Ariane 6 rocket roars skyward carrying French military satellite

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PARIS — An Ariane 6 rocket roared skyward with a French military reconnaissance satellite aboard Thursday in the first commercial flight for the European heavy-lift launcher.

The rocket took off smoothly from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, quickly disappearing into thick clouds. Video images beamed back from the rocket showed the Earth’s beautiful colors and curvature.

The rocket’s mission was to deliver the CSO-3 military observation satellite into orbit at an altitude of around 800 kilometers.

It was the first commercial mission for Ariane 6 after its maiden flight in July 2024.
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Canada reports increase in measles cases, urges vaccination

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Canada is seeing a noticeable increase in measles cases this year, with more reported in the first two months of 2025 than all of last year, the country’s health agency said on Thursday and urged citizens to get vaccinated. 

The Public Health Agency of Canada said it has recorded 227 measles cases as of March 6, with many patients requiring hospitalization.  

“I strongly urge all Canadians to ensure they are vaccinated against measles,” said Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer. 

The agency said most of the patients are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children exposed in community settings such as social events, day cares, schools and health care facilities. 

Cases can also arise when unvaccinated individuals travel to or from regions where measles is prevalent. 

“As we move through spring break travel season, I am concerned that the global rise in measles cases, combined with declining vaccination rates among school-aged children in Canada, could lead to more illness and more community transmission,” Tam said.  

Canada reported a total of 146 measles cases last year, according to government data.  

In the week ending Feb. 15, there were 96 confirmed cases of measles, a serious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and even death. 

The surge is linked to outbreaks of the disease in New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, the agency said. 

The agency noted that recent cases in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia occurred after travelers were exposed to measles in other countries, and urged individuals to get vaccinated before traveling. 

If needed, the vaccine should be administered at least two weeks before departure, but even last-minute vaccinations offer protection, the agency said. 

Last week, an unvaccinated child died of measles in Texas, the center of one of the largest outbreaks of the disease that the United States has seen in the past decade.
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Florida’s gentle giants: Manatees fight for survival

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Collisions with boats are the cause of at least 20% of manatee deaths in Florida every year. But as Valdya Baraputri reports, that’s not the only threat faced by these gentle giants of the sea. Camera: Laurentius Wahyudi and Nabila Ganinda
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US firm targets moon landing with drill, rovers, hopping drone

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WASHINGTON — A drill to search for ice. A 4G network test. Three rovers and a first-of-its-kind hopping drone.

After becoming the first private firm to land on the moon last year, Intuitive Machines is aiming for its second lunar touchdown on Thursday, carrying cutting-edge payloads to support future human missions.

The Houston-based company is targeting no earlier than 12:32 p.m. ET (1732 GMT) at Mons Mouton, a plateau near the lunar south pole — farther south than any robot has ventured.

NASA will livestream the landing an hour before touchdown as Athena, the 4.8-meter hexagonal lander — about the height of a giraffe — begins its descent.

“It kind of feels like this mission is straight out of one of our favorite sci-fi movies,” said Nicky Fox, NASA’s associate administrator for science.

Intuitive Machines’ first landing in February 2024 was a landmark achievement but ended with its lander tipping onto its side, an outcome the company is determined to avoid this time.

The pressure is on after Texas rival Firefly Aerospace successfully landed its Blue Ghost lander on Sunday, becoming the second private company to reach the moon.

Both missions are part of NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which partners with private industry to cut costs and support Artemis, the initiative to return astronauts to the moon and eventually reach Mars.

A hopper named Grace

Athena is targeting highland terrain about 160 kilometers from the moon’s south pole, where it will deploy three rovers and a unique hopping drone named Grace, after late computer science pioneer Grace Hopper.

One of Grace’s boldest objectives is a hop into a permanently shadowed crater, a place where sunlight has never shone — a first for humanity.

While NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter proved flight is possible on Mars, the moon’s lack of atmosphere makes traditional flying impossible, positioning hoppers like Grace as a key technology for future exploration.

MAPP, the largest of Athena’s rovers and roughly the size of a beagle, will assist in testing a Nokia Bell Labs 4G cellular network linking the lander, itself, and Grace — technology designed to one day integrate into astronaut spacesuits.

Yaoki, a more compact rover from Japanese company Dymon, is designed to survive drops in any orientation, making it highly adaptable.

