Category: All News
From visas to jets, US and China are finding new trade leverage
US President Donald Trump brought many of the same grievances to his second trade war against China, but the economic battleground that has emerged since then is making it harder to avoid a rupture this time around. While tariffs kicked off the dispute, it is the new trade weapons being unsheathed by both sides that have come to define the latest stand-off. And if the damage done so far is any indication, the scars will prove more enduring – no…
Academic publishers sign AI deals as Trump cuts research funding
Academic publishers are rushing to sign licensing deals with artificial intelligence (AI) companies, carving out a new revenue stream as US research funding cuts dim their outlook. Informa Plc’s Taylor & Francis signed a US$10 million (S$12.8 million) deal with Microsoft Corp. in 2024 to provide the technology giant access to part of its library to train large language models, or LLMs. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc is looking to “monetise academic content through AI deals”, it said in its latest set…
Greek court strips three far-right lawmakers of parliamentary seats on deceit allegations
ATHENS – A Greek court has stripped three far-right lawmakers of their seats in parliament on accusations they deceived voters in a June 2023 national vote, the semi-official Athens News Agency and a legal source said on Tuesday. The ruling means parliament will operate with 297 lawmakers instead of 300, while the number of seats needed for an absolute majority drops to 149. The three former lawmakers were elected with the far-right Spartans party in 2023. An election court, however,…
The New Balance of Power in the Middle East
During his visit to the Middle East in May, U.S. President Donald Trump did several things that few would have predicted months or even weeks earlier. One was his surprise meeting with Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Shara, and the subsequent lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria, notwithstanding Shara’s history as a leader of a militant Islamist group. Another was his decision not to include Israel on the itinerary, despite his administration’s ongoing efforts to end the war in Gaza. The…
Five Men Plead Guilty for Their Roles in Global Digital Asset Investment Scam Conspiracy Resulting in Theft of More than $36.9 Million from Victims
Five men have pleaded guilty for their roles in laundering more than $36.9 million from victims of an international digital asset investment scam conspiracy that was carried out from scam centers in Cambodia. According to court documents, Joseph Wong, 33, of Alhambra, California; Yicheng Zhang, 39, of China; Jose Somarriba, 55, of Los Angeles; Shengsheng He, 39, of La Puente, California; and Jingliang Su, 44, of China and Turkey, were part of an international criminal network that induced U.S. victims,…
When Ideas Become Too Dangerous to Platform
Professor Gigi Foster delivered a TEDx talk titled The Manipulators’ Playbook at the University of New South Wales in 2024. It was an examination of how, in times of crisis, fear and conformity can be deliberately harnessed by those in power to manipulate public behaviour. Her message was a call to defend the freedom to question authority and think independently. The local TEDxUNSW team had worked closely with Foster to ensure her talk met TEDx standards. ”But when the video was submitted to TED’s US headquarters for publication on YouTube, it was rejected. Across the digital landscape, we’re witnessing a broader pattern…
The Manipulators’ Playbook – Gigi Foster
Video: TedX talk by Gigi Foster in Australia, October 2024
Chinese researchers charged with smuggling plant pathogen into the US
Two Chinese nationals have been charged with smuggling a plant pathogen into the US for research at a University of Michigan laboratory, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on 3 June. The couple has also been charged with making false statements and visa fraud. They were arrested in connection with allegations related to secretly transporting the fungus Fusarium graminearum, which federal prosecutors claim is classified in the scientific literature as ‘a potential agroterrorism weapon’, although experts Chemistry World spoke to…
US decision to sanction ICC judges ‘deeply corrosive’ to justice: UN rights chief
Mr. Türk was responding to an announcement by Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, on Thursday, of measures targeting the judges, who are overseeing a 2020 case of alleged war crime committed in Afghanistan by US and Afghan military forces, and the 2024 ICC arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Defence Minister. “I am profoundly disturbed by the decision of the Government of the United States of America to sanction judges…
Former Franklin County Jail Deputy Pleads Guilty to Civil Rights Violation
A former Franklin County sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, today to depriving an inmate of his civil rights. Matthew Carey, 28, of Grove City, admitted to depriving an individual of their right to be free from a deputy’s deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm, while acting under color of law. According to court documents, in March 2022, Carey intentionally disclosed a pretrial detainee’s pending charge of rape of a minor to Gmier…
Justice Department Launches Investigation into Rhode Island for Race-Based Employment Preferences in Violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation into the State of Rhode Island (“Rhode Island”) concerning potential race-based discrimination in state employment practices. The state of Rhode Island mandates state agencies set hiring targets that are effectively race-based employment quotas.[1] These statutorily mandated goals pressure state agencies to engage in discriminatory, and potentially unlawful, hiring practices. The Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section opened the investigation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which…
US plans to close Chemical Safety Board by October
The Trump administration has proposed to shut down the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents and developing recommendations to prevent their recurrence. The government wants the agency’s $14 million (£10 million) budget should be withdrawn by 30 September, before the start of the next fiscal year. The CSB should only have access to funds needed to ‘carry out the closure of the Board,’ the White House said. The…
NSF chemistry funding faces 75% cut under Trump budget request
The Trump administration has released more details of its budget request for the 2026 financial year and the picture for research is even worse than the ‘skinny’ budget released last month. Funding for chemistry from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the maths and physical sciences programme is projected to plummet by 75%, from more than $244 million (£180 million) last year to just over $61 million. Materials research would be cut by 71% to $92 million. And maths and…
Non-hallucinogenic psychedelics
Attitudes towards psychedelics are evolving, with growing evidence supporting their potential to treat a range of mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. In 2023, Australia became the first country in the world to approve psychedelics to treat specific mental health conditions. A handful of other countries are also moving in that direction. Drugs such as LSD and psilocybin stimulate neurons to grow new branches and make more synaptic connections, which is thought to be behind…
CEO of Health Care Software Company Convicted of $1B Fraud Conspiracy
A federal jury convicted the CEO of Power Mobility Doctor Rx, LLC (DMERx) for his role in operating a platform that generated false doctors’ orders to defraud Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs of more than $1 billion. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Gary Cox, 79, of Maricopa County, Arizona, and his co-conspirators targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries who provided their personally identifiable information and agreed to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces,…
Did the Feds Label You a Covid “Violent Extremist?”
Biden administration policy-makers hated you more than you knew. From the start of the Covid pandemic, I warned that the feds were vilifying anyone who failed to kowtow to the latest commands. In October 2023, I wrote: “Federal bureaucrats heaved together a bunch of letters to contrive an ominous new acronym for the latest peril to domestic tranquility. The result: AGAAVE—’anti-government, anti-authority violent extremism’—which looks like a typo for a sugar substitute. The FBI vastly expanded the supposed AGAAVE peril by…