resign from his private sector posts should he be confirmed as NASA administrator.

    Republicans have welcomed some of Isaacman’s proposals and some new senators strongly advocated for his confirmation. But many Democrats balked at Isaacman and Trump’s plans, including the proposed costs of some projects and overall priorities for the agency.

    “For nearly 70 years, the United States has been at the forefront of space exploration. President Trump knows how critical it is to reinvigorate NASA as we aim to reach new heights in the greatest frontier ever known, and that’s why he chose exactly the right man for the job,” Sen. Tim Sheehy, an aerial firefighter, former Navy SEAL and close ally of Isaacman, said in a statement.

    Sheehy, R-Mont. added that he was confident Isaacman “will work tirelessly to ensure America wins the 21st century space race.”

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  • California threatens Tesla with 30-day suspension of sales license for deceptive self-driving claims

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    SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators are threatening to suspend Tesla’s license to sell its electric cars in the state early next year unless the automaker tones down its marketing tactics for its self-driving features after a judge concluded the Elon Musk-led company has been misleading consumers about the technology’s capabilities.

    The potential 30-day blackout of Tesla’s California sales is the primary punishment being recommended to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles in a decision released late Tuesday. The ruling by Administrative Law Judge Juliet Cox determined that Tesla had for years engaged in deceptive marketing practices by using the terms “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” to promote the autonomous technology available in many of its cars.

    After presiding over five days of hearings held in Oakland, California in July, Cox also recommended suspending Tesla’s license to manufacture cars at its plant in Fremont, California. But California regulators aren’t going to impose that part of the judge’s proposed penalty.

    Tesla will have a 90-day window to make changes that more clearly convey the limits of its self-driving technology to avoid having its California sales license suspended. After California regulators filed its action against Tesla in 2023, the Austin, Texas, company already made one significant change by putting in wording that made it clear its Full Self-Driving package still required supervision by a human driver while it’s deployed.

    “Tesla can take simple steps to pause this decision and permanently resolve this issue — steps autonomous vehicle companies and other automakers have been able to achieve,” said Steve Gordon, the director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

    Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

    The automaker has already been plagued by a global downturn in demand that began during a backlash to Musk’s high-profile role overseeing cuts in the U.S. government budget overseeing the Department of Government that President Donald Trump created in his administration. Increased competition and an older lineup of vehicles also weighed on Tesla sales, although the company did revamp its Model Y, the world’s bestselling vehicle, and unveil less-expensive versions of the Model Y and Model X.

    Although Musk left Washington after a falling out with Trump, the fallout has continued to weigh on Tesla’s auto sales, which had decreased by 9% from 2024 through the first nine months of this year.

    Despite the slump and the threatened sales suspension in California, Tesla’s stock price touched an all-time high $495.28 during Wednesday’s early trading before backtracking later to fall below $470. Despite that reversal, Tesla’s shares are still worth slightly more than they were before Musk’s ill-fated stint in the Trump administration — a “somewhat successful” assignment he recently said he wouldn’t take on again.

    The performance of Tesla’s stock against the backdrop of eroding auto sales reflects the increasing emphasis that investors are placing on Musk’s efforts to develop artificial intelligence technology to implant into humanoid robots and a fleet of self-driving Teslas that will operate as robotaxis across the U.S.

    Musk has been promising Tesla’s self-driving technology would fulfill his robotaxi vision for years without delivering on the promise, but the company finally began testing the concept in Austin earlier this year, albeit with a human supervisor in the car to take over if something went awry. Just a few days ago, Musk disclosed Tesla had started tests of its robotaxis without a safety monitor in the vehicle.

    California regulators are far from the first critic to accuse Tesla of exaggerating the capabilities of its self-driving technology in a potentially dangerous manner. The company has steadfastly insisted that information contained in its vehicle’s owner’s manual on its website have made it clear that its self-driving technology still requires human supervision, even while releasing a 2020 video depicting one of its cars purportedly driving on its own. The video, cited as evidence against Tesla in the decision recommending a suspension of the company’s California sales license, remained on its website for nearly four years.

    Tesla has been targeted in a variety of lawsuits alleging its mischaracterizations about self-driving technology have lulled humans into a false of security that have resulted in lethal accidents. The company has settled or prevailed in several cases, but earlier this year a Miami jury held Tesla partly responsible for a lethal crash in Florida that occurred while Autopilot was deployed and ordered the automaker to pay more than $240 million in damages.

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  • Saturn’s moon Titan may not have a buried ocean as long suspected, new study suggests

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Saturn’s giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all.

    Titan instead may hold deep layers of ice and slush more akin to Earth’s polar seas, with pockets of melted water where life could possibly survive and even thrive, scientists reported Wednesday.

    The team led by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenged the decade-long assumption of a buried global ocean at Titan after taking a fresh look at observations made years ago by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft around Saturn.

    They stress that no one has found any signs of life at Titan, the solar system’s second largest moon spanning 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) and brimming with lakes of liquid methane on its frosty surface.

    But with the latest findings suggesting a slushy, near-melting environment, “there is strong justification for continued optimism regarding the potential for extraterrestrial life,” said the University of Washington’s Baptiste Journaux, who took part in the study published in the journal Nature.

    As to what form of life that might be, possibly strictly microscopic, “nature has repeatedly demonstrated far greater creativity than the most imaginative scientists,” he said in an email.

    JPL’s Flavio Petricca, the lead author, said Titan’s ocean may have frozen in the past and is currently melting, or its hydrosphere might be evolving toward complete freezing.

    Computer models suggest these layers of ice, slush and water extend to a depth of more than 340 miles (550 kilometers). The outer ice shell is thought to be about 100 miles (170 kilometers) deep, covering layers of slush and pools of water that could go down another 250 miles (400 kilometers). This water could be as warm as 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius).

    Because Titan is tidally locked, the same side of the moon faces Saturn all the time, just like our own moon and Earth. Saturn’s gravitational pull is so intense that it deforms the moon’s surface, creating bulges as high as 30 feet (10 meters) when the two bodies are closest.