Meanwhile, the tiny AstroAnt rover, equipped with magnetic wheels, will cling to MAPP and use its sensors to measure temperature variations on the larger robot.

Also aboard Athena is PRIME-1, a NASA instrument carrying a drill to search for ice and other chemicals beneath the lunar surface, paired with a spectrometer to analyze its findings.

Sticking the landing

Before any experiments can begin, Intuitive Machines must stick the landing — a challenge made harder by the moon’s lack of atmosphere, which rules out parachutes and forces spacecraft to rely on precise thrusts and navigation over hazardous terrain.

Until Intuitive Machines’ first mission, only national space agencies had achieved the feat, with NASA’s last landing dating back to Apollo 17 in 1972.

The company’s first lander, Odysseus, came in too fast, caught a foot on the surface and toppled over, cutting the mission short when its solar panels could not generate enough power.

This time, the company has made critical upgrades, including better cabling for the laser altimeter, which provides altitude and velocity readings to ensure a safe touchdown.

Athena launched last Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which also carried NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer probe — but not everything has gone smoothly. Ground controllers are struggling to re-establish contact with the small satellite, designed to map the moon’s water distribution.

These missions come at a delicate time for NASA, amid speculation that the agency may scale back or even cancel the crewed moon missions in favor of prioritizing Mars — a goal championed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk. 
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Youth theater production rises from the ashes of Los Angeles fires

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LOS ANGELES — The day after her house burned down, Lara Ganz sent a group message to the youth theater troupe she runs: They would not let the Los Angeles firestorm stop their upcoming show.

“So many of our castmates have lost everything,” wrote Ganz, the director of youth theater at a beloved playhouse in the Pacific Palisades. “We will continue with rehearsals. I am confident we will find a stage.”

The devastating Jan. 7 fire gutted every inch of the 125-seat Pierson Playhouse, from the basement to the roof, leaving behind only a mangled steel skeleton. Many of the young actors watched it burn on live TV. About half of the show’s 45 cast members, aged 8 to 17, lost their homes or can’t yet return because of severe damage. Many also lost their schools to the fire.

But the show did go on. A two-week run of the musical Crazy for You opened last weekend, in a nearby school auditorium, marking a triumphant return to the stage for a community determined to see its theater rise from the ashes. Five more shows are scheduled for this weekend.

The experience lifted the young performers of Theatre Palisades Youth from an unfathomable low point, teaching them the healing power of art in the face of disaster.

“The first time I felt happy after the fire was when I walked into that first rehearsal,” said Callum Ganz, 17, the director’s son, who plays a tap-dancing cowboy in the show. “When I’m singing or dancing, I forget about everything else. I don’t think about the fire. All I feel is happiness.”

“It’s always a shock,” he said, “when it comes back to me and I remember, ‘Oh, right. My house is gone.'”

More than 6,800 homes and other structures were flattened in the Palisades fire. Places of worship, shops and schools were destroyed, along with favorite student hangouts downtown — the local skate shop, a pizza place, the Yogurt Shoppe, where the young performers would walk after shows for a celebratory treat.

The idea of rebuilding is still a distant dream. The fire destroyed the theater’s performance space and everything else — hundreds of costumes and shoes in the downstairs wardrobe department, vintage and new props, their piano and other musical instruments, lights and sound equipment.

Parents took to social media, posting pleas for donations. They were met with an outpouring of generosity from the artistic community, stretching from Hollywood to Broadway.

Emmy-award winning hairstylist Joy Zapata saw one of the posts, emailed the mother who wrote it to make sure it wasn’t a scam, and then put out a call to friends in the business.

“I have done horror films with 100 extras running down the Pacific Coast Highway. But this time, the story was real, and it blew me away,” Zapata said. She held a tutorial for the cast during dress rehearsals and then returned for opening night with a team of seven Hollywood hair and makeup artists.

“I wanted these kids to walk away feeling beautiful,” Zapata said, as she curled and sprayed the hair of showgirls into upswept buns. Cowgirls got braided pigtails.

A few weeks earlier, Broadway actress Kerry Butler, a Tony-nominated star of Beetlejuice, had invited the kids to sing with her during a concert in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. Then, she spent a day leading them in a master class on character development and vocal technique.

