U.S. and China Agree to Slash Tariffs for 90 Days
May 12th, 2025Via: Yahoo!Finance:
Two days of high-stakes talks between the US and China have led to a 90-day pause on tariffs, with duties set to drop by 115% on both sides by Wednesday.
The move will drop American tariffs on Chinese goods, which currently run as high as 145%, to 30% and slash China’s retaliatory duties from 125% to 10%.
Qatar Offers Trump Administration ‘Palace in the Sky’
May 11th, 2025Via: ABC:
In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar — a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.
The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump visits Qatar on the first foreign trip of his second term, according to sources familiar with the plans.
Trump toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as “a flying palace,” while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February.
AI Firms Warned to Calculate Threat of Super Intelligence or Risk it Escaping Human Control
May 10th, 2025Coming soon…
Via: Guardian:
Artificial intelligence companies have been urged to replicate the safety calculations that underpinned Robert Oppenheimer’s first nuclear test before they release all-powerful systems.
Max Tegmark, a leading voice in AI safety, said he had carried out calculations akin to those of the US physicist Arthur Compton before the Trinity test and had found a 90% probability that a highly advanced AI would pose an existential threat.
The US government went ahead with Trinity in 1945, after being reassured there was a vanishingly small chance of an atomic bomb igniting the atmosphere and endangering humanity.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Plans to Photograph Everyone Exiting the U.S. by Car
May 10th, 2025“They are locking this place down, and it’s going to be for everyone.”
Via: Wired:
United States Customs and Border Protection plans to log every person leaving the country by vehicle by taking photos at border crossings of every passenger and matching their faces to their passports, visas, or travel documents, WIRED has learned.
The escalated documentation of travelers could be used to track how many people are self-deporting, or leave the US voluntarily, which the Trump administration is fervently encouraging to people in the country illegally.
CBP exclusively tells WIRED, in response to an inquiry to the agency, that it plans to mirror the current program it’s developing—photographing every person entering the US and match their faces with their travel documents—to the outbound lanes going to Canada and Mexico. The agency currently does not have a system that monitors people leaving the country by vehicle.
Mark Zuckerberg Is Building a New Surveillance State
May 10th, 2025Welcome to the open air dragnet.
Via: The Hill:
Mark Zuckerberg recently took to Instagram to boast that nearly a billion people now use Meta AI across the company’s platforms. To celebrate, he announced the launch of a new standalone app, encouraging users to “Check it out!” It sounded innocuous, almost charming, as if he were discussing a playful new feature. But make no mistake: this wasn’t just a product release. It was a warning shot from a man who now has his hands firmly on the wheel of reality.
The new app is only part of the story. The real revolution — and the real threat — lies in what comes next: Meta’s AI glasses. Sunglasses, spectacles, whatever you want to call them — they look like something out of a sci-fi flick. But they’re real, and they’re here. Very soon, millions or perhaps tens of millions of people will be walking around with them on. And you might not even know it.
These aren’t just toys. They’re tools — and weapons. They comprise a camera, microphone, an AI interface and internet access, all embedded discreetly in eyewear. They are capable of recognizing faces, interpreting language, overlaying information in real-time and collecting vast swaths of data as their owners simply walk down the street. They can whisper comprehensive summaries about the stranger across the subway, translate foreign speech in real time, suggest pickup lines, record interactions without consent and overlay reviews of a restaurant before you’ve even looked at the menu.
All this is done without lifting a phone or typing a word. These glasses are not just watching the world. They are interpreting, filtering and rewriting it with the full force of Meta’s algorithms behind the lens. And if you think you’re safe just because you’re not wearing a pair, think again, because the people who wear them will inevitably point them in your direction.
You will be captured, analyzed and logged, whether you like it or not.
Australia: Bill Gates-Backed Biotech Firm Oxitec Wants to Release GM Mosquitos in Queensland
May 10th, 2025Via: University of Melbourne:
The British company Oxitec, in partnership with Australia’s CSIRO, has announced plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in Queensland.
The initiative aims to reduce transmission of the dengue virus, as well as other pathogens spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito by reducing the size of the mosquito population.
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Releases of GM mosquitoes could undermine current dengue control interventions
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The genetic modification has not been tested in Australian mosquitoes
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The introduction of foreign genetic material has unknown consequences
Fear Of Economic Collapse Forced China To Negotiate With Trump
May 9th, 2025Via: ZeroHedge:
According to the Reuters report, “since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on China last month, Beijing had responded in kind. On state and social media, it posted images of Mao Zedong, lambasted “imperialists,” and sent a message: capitulation to bullies is dangerous, and it wouldn’t back down.”
But behind closed doors, China was quietly preparing to do just that, and Reuters reports that according three sources, officials had grown “increasingly alarmed about tariffs’ impact on the economy and the risk of isolation as China’s trading partners have started negotiating deals with Washington.”
China’s reasons for deciding to negotiate, Washington’s letter on fentanyl, U.S. diplomatic challenges in Beijing, and the early outreach between the two sides are reported by Reuters for the first time, based on interviews with nearly a dozen government officials and experts on both sides.
More: Inside China’s decision to come to the table on Trump tariffs
Large Hadron Collider Transmutes Lead Into Tiny Particles of Gold
May 9th, 2025Via: CERN:
In a paper published in Physical Review Journals, the ALICE collaboration reports measurements that quantify the transmutation of lead into gold in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
…but the total still amounts to trillions of times less than would be required to make a piece of jewellery. While the dream of medieval alchemists has technically come true, their hopes of riches have once again been dashed.
Definitive Covid Vaccine Myocarditis Paper
May 9th, 2025Via: International Journal of Cardiovascular Research & Innovation:
We urge governments to remove the COVID-19 mRNA products from the market due to the well-documented risk of myocardial damage, a risk that is strongest for younger males (<40 years old).
Amazon’s Vulcan Robots Now Stow Items Faster Than Humans
May 9th, 2025Robots are going through the same ramp in capability that large language models went through a couple of years ago.
Via: IEEE Spectrum:
At an event in Dortmund, Germany today, Amazon announced a new robotic system called Vulcan, which the company is calling “its first robotic system with a genuine sense of touch—designed to transform how robots interact with the physical world.” In the short to medium term, the physical world that Amazon is most concerned with is its warehouses, and Vulcan is designed to assist (or take over, depending on your perspective) with stowing and picking items in its mobile robotic inventory system.