    Through improved data processing, Petricca and his team managed to measure the timing between the peak gravitational tug and the rising of Titan’s surface. If the moon held a wet ocean, the effect would be immediate, Petricca said, but a 15-hour gap was detected, indicating an interior of slushy ice with pockets of liquid water. Computer modeling of Titan’s orientation in space supported their theory.

    Sapienza University of Rome’s Luciano Iess, whose previous studies using Cassini data indicated a hidden ocean at Titan, is not convinced by the latest findings.

    While “certainly intriguing and will stimulate renewed discussion … at present, the available evidence looks certainly not sufficient to exclude Titan from the family of ocean worlds,” Iess said in an email.

    NASA’s planned Dragonfly mission — featuring a helicopter-type craft due to launch to Titan later this decade — is expected to provide more clarity on the moon’s innards. Journaux is part of that team.

    Saturn leads the solar system’s moon inventory with 274. Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is just a little larger than Titan, with a possible underground ocean. Other suspected water worlds include Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa, both of which are believed to have geysers of water erupting from their frozen crusts.

    Launched in 1997, Cassini reached Saturn in 2004, orbiting the ringed planet and flying past its moons until deliberately plunging through Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Myanmar declares a “zero tolerance” policy for cyberscams. But the fraud goes on

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    It looked like a turning point in the global fight against scams. Myanmar’s military leadership, under growing international pressure, vowed to wipe out the industrial-scale cyberscam centers that have taken root in the country. They started by raiding and then bombing KK Park — a notorious compound that has become a symbol of impunity in the battle against one of the most lucrative criminal industries in the world.

    It’s too early to say whether KK Park will be abandoned, repurposed or rebuilt over time. But even if KK Park were to close, it’s just one of around 30 scam compounds along Myanmar’s border with Thailand — one indication that the crackdown may not turn out to be as deep or long-lasting as Myanmar’s military rulers would like it to appear.

    The Associated Press found that at least two scam compounds in the area continued to use Starlink to get online even after SpaceX announced it had cut off service. And there are other signs the scam industry is adapting fast: The physical damage to KK Park sent thousands of workers scattering to other scam companies in Myanmar and abroad, interviews with current and former scam center workers show. Telegram is popping with job ads for newly displaced workers. And work has continued uninterrupted at other scam centers in Myanmar, where people trafficked from around the world still wait to be rescued.

    “Even if you destroy buildings, if you haven’t arrested the heads of the transnational syndicates behind this, seized their wealth and put them in jail, it’s not a real crackdown yet,” said Jay Kritiya, the coordinator of the Civil Society Network for Human Trafficking Victim Assistance.

    Myanmar state media announced the raid on KK Park on Oct. 20, which was followed by a weekslong demolition campaign. In November, Myanmar’s military rulers pledged to “eradicate scam activities from their roots.” State media broadcast images of wreckage and soldiers standing with dozens of seized Starlink terminals. They then went after Shwe Kokko, another notorious compound that’s been in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities. SpaceX announced it cut off access to more than 2,500 Starlink units in Myanmar, where they have been widely used by scammers to get online. And Meta said this month it had taken down 2,000 Facebook accounts used by scammers in Myanmar.

    It looked as if growing American pressure on foreign scam centers through sanctions, prosecutions and a new, high-level Scam Center Strike Force, was having swift impact as Myanmar prepares for national elections, which have been widely criticized as a sham effort to legitimize the army’s 2021 seizure of power.

    Myanmar has said the demolition at KK Park — and raids at additional scam sites — are meant to ensure that criminal activity never returns. This month the government created a high-level task force to enact what it calls a “zero tolerance” policy against scams. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on Dec. 15 devoted five full pages to coverage of a press conference showcasing what it described as the government’s aggressive efforts to stop fraud, and characterized cyberscams as the work of foreign criminal networks that have taken root in lawless borderlands controlled by insurgents.

    Government officials said that by Dec. 13, 413 buildings in KK Park had been “demolished” and the remaining 222 would be cleared as well. Detailed visual analysis of the first wave of demolition, which the government says is complete, shows that 31 structures were flattened. At least 78 more were partially damaged, according to the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), a London-based nonprofit focused on exposing human rights violations.

    More than half the buildings were damaged by heavy machinery, which often left roofs, ceilings and layers between floors intact, said Guy Fusfus, an investigator at Myanmar Witness, a CIR project. “There may be an intention to reconstruct and reuse these buildings,” he said in an email.

    New satellite imagery shows that most buildings in KK Park appeared wholly or partially intact on Dec. 4, even as demolition had spread to other sections of the compound. Once home to thousands of workers, many victims of human trafficking, the streets of KK Park appeared empty. Where all those people went — and what that portends for the future of a criminal industry the FBI says cost Americans more than $16 billion last year — remain open questions.

    “This isn’t just breaking windows and moving on. You can’t come in and restart operations here at the same scale as before,” said Eric Heintz, a global analyst at the International Justice Mission, a Washington, D.C.-based NGO, who reviewed satellite images of the damage. “But we don’t know if that activity is just going to be displaced to other locations.”

    Myanmar’s track record of lasting enforcement is poor. Raids in response to Chinese pressure earlier this year failed to contain the growth of scam compounds, according to C4ADS, a U.S.-based nonprofit that takes a data-driven approach to conflict analysis. Over 7,000 scam center workers were released as part of that purge, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, but the scams kept on running.

    C4ADS examined satellite imagery of 21 known scam compounds in Myawaddy Township and found that 14 of them — including KK Park — had shown construction or expansion since January. Some solar panels also appeared — a step toward energy independence that could blunt the impact of crackdowns from neighboring Thailand, which has occasionally cut off power.

    “This continued growth of scam compounds is emblematic of the junta’s inability to rein in the industry within Myanmar,” said Michael Di Girolamo, a C4ADS analyst focused on cybercrime.