“I will never forget my time with them,” Butler wrote on Instagram. “I met people who lost their homes, schools. But they told me when they heard the theatre was gone — that was when they felt the deepest loss.”

The group also received wireless mics from Guitar Center and costumes from neighboring schools. The Paul Revere Charter Middle School, for now, has become the troupe’s home.

“Home” is a charged word in a community where so many have lost theirs. Yet for these young actors and their families, it fits.

“I’m learning that a home is not a physical thing. It’s the people,” said Scarlett Shelton, a 16-year-old from nearby Culver City who has been part of the theater since middle school.

It’s the type of small-town playhouse that no longer exists in many parts of the country. Kids join young and stay until high school, often leaving with dreams of Broadway. About half of the kids in the cast lived nearby in Pacific Palisades, and the rest come from all over the Los Angeles area.

On opening night in a new venue, much of the pre-show jitters and rituals felt the same. The big kids helped calm the nerves of “the littles,” as the young actors are affectionately called. Before the show, the entire cast circled up behind the curtain and took turns giving inspirational pep talks. “Knock their socks off!” said one child. Another stepped up to say: “Everyone, dance the night away!”

Putting on the show was not the primary goal when Ganz sent out her group text, as her own family evacuated and then learned their home was gone.

“That day of the fires, her whole life was destroyed in a few hours. But it wasn’t, ‘Woe is me, I lost everything,’” said choreographer Rebecca Barragan. “She said: ‘We need to have rehearsal right away and get these kids back on their feet. And let them know that life isn’t over.'”

The original cast of 58 kids dwindled to 45, as families scattered to new homes. Many are mired in a post-wildfire bureaucracy of insurance and government assistance and still figuring out where to go next.

“To be with the other kids and create something and have a purpose has been the most healing thing for all of us,” said Wendy Levine, whose sixth grader, Tyler, is in the show.

“It’s been a light in the darkness,” said her husband, Eric Levine. The family had just finished remodeling their home and was unpacking boxes mid-morning Jan. 7, when they were ordered to evacuate. They learned that night the home was gone.

Ironically, Crazy for You is about a small-town theater struggling to survive, set to the music of George and Ira Gershwin. As the story goes, the townsfolk are energized by coming together to create a show after their hometown is hit with hard times.

That’s what real life felt like these past few weeks, said Sebastian Florido, 14, who plays the lead character and loved getting to perform one number in particular — I Can’t Be Bothered Now, which is about the power of song and dance to chase away bad news.

“One of the lines is, ‘I’m dancing and I can’t be bothered now,’” the teen said. “It’s really relatable. All this bad stuff was happening, but I’m tap dancing with my best friends. It was like a getaway to a little paradise.” 
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US stops sharing air quality data, raising scientists’ concerns

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NEW DELHI — The U.S. government will stop sharing air quality data gathered from its embassies and consulates, worrying local scientists and experts who say the effort was vital to monitor global air quality and improve public health.

In response to an inquiry from The Associated Press, the State Department said Wednesday that its air quality monitoring program would no longer transmit air pollution data from embassies and consulates to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow app and other platforms, which allowed locals in various countries, along with scientists around the world, to see and analyze air quality.

The change was “due to funding constraints that have caused the Department to turn off the underlying network” the department said in a statement. However, it added, embassies and consulates were directed to keep their monitors running and the sharing of data could resume if funded is restored. The funding cut, first reported by The New York Times, is one of many under President Donald Trump.

The U.S. air quality monitors measured dangerous fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, which can penetrate deep into the lungs and lead to respiratory diseases, heart conditions, and premature death. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills around 7 million people each year.

Reaction was immediate from scientists who said the data were reliable, allowed for air quality monitoring around the world and helped prompt governments to clean up the air.

Bhargav Krishna, an air pollution expert at New Delhi-based Sustainable Futures Collaborative, called the loss of data “a big blow” to air quality research.

“They were part of a handful of sensors in many developing countries and served as a reference for understanding what air quality was like,” Krishna said. “They were also seen to be a well-calibrated and unbiased source of data to cross-check local data if there were concerns about quality,” he added.

“It’s a real shame,” said Alejandro Piracoca Mayorga, a Bogota-based freelance air quality consultant. U.S. embassies and consulates in Lima, Sao Paulo and Bogota had the air monitoring. “It was a source of access to air quality information independent of local monitoring networks. They provided another source of information for comparison.”