    Analysts say that some of the same people who led the raid on KK Park have profited from scams over the years. KK Park, like most scam compounds along the Thai border, operates under the protection of the Karen Border Guard Force — also known as the Karen National Army — an armed militia made up of ethnic Karen people who live in eastern Myanmar that is affiliated with the Myanmar military, according to U.S. and European government sanctions notices.

    Jason Tower, a senior expert at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said the action at KK Park was a way for Myanmar’s military leadership to relieve pressure, primarily from the U.S. and China, and continue to host highly lucrative criminal activity. “There’s no real political will to crack down,” he said.

    A month after KK Park was raided, another scam center fell, far from the glare of government propaganda. On Nov. 21, forces of the Karen National Union, a rebel group opposed to Myanmar’s military leadership, stormed a scam compound called Shunda Park in an area controlled by a pro-government militia.

    “This looks much more like a real crackdown on crime,” Tower said.

    While Myanmar state television broadcast images of a steamroller crushing rows of scammers’ computers, the Karen National Union gathered 604 mobile phones, bank cards, computers and other evidence from Shunda and handed them over to Thai authorities for investigation.

    “The Myanmar military just destroys everything,” KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee told AP. “It’s clear they don’t want people to know who is controlling it.”

    Requests for comment to a Myanmar military government spokesman went unanswered. But the Global New Light of Myanmar called claims that evidence was being destroyed “astonishing.” All evidence was properly collected, the paper said, and would be “released as appropriate in future public statements.”

    Since the raid on KK Park, the Thai military said around 1,500 people who worked there have made it out through official channels in Thailand — a fraction of the total workforce, estimated to be in the tens of thousands.

    The whereabouts of the rest are unknown. Some followed company bosses to other locations, four workers who fled KK Park told AP. They spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety.

    One Filipino worker said he and 20 others who jumped the fence at KK Park were picked up by government-allied forces and made it to Thailand. But five Ethiopians on his team stayed behind. “They wanted to go to another company,” he explained. He said he overheard his boss, who was Chinese, talk about relocating the operation to Cambodia.

    Another Filipina worker said her company relocated dozens of staff, computers and Wi-Fi equipment to a nearby compound called Huanya, to get the business targeting older American men with a gold investment scam back up and running as quickly as possible.

    Telegram is awash with recruitment offers for displaced workers. One company seeking staff to target U.S. “clients” appeared to offer the option of working remotely from the town of Myawaddy. “No daily attendance or registration required,” the notice read.

    A company seeking staff for “finding and chatting” with cryptocurrency clients said it would arrange direct flights from Yangon in Myanmar to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, for those with passports and “safe transportation by car” for those without. “Come quickly,” the announcement urged.

    More than 200 African workers from KK Park went to the nearby Apollo scam compound, according to a foreign woman trapped there.

    Another 100 or so moved to a compound known as Hengsheng Park 4, according to an employee who says his bosses won’t let him leave even if he pays a ransom. He said KK workers stayed for a week and then moved on. “I heard that most of them went to Cambodia, Mauritius and Africa,” he said.

    He said his company still uses Starlink to get online — three units stopped working after SpaceX announced the ban, but a fourth still functions.

    Starlink is also still up and running at the Deko Park compound, 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of KK Park, according to a worker trapped there.

    The Associated Press is withholding the names of all three for safety reasons. AP asked SpaceX for comment and provided the locations of both compounds, but the company did not reply.

    The Myanmar government’s pledges to wipe out scams haven’t helped the man at Deko Park, whose legs bloomed with bruises from a beating, photos show. He sends pleas almost daily: “Is there any latest news?” he wrote in a recent text message to a woman who is trying to help him escape. “I really want to go.”

    —

    This story is part of an ongoing collaboration between The Associated Press and FRONTLINE (PBS) that includes an upcoming documentary.

    —-

    Associated Press reporter Huizhong Wu contributed from Bangkok, Thailand.

    —-

    Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/.

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  • Could Buying Rivian Stock Today Set You Up for Life?

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    • Rivian Automotive makes all-electric trucks and delivery vans.

    • It’s about to broaden its reach from the high end to the mass market.

    • Rivian has just unveiled new technology that could be critical to its future.

    • 10 stocks we like better than Rivian Automotive ›

    Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN) is attempting to break into the automotive sector by leveraging new technology to compete and partner with large automakers. That is a very tall order, but if it succeeds, the company could help set investors up for life.

    The massive price gains in the shares of Tesla, an electric vehicle (EV) pioneer, hint at the possibilities. There’s just one problem. Here’s what that is.

    Rivian does three different things right now, all of which are important. Most prominently, it makes an all-electric truck for the consumer market. The vehicles are award winning, but they sit at the high end of the cost spectrum. So there is a fairly limited customer base. That’s not a bad thing, however, because it is the same approach that Tesla used when it started out.

    Image source: Rivian Automotive.

    The second important business within Rivian is its delivery vehicles, designed for business customers. The big story there has long been the company’s partnership with Amazon. The EV sales have helped to generate revenue as Rivian builds out its consumer business and showcases its technology. Rivian is now selling its delivery trucks to other business customers.

    The third business inside Rivian is centered on licensing its technology to other automakers. The major partner is Volkswagen, which has been providing capital to Rivian in exchange for access to the upstart EV company’s tech.

    All in all, while Rivian is following Tesla’s lead in some ways, it has taken a much broader approach to building its business. That’s a good thing, given that Tesla entered the auto sector when there was little to no competition in the EV niche. Now, every major automaker and a host of EV start-ups are competing with each other in the EV market.

    The next significant step for Rivian is the introduction of a mass-market truck known as the R2. That vehicle is expected to be launched in 2026. With roughly $7 billion in cash on the balance sheet at the end of the third quarter of 2025, it should have more than enough money to finish out the massive capital investment required to see the R2 effort through to completion.

    There’s just one issue: Sales of EVs have weakened as government subsidies have fallen away. It is unclear whether the R2 will be as big a success as previously hoped. Rivian’s goal is to increase its sales volume so it can spread its costs over more vehicles. If that doesn’t happen to the extent hoped, it could be difficult for the company to turn a profit selling consumer-oriented vehicles.

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  • France probes ‘foreign interference’ after remote control malware found on passenger ferry

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    PARIS — France’s counterespionage agency is investigating a suspected cyberattack plot targeting an international passenger ferry, authorities said Wednesday.

    A Latvian crew member is in custody facing charges of having acted for an unidentified foreign power, French officials said. But Interior Minister Laurent Nunez appeared to hint that Russia is suspected, saying: “At the moment, foreign interference very often comes from same country.”

    France and other European allies of Ukraine allege that Russia is waging “hybrid warfare” against them, using sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, disinformation and other hostile acts that are often hard to quickly trace back to Moscow.

    Intelligence shared by Italian authorities tipped off the General Directorate of Internal Security — France’s special counterespionage and counterterror intelligence service — that software sometimes used by cybercriminals may have infected computer systems aboard a ferry docked in the French Mediterranean port of Sète, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

    The so-called RAT software — which allows users to control computer systems remotely — could have been used to take control of the ferry’s computers, the prosecutor’s office said. Its statement did not name ferry.

    Nunez told public broadcaster France Info that “individuals tried to gain access to a ship’s data-processing system.” He described it as “a very serious affair.” Asked if the suspected intention was to hijack the vessel, he said: “We don’t know.”

    He added: “The investigators appear to be following a trail of interference … foreign interference.”

    Police on Friday arrested two of the ferry’s crew members — one Latvian, the other Bulgarian — who Italian authorities had identified as suspects, the prosecutor’s office said. The Bulgarian was subsequently released without charge after questioning.

    The Latvian national is being held on a preliminary criminal conspiracy charge and two preliminary charges of hacking-related offenses with the goal of serving the interests of an unnamed foreign power, the prosecutor’s office said.

    It said search raids were also carried out in Latvia. Latvian state police said they had no comment.

    The ferry is now back in operation after being held in port for security checks to its computer system, the prosecutor’s office said.

    ___

    AP European Security Correspondent Emma Burrows in London contributed.

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  • China exploits US-funded research on nuclear technology, a congressional report says

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    WASHINGTON — China is exploiting partnerships with U.S. researchers funded by the Department of Energy to provide the Chinese military with access to sensitive nuclear technology and other innovations with economic and national security applications, according to a congressional report published Wednesday.

    The authors of the report say the U.S. must do more to protect high-tech research and ensure that the results of taxpayer-funded work don’t end up benefiting Beijing. They recommended several changes to better protect scientific research in the U.S., including new policies for the Department of Energy to use when deciding whether to fund work that involves Chinese partnerships.

    The investigation is part of a congressional push to raise a firewall blocking U.S. research from boosting China’s military buildup when the two countries are locked in a tech and arms rivalry that will shape the future global order.

    Investigators from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce identified more than 4,300 academic papers published between June 2023 and June of this year that involved collaborations between DOE-funded scientists and Chinese researchers. About half of the papers involved Chinese researchers affiliated with China’s military or industrial base.

    Particularly concerning, investigators found that federal funds went to research collaborations with Chinese state-owned laboratories and universities that work directly for China’s military, including some listed in a Pentagon database of Chinese military companies with operations in the U.S. The report also detailed collaborations between U.S. researchers and groups blamed for cyberattacks as well as human rights abuses in China.

    The Energy Department routinely funds advanced research into nuclear energy and the development and disposal of nuclear weaponry, along with a long list of other high-tech fields like quantum computing, materials science and physics. It doles out hundreds of millions of dollars each year for research. The department oversees 17 national laboratories that have led the development in many technologies.

    The report followed a number of congressional investigations into federally funded research involving Chinese scientists and researchers. Last year, a report released by Republicans found that partnerships between U.S. and Chinese universities over the past decade had allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to help Beijing develop critical technology that could help strengthen its military. Another investigation this year revealed that the Pentagon in a recent two-year period funded hundreds of projects in collaboration with Chinese entities linked to China’s defense industry.

    The Energy Department has failed for decades to take steps to ensure the research it funds doesn’t benefit China, the report’s authors found. They made several recommendations to tighten the rules, including a new standardized approach to assessing the national security risks of research, as well as requirements that the department share information about research ties with China with other U.S. government agencies to make it easier to spot problems.

    “These longstanding policy failures and inaction have left taxpayer-funded research vulnerable to exploitation by China’s defense research and industrial base and state-directed technology transfer activities,” the authors concluded.

    The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to questions about the report and its recommendations. A message seeking comment was left with the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

    Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the select committee, said in a statement that the “investigation reveals a deeply alarming problem: The Department of Energy failed to ensure the security of its research and it put American taxpayers on the hook for funding the military rise of our nation’s foremost adversary.”

    Moolenaar this year introduced legislation aimed at preventing research funding in science and technology and defense from going to collaborations or partnerships with “foreign adversary-controlled” entities that pose a national security risk.

    The legislation cleared the House but failed to advance to become part of the annual sweeping defense policy bill. It was met with strong opposition from scientists and researchers, who argued that the measures were too broad and could chill collaboration and undermine America’s competitive edge in science and technology.

    In an October letter, a group of more than 750 faculty members and senior staffers from American universities told congressional leaders overseeing the armed services that the U.S. is in a global competition for talent. They called for “very careful and targeted measures for risk management” to address security concerns.

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  • To find living donors for kidney transplants, a pilot program turns to social networks

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    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Fernando Moreno has been on dialysis for about two years, enduring an “unbearable” wait for a new kidney to save his life. His limited world of social contacts has meant that his hopes have hinged on inching up the national waiting list for a transplant.

    That was until earlier this year, when the Philadelphia hospital where he receives treatment connected him with a promising pilot project that has paired him with “angel advocates” — Good Samaritan strangers scattered around the country who leverage their own social media contacts to share his story.