Khalid Khan, an environmental expert and advocate based in Pakistan, agreed, saying the shutdown of air quality monitoring will “have significant consequences.”

Khan noted that the monitors in the city of Peshawar in Pakistan, one of the most polluted cities in the world, “provided crucial real-time data” which helped policymakers, researchers and the public to make decisions on their health.

“Their removal means a critical gap in environmental monitoring, leaving residents without accurate information on hazardous air conditions,” Khan said. He said vulnerable people in Pakistan and around the world are particularly at risk because they are the least likely to have access to other reliable data.

In Africa, the program provided air quality data for over a dozen countries including Senegal, Nigeria, Chad and Madagascar. Some of those countries depend almost entirely on the U.S. monitoring systems for their air quality data.

The WHO’s air quality database will also be affected by the closing of U.S. program. Many poor countries don’t track air quality because stations are too expensive and complex to maintain, meaning they are entirely reliant on U.S. embassy monitoring data.

In some places, however, the U.S. air quality monitors propelled nations to start their own air quality research and raised awareness, Krishna said.

In China, for example, data from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing famously contradicted official government reports, showing worse pollution levels than authorities acknowledged. It led to China improving air quality. 
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Two women break through gender barriers to build careers

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A World Economic Forum report says it will take roughly 130 years for the world to reach full gender parity, in which women and men contribute equally to all dimensions of life. In Colorado, Svitlana Prystynska has the story of two women making inroads. (Videographer: Svitlana Prystynska,
Video editor: Oksana Babenkova)
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Lakers’ James first NBA player to score 50,000 combined points in regular season, playoffs

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LOS ANGELES — LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and postseason Tuesday night.

James surpassed the mark with a 3-pointer early in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

James got to 49,999 points Sunday night when he scored 17 while the Lakers beat the Clippers 108-102 for their sixth consecutive win.

The 40-year-old James already is the top scorer in NBA history in both the regular season and the playoffs during a career in which he has rewritten all previous definitions of basketball longevity.

James reached 50,000 points deep into his 22nd season, which ties him with Vince Carter for the most played in NBA history. Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons, is second in NBA history with 44,149 combined points.

And while nearly every other NBA player who lasted to his late 30s finished at a fraction of his peak powers, James’ game shows no significant signs of decline in his 40s. He was named the NBA’s Western Conference player of the month earlier Tuesday after he averaged 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.2 steals in February while playing more than 35 minutes per game for the Lakers, who went 9-2 to surge into second place in the West.

James began Tuesday at third in NBA history with 1,547 regular-season games played, trailing only Robert Parish (1,611) and Abdul-Jabbar (1,560). If he stays healthy and elects to return for a record 23rd season, he will likely surpass Parish next winter.

James has also played in 287 postseason games, the most in NBA history. He became the league’s career playoff scoring leader on May 25, 2017, when he surpassed Michael Jordan’s total of 5,987 during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Eastern Conference finals game at Boston.

James then became the top scorer in regular-season history on Feb. 7, 2023, when he topped Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points during the Lakers’ game against Oklahoma City.

James’ prolific scoring is due in large part to his metronomic consistency. With his performance against the Clippers, he has scored at least 10 points in 1,277 consecutive games since Jan. 6, 2007 — by far the longest such streak in NBA history.

James’ player of the month award for February was his 41st, extending his own league record. He also became the oldest player to win the award, surpassing a 37-year-old Karl Malone in November 2000.
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Musk fails in bid to block OpenAI becoming for-profit business

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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — A U.S. judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk’s request to prevent OpenAI from becoming a for-profit business in a loss for the Tesla tycoon amid his feud with Sam Altman. 

U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk and his xAI startup failed to prove an injunction against OpenAI was necessary as the case heads to trial. 

Musk sued in California federal court to stop OpenAI from transitioning from a nonprofit to a for-profit business, arguing the startup violated antitrust law and betrayed his trust in their mission as a co-founder of OpenAI. 

The judge wrote that, while Musk did not prove the need for an injunction, she is prepared to expedite a trial on that claim later this year. 

The ruling leaves OpenAI free to continue its transition from nonprofit to for-profit enterprise. 

Musk’s injunction bid argued that OpenAI’s co-founders, including chief executive Altman, “took advantage of Musk’s altruism in order to lure him into funding the venture,” according to court documents. 