    So far, the Great Social Experiment, as it was named by its founder, Los Angeles filmmaker David Krissman, hasn’t found the Vineland, New Jersey, truck driver a living kidney donor. But there are encouraging early signs the angel advocate approach is working, and there’s no question it has given Moreno new optimism.

    “This process is great,” said Moreno, 50, whose own father died of kidney failure at 65. “I’m just hoping there will be somebody out there that’s willing to take a chance.”

    Moreno is part of a pilot program with 15 patients that began in May at three Pennsylvania hospitals. It’s testing whether motivated, volunteer strangers can help improve the chances of finding a life-saving match for a new kidney — particularly for people with limited social networks.

    “We know how this has always been done, and we’re trying to put that on steroids and really get them the help that they need,” Krissman said. “Most patients are too sick to do this on their own — many don’t have the skills to do it on their own.”

    The Gift of Life Donor Program, which serves as the organ procurement network for eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, is supporting the pilot program with a grant of more than $100,000 from its foundation.

    So far, two of the five patients in the program through Temple University Hospital have found kidney donors, and one is preparing for surgery, according to Ryan Ihlenfeldt, the hospital’s director of clinical transplant services. One of the five patients at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Harrisburg has also undergone a transplant.

    The approach Krissman has developed is something new, said Richard Hasz Jr., Gift of Life’s chief executive, and may help identify the types of messages that attract and motivate potential live kidney donors.

    “This is the first of its kind that I’m aware of,” Hasz said. “That’s why, I think, the foundation was so interested in doing it — studying it and hopefully publishing it — so we can create that blueprint, if you will, for the future.”

    Gift of Life agreed to fund a broader test and helped Krissman identify five patients each at Temple, UPMC-Harrisburg and Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

    Hasz said the pilot program’s approach combines social media outreach with Krissman’s storytelling talents and aggressive efforts to mobilize the patients’ own connections.

    “We know that patients who are waiting don’t always have the energy or the resources to do this themselves,” Hasz said.

    There have been other ways for patients to set up “ microsites ” where they can tell their stories and seek a donor match. But the pilot program currently underway in Pennsylvania aims to connect patients with a wide universe of potential donors and produce videos and other ways to spread their message.

    Krissman’s bout with an illness about two decades ago inspired him to tackle the sticky challenge of increasing live kidney donations. He was debilitated for more than a year before medication helped him recover, explaining, “It gave me my life back. And I never forgot what it’s like to be chronically sick.”

    After producing a podcast on kidney transplantation, Krissman recruited four patients through Facebook who were waiting for kidneys. He was able to help two of them. A second effort, a pilot program with three patients in North Carolina that ended last year, helped match all three with living donors.

    Becca Brown, director of transplant services at UPMC-Harrisburg, thinks it might be a game changer.

    “There’s potential for this to really snowball,” Brown said. “I’m anxious to see what happens and if we can roll it out to other patients.”

    Some 90,000 people in the United States are on a list for a kidney transplant, and most of the roughly 28,000 kidneys that were transplanted last year came from deceased donors. Living kidney donations are hard to come by — about 6,400 were transplanted last year. Thousands die each year waiting for an organ transplant in the United States.

    Living kidney donations can be a better match, reducing the risk of organ rejection. They allow for surgery to be planned for a time that is optimal for the donor, the recipient and the transplant team. And, the foundation says, living donor kidneys, on average, last longer than kidneys from deceased donors.

    The National Kidney Foundation says living donors must be at least 18 years old, although some transplant centers set the minimum age at 21. Potential donors get screened for health problems and can be ruled out if they have uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer, or if they are smokers.

    Many living donors make “directed donations” to specify who will get their kidney. Nondirected donations are made anonymously to a patient.

    Francis Beaumier, a 38-year-old information technology worker from Green Bay, Wisconsin, came into contact with the angel advocate program after being a double living donor — a kidney and part of his liver.

    He sees the program as “a great little way for everyone to make a small difference.”

    Another angel advocate, Holly Armstrong, was also a living donor. She hopes her efforts will plant a seed.

    “Some people might just keep scrolling,” said Armstrong, who lives in Lake Wiley, South Carolina. “But there might be someone like me, where they stop scrolling and say, ‘This boy needs a kidney.’”

    A study released last year found that people who volunteer to donate a kidney are at a lower risk of death from the operation than doctors had previously thought. Tracking 30 years of living kidney donations, researchers found fewer than 1 in every 10,000 donors died within three months of the surgery. Newer and safer surgical techniques were credited for dropping the risk from 3 deaths per 10,000 living donors.

    Temple serves a large cohort of poorer patients who can have difficulty understanding health issues and who suffer from uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes, Ihlenfeldt, who works there, said.

    “What David’s trying to do is coalesce a network of support around these patients who are sharing the story for them,” Ihlenfeldt said.

    At a kickoff event in a Harrisburg meeting room for kidney patient Ahmad Collins, a couple dozen friends and family listened with rapt attention as Krissman went over the game plan, answering questions and describing the transplant process.

    Collins, a 50-year-old city government worker and former Penn State linebacker, has needed 10 hours a night of dialysis since a medical procedure left him with damaged kidneys late last year.

    His mind was on the strangers who might decide to pitch in.

    “They can be a superhero, so to speak,” Collins said. “They can have the opportunity to save somebody’s life, and not too many times in life do you have that opportunity.”

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  • Robinhood Leans Into Parlays, er, Combos in Prediction Markets Push

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    Posted on: December 16, 2025, 10:46h. 

    Last updated on: December 16, 2025, 10:46h.

    • Robinhood discussed “prediction markets reimagined” at Tuesday event.
    • Sports event contracts were front-and-center.
    • Company unveiled new and upcoming parlay, player prop offerings.

    At a Tuesday investor event, Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) discussed “prediction markets reimagined” with sports event contracts, including parlays, seemingly getting top billing.

    Robinhood
    A Robinhood logo. The company highlighted sports event contracts at a prediction markets event. (Image: Google Play)

    The financial technology (fintech) company reiterated what has been a topic of frequent discussion in the investment community: Robinhood is undoubtedly a prediction markets force to be reckoned with. The California-based brokerage house said prediction markets are its “fastest-growing product line by revenue ever, with 11 billion contracts traded by more than 1 million customers.”

    Robinhood said that over the past several weeks, a period including news it’s partnering with Susquehanna International Group on an organic event contracts platform, it’s been responding to various revolving around event contracts.

    Those include broader enhancements to its prediction markets platform, 24/7 access, limit orders, dollar-based trades, a sports contracts hubs, and an event details page spanning a number of sports.

    Robinhood Puts Parlays in the Spotlight

    Parlays, or as prediction market operators call them, combos, are increasingly popular in the event contracts industry and Robinhood isn’t shying away from that as it looks to capitalize on the tail end of football season with pre-set multi-leg bets.

    Customers will be able to trade preset combos for individual Pro Football games, giving them another way to turn their nuanced sports knowledge into an investing opportunity,” according to a statement. “These will be a combination of the outcomes, totals, and spreads within a single game. Like any event contract, these combos will pay $1 dollar, but only if each of the outcomes in the contract resolves correctly.”

    As is the case with other prediction market firms and at a time when these bets are increasingly controversial, Robinhood is also featuring what amount to player proposition bets, calling them “player contracts.” Those derivatives will be offered on football will include passing, receiving, and rushing yards and anytime touchdowns, among others.

    Robinhood Leveraging Media Arm in Prediction Markets Push

    The fintech company also noted its Sherwood News platform will serve up a newsletter known as “Scoreboard” that will act as a prediction markets data and news hub, featuring “stats, and sports markets news they need to know.”

    While sports event contracts were the points of emphasis at the investor event, Robinhood noted it has listed thousands of yes/no derivatives across economics, politics, pop culture, and other categories.

    In October, the trading house introduced approximately 20 yes/no contracts with political ties, including bets on with whom President Trump will meet this year, the possibility of a national Bitcoin reserve, semiconductor tariffs, Trump pardons, and whether or not Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will leave that role, among others. Moves like that arrive as industry observers say non-sports derivatives will be a key source of long-term growth for prediction market firms, assuming they execute well.

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    Todd Shriber

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  • Blue Origin launches New Shepard NS-37 mission

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    TEXAS — Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space exploration company, will launch New Shepard mission 37, or NS-37, on Thursday, Dec. 18.

    The mission is set to launch at 10 a.m. CDT and will send six new astronauts into space.

    Blue Origin has also released the mission patch, which includes a nod to each of the travelers. 

    According to the Blue Origin website, a few of the symbols embedded include:

    • The DNA symbolizes the importance and impact of science to Neal Milch. 
    • The hippo represents Michaela (Michi) Benthaus’ favorite animal. Her plush hippo, which comforted her in the hospital after an accident, will join her in space. The tennis ball symbolizes another of Michi’s competitive passions. 
    • A baobab tree, iconic to South Africa, represents Adonis Pouroulis’ roots. 
    • A spiral galaxy symbolizes Joey Hyde’s astrophysics research. 
    • A dog-bone shape, stars in the crew capsule windows represent the number 201 and “K” are in memoriam of Jason Stansell’s brother. 
    • The shards represent Blue Origin’s commitment to breaking down the barriers to accessing space, including cost, nationality and ability.  

    Mission NS-37 will mark the first manned mission since Oct 8. 

    The New Shepard spacecraft, named for pioneering Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard who was the first American in space, is a fully reusable, suborbital rocket system that takes passengers on an 11-minute journey to the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. 

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  • Hyundai and Kia will repair millions of vehicles under a deal to fix anti-theft technology

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    Automakers Hyundai and Kia must offer free repairs to millions of models under a settlement announced Tuesday by Minnesota’s attorney general, who led an effort by dozens of states that argued the vehicles weren’t equipped with proper anti-theft technology, leaving them vulnerable to thefts.

    Under the nationwide settlement, the companies will offer a free repair to all eligible vehicles at a cost that could top $500 million, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said. Hyundai and Kia must also outfit all future vehicles sold in the U.S. with a key piece of technology called an engine immobilizer and pay up to $4.5 million of restitution to people whose vehicles were damaged by thieves.

    The settlement was reached by 35 states, including California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The vehicles eligible for fixes date as far back as 2011 and as recently as 2022. About 9 million eligible vehicles were sold nationwide.

    Thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles soared in part because beginning in 2021, videos posted to TikTok and other social media demonstrated how someone could steal a car with just a screwdriver and a USB cable. Minneapolis reported an 836% increase in Hyundai and Kia thefts from 2021 to 2022. Ellison announced an investigation into the automakers in early 2023.

    Ellison said the two companies installed engine immobilizers on cars sold in Mexico and Canada, but not widely in the U.S., leading to car thefts, crimes and crashes that injured and even killed people, including teenagers.

    “This crisis that we’re talking about today started in a boardroom, traveled through the internet and ended up in tragic results when somebody stole those cars,” Ellison said at a news conference.

    He was joined by Twin Cities officials, a woman whose mother was killed when a stolen Kia crashed into her parents’ vehicle and a man whose car was stolen nine times — as recently as Monday night, and including seven times after a previous software fix.

    Under the settlement, Hyundai and Kia will install a zinc sleeve to stop would-be thieves from cracking open a vehicle’s ignition cylinder and starting the car.

    Eligible customers will have one year from the date of the companies’ notice to get the repair at an authorized dealership. The repairs are expected to be available from early 2026 through early 2027.

    In separate statements, the automakers said the agreement is one of multiple anti-theft efforts they have taken to help customers.

    “Kia is eager to continue working with law enforcement officers and officials at federal, state, and local levels to combat criminal car theft, and the role social media has played in encouraging it, and we remain fully committed to upholding vehicle security,” the company said.

    Hyundai said, “We will continue to take meaningful action to support our customers and ensure peace of mind.”

    ___

    Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.

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  • SpaceX plans to launch nearly 30 Starlink satellites

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    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — For anyone hoping to see a morning launch, your Christmas wish has come true. SpaceX is planning to launch another batch of Starlink satellites Wednesday morning. 

    What You Need To Know

    • Starlink 6-99 mission will take off from Launch Complex 39A

    SpaceX stated it is going to send up its Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for the Starlink 6-99 mission.

    The launch window opens at 7:19 a.m. ET and it is set to close at 11:19 a.m. ET. This means the California-based company has during that time frame to send up its Falcon 9 rocket.

    The 45th Weather Squadron has given a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions.

    The only concern against the launch is the cumulus cloud rule.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    Taking the fifth

    The Falcon 9’s first-stage booster for this mission, called B1094, has two crewed launches in its young career.

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket is expected to land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, which will be in the Atlantic Ocean..

    About the mission

    SpaceX owns the Starlink company, which will see its 29 satellites go to low-Earth orbit.

    Once deployed and in their orbit with the thousands of other Starlinks, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

    Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been documenting Starlink satellites.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,357 are in orbit
    • 8,026 are in operational orbit

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Interstellar comet keeps its distance as it makes its closest approach to Earth

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A stray comet from another star swings past Earth this week in one last hurrah before racing back toward interstellar space.

    Discovered over the summer, the comet known as 3I/Atlas will pass within 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) of our planet on Friday, the closest it gets on its grand tour of the solar system.

    NASA continues to aim its space telescopes at the visiting ice ball, estimated to be between 1,444 feet (440 meters) and 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) in size. But it’s fading as it exits, so now’s the time for backyard astronomers to catch it in the night sky with their telescopes.

    The comet will come much closer to Jupiter in March, zipping within 33 million miles (53 million kilometers). It will be the mid-2030s before it reaches interstellar space, never to return, said Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

    It’s the third known interstellar object to cut through our solar system. Interstellar comets like 3I/Atlas originate in star systems elsewhere in the Milky Way, while home-grown comets like Halley’s hail from the icy fringes of our solar system.

    A telescope in Hawaii discovered the first confirmed interstellar visitor in 2017. Two years later, an interstellar comet was spotted by a Crimean amateur astronomer. NASA’s sky-surveying Atlas telescope in Chile spotted comet 3I/Atlas in July while prowling for potentially dangerous asteroids.

    Scientists believe the latest interloping comet, also harmless, may have originated in a star system much older than ours, making it a tantalizing target.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • ULA is set to launch nearly 30 Amazon Leo satellites

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — United Launch Alliance is getting ready to launch 30 Amazon Leo internet satellites early Tuesday morning.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Atlas V 551 rocket’s first-stage booster does not land on a droneship or landing zone, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket

    Formerly known as Kuiper satellites, Amazon made the name change last month. In fact, this will be the first launch under the new name for the satellites.

    ULA’s Atlas V 551 rocket will leave Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated the Colorado-based company.

    The very short launch window will open at 3:28 a.m. ET and close at 3:57 a.m. ET.

    The LA-04 mission was originally set to launch on Monday morning, but it was pushed back due to poor weather conditions.

    At the moment, the 45th Weather Squadron is giving a 95% chance of good liftoff weather for the Tuesday morning mission, with the only concern being the cumulus cloud rule.

    The Atlas V 551 rocket’s first-stage booster does not land on a droneship or landing zone, which is what the better known SpaceX rocket — the Falcon 9 — does. Instead, it will separate and fall into the Atlantic Ocean, where it will get picked up.

    About the mission

    The Atlas V rocket sent up 27 of Amazon’s Leo satellites.

    Like the SpaceX-company Starlink and its satellites that orbit Earth, the Leo satellites will have their own low-Earth orbital satellite network.

    The Leo satellites will provide internet service to customers around the world.

    Before this launch, there were 153 Kuiper satellites in orbit, with Amazon planning more than 3,200, once all is said and done.

    Watch the launch here

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  • Militant groups are experimenting with AI, and the risks are expected to grow

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    WASHINGTON — As the rest of the world rushes to harness the power of artificial intelligence, militant groups also are experimenting with the technology, even if they aren’t sure exactly what to do with it.

    For extremist organizations, AI could be a powerful tool for recruiting new members, churning out realistic deepfake images and refining their cyberattacks, national security experts and spy agencies have warned.

    Someone posting on a pro-Islamic State group website last month urged other IS supporters to make AI part of their operations. “One of the best things about AI is how easy it is to use,” the user wrote in English.

    “Some intelligence agencies worry that AI will contribute (to) recruiting,” the user continued. “So make their nightmares into reality.”

    IS, which had seized territory in Iraq and Syria years ago but is now a decentralized alliance of militant groups that share a violent ideology, realized years ago that social media could be a potent tool for recruitment and disinformation, so it’s not surprising that the group is testing out AI, national security experts say.

    For loose-knit, poorly resourced extremist groups — or even an individual bad actor with a web connection — AI can be used to pump out propaganda or deepfakes at scale, widening their reach and expanding their influence.

    “For any adversary, AI really makes it much easier to do things,” said John Laliberte, a former vulnerability researcher at the National Security Agency who is now CEO of cybersecurity firm ClearVector. “With AI, even a small group that doesn’t have a lot of money is still able to make an impact.”

    Militant groups began using AI as soon as programs like ChatGPT became widely accessible. In the years since, they have increasingly used generative AI programs to create realistic-looking photos and video.

    When strapped to social media algorithms, this fake content can help recruit new believers, confuse or frighten enemies and spread propaganda at a scale unimaginable just a few years ago.

    Such groups spread fake images two years ago of the Israel-Hamas war depicting bloodied, abandoned babies in bombed-out buildings. The images spurred outrage and polarization while obscuring the war’s actual horrors. Violent groups in the Middle East used the photos to recruit new members, as did antisemitic hate groups in the U.S. and elsewhere.

    Something similar happened last year after an attack claimed by an IS affiliate killed nearly 140 people at a concert venue in Russia. In the days after the shooting, AI-crafted propaganda videos circulated widely on discussion boards and social media, seeking new recruits.

    IS also has created deepfake audio recordings of its own leaders reciting scripture and used AI to quickly translate messages into multiple languages, according to researchers at SITE Intelligence Group, a firm that tracks extremist activities and has investigated IS’ evolving use of AI.

    Such groups lag behind China, Russia or Iran and still view the more sophisticated uses of AI as “aspirational,” according to Marcus Fowler, a former CIA agent who is now CEO at Darktrace Federal, a cybersecurity firm that works with the federal government.

    But the risks are too high to ignore and are likely to grow as the use of cheap, powerful AI expands, he said.

    Hackers are already using synthetic audio and video for phishing campaigns, in which they try to impersonate a senior business or government leader to gain access to sensitive networks. They also can use AI to write malicious code or automate some aspects of cyberattacks.

    More concerning is the possibility that militant groups may try to use AI to help produce biological or chemical weapons, making up for a lack of technical expertise. That risk was included in the Department of Homeland Security’s updated Homeland Threat Assessment, released earlier this year.

    “ISIS got on Twitter early and found ways to use social media to their advantage,” Fowler said. “They are always looking for the next thing to add to their arsenal.”

    Lawmakers have floated several proposals, saying there’s an urgent need to act.

    Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, for instance, that the U.S. must make it easier for AI developers to share information about how their products are being used by bad actors, whether they are extremists, criminal hackers or foreign spies.

    “It has been obvious since late 2022, with the public release of ChatGPT, that the same fascination and experimentation with generative AI the public has had would also apply to a range of malign actors,” Warner said.

    During a recent hearing on extremist threats, House lawmakers learned that IS and al-Qaida have held training workshops to help supporters learn to use AI.

    Legislation that passed the U.S. House last month would require homeland security officials to assess the AI risks posed by such groups each year.

    Guarding against the malicious use of AI is no different from preparing for more conventional attacks, said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the bill’s sponsor.

    “Our policies and capabilities must keep pace with the threats of tomorrow,” he said.

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  • What to Stream: ‘Emily in Paris,’ iHeartRadio Jingle Ball, ‘Him,’ Peter Criss and Riz Ahmed

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    Marlon Wayans starring in the Jordan Peele-produced football thriller “Him” and the iHeartRadio Z100’s Jingle Ball 2025 featuring Conan Gray, Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll and Olivia Dean are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

    Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: A second season of “Fallout” arrives on Prime Video, Season 5 of “Emily in Paris” drops on Netflix and Peter Criss — Kiss’ original drummer — will release a brand new, self-titled album.

    — The Jordan Peele-produced “Him” (Dec. 19 on Peacock) takes the hard knocks of the gridiron to bloody extremes. It stars Tyriq Withers as an up-and-coming quarterback whose mentorship with the veteran champ (Marlon Wayans) grows increasingly dark and surreal. In my review, I wrote that “Him” has a decent point to make about QB hero worship, “the problem is that has exactly one thing to say, which it does again and again.”

    — In David Mackenzie’s “Relay,” Riz Ahmed plays a fixer who runs a covert service that brokers deals between corrupt companies and potential threats. To preserve anonymity, he uses a “relay” telephone service, usually for deaf or speech-impaired people, to disguise identities. This nifty thriller streams Friday, Dec. 12 on Netflix after a late-summer theatrical release. Co-starring Lily James and Sam Worthington.

    — For a particularly seductive December, you can spend your holidays with Wong Kar-wai. The Criterion Channel is hosting many of the Hong Kong filmmaker’s finest films, including “Chungking Express,” “Fallen Angels” and “In the Mood for Love,” as well as his first TV series, “Blossoms Shanghai.” A hit in China, the 30-part series is set amid the 1990s opening of the Chinese economy and the relaunch of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. New episodes debut every Monday.

    — AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

    — Alex Warren. BigXthaPlug. Conan Gray.Ed Sheeran.Jelly Roll. Jessie Murph. The Kid LAROI. Laufey. Mgk. Monsta X. Myles Smith. Nelly. Olivia Dean. Ravyn Lenae. Reneé Rapp. Shinedown. Zara Larsson. What do all these popular artists have in common? They’re performing at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour! On Wednesday, ABC will air the iHeartRadio Z100’s Jingle Ball 2025 holiday special — made up of a few tour stops — to become available to stream on Hulu the next day. It’s all the fun of a star-studded pop concert from the comfort of your couch.

    — In 2023, glam rockers Kiss said its goodbyes for one final performance at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden. But that doesn’t mean their musical story ended there. On Friday, Peter Criss — Kiss’ original drummer and founding member who left and rejoined the group on a number of occasions — will release a brand new, self-titled album.

    — AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

    — A second season of “Fallout” arrives on Prime Video Wednesday. Based on a hugely popular video game, it’s a postapocalyptic series set two centuries after a nuclear war destroyed modern civilization. In Season 2, Justin Theroux, Macaulay Culkin, and Kumail Nanjiani join the cast which includes Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins.

    — Emily, of “Emily in Paris,” is still living la dolce vita in Rome when Season 5 drops Thursday. The Darren Starr-created show follows the adventures of an American expat played by Lily Collins.

    — A new documentary series called “Born to be Wild” follows six endangered baby animals that were orphaned or born as part of conservation programs. Narrated by Hugh Bonneville, it streams on Apple TV beginning Friday, Dec. 19.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    — The video game business has wrapped up its big-release schedule for the holidays, so now is a good time to catch up on titles you may have missed — or started and didn’t have time to finish. It has been a solid year for role-playing games, with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Outer Worlds 2 leading The Associated Press’ top 10 list. If you’re in the mood for a trip to Japan, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Ghost of Yōtei both offer sprawling open-world journeys with RPG elements. Check out the rest of our top 10 for more ways to keep your game device of choice humming past New Year’s Day.

    — Lou Kesten

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