Musk contended in filings that it was clear his backing of OpenAI was contingent on it remaining a nonprofit, offering a few email exchanges to support the claim. 

“Whether Musk’s emails and social media posts constitute a writing sufficient to constitute an actual contract or charitable trust between the parties is debatable,” the judge said in her ruling. 

OpenAI’s board chairman in February rejected a Musk-led offer to buy the valuable artificial intelligence company for $97.4 billion. 

“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” OpenAI Board Chair Bret Taylor said in a statement posted by the company on Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter. 

OpenAI currently operates in a hybrid structure, as a nonprofit with a money-making subsidiary. 

The change to a for-profit model, one that Altman says is crucial for the company’s development, has exacerbated ongoing tensions with Musk. 

Musk and Altman were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015, with the former providing initial funding of $45 million.  

Three years later, Musk left the company, with OpenAI citing “a potential future conflict for Elon … as Tesla continues to become more focused on AI.” 

Musk established his own artificial intelligence company, dubbed xAI, in early 2023 after OpenAI ignited global fervor over the technology. 

The massive cost of designing, training, and deploying AI models has compelled OpenAI to seek a new corporate structure that would give investors equity and provide more stable governance. 
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China’s Liu Jiakun wins Pritzker Prize, ‘Nobel’ for architecture

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NEW YORK — The Pritzker Prize, dubbed the “Nobel” for architecture, was awarded Tuesday to China’s Liu Jiakun, who was recognized for designs that celebrate “everyday lives.”

“In a global context where architecture is struggling to find adequate responses to fast evolving social and environmental challenges, Liu Jiakun has provided convincing answers that also celebrate the everyday lives of people as well as their communal and spiritual identities,” the award’s jury wrote in a statement.

Born in 1956, Liu has worked on more than 30 projects in China ranging from academic and cultural institutions to civic spaces and commercial buildings.

“Architecture should reveal something  it should abstract, distill and make visible the inherent qualities of local people,” Liu said in the statement, evoking his craft’s capacity to create “a sense of shared community.”

Liu lives and works in his birth city of Chengdu, where he prioritizes the use of local materials and traditional building techniques.

His projects include the Museum of Clocks in Chengdu, a large circular structure with a skylight that illuminates an interior strip of photographs.

Alejandro Aravena, who won the award in 2016 and is chair of the jury, said Liu’s works offer “clues on how to confront the challenges of urbanization” especially because they are sometimes “a building, infrastructure, landscape and public space at the same time.”

“Cities tend to segregate functions, but Liu Jiakun takes the opposite approach and sustains a delicate balance to integrate all dimensions of the urban life,” Aravena said.

Liu, who is the 54th recipient of the Pritzker Prize, will be honored at a celebration in Abu Dhabi in spring, award organizers said.

Last year’s prize went to Japan’s Riken Yamamoto, whose projects are credited with promoting human contact and who said at the time his objective was to “design architecture that can bring joy to people around it.”
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Wounded Ukrainian veteran & choreographer gets prosthetic leg thanks to donations  

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Ukrainians in Czechia raised nearly 19,000 dollars to help a Ukrainian war veteran and dancer get back on the floor. Yevhen Skripnichuk lost his leg while fighting the Russians. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Camera:  Yuriy Dankevych     
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James Harrison, whose blood plasma donations are credited with saving 2.4 million babies, dies at 88 

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MELBOURNE, Australia — James Harrison, whose blood plasma donations are credited with An Australian man credited with saving 2.4 million babies through his record-breaking blood plasma donations over six decades, has died at 88, his family said Tuesday.

James Harrison, a retired state railway department clerk, died in a nursing home on the central coast of New South Wales state on Feb. 17, according to his grandson, Jarrod Mellowship.

Harrison had been surprised to be recognized by Guinness World Records in 2005 as the person who had donated the most blood plasma in the world, Mellowship said.

Despite an aversion to needles, he made 1,173 donations after he turned 18 in 1954 until he was forced to retire in 2018 at age 81.

“He did it for the right reasons. As humble as he was, he did like the attention. But he would never do it for the attention,” Mellowship said.

The record was beaten in 2022 by American Brett Cooper from Walker, Michigan.

Australian Red Cross Blood Service pays tribute to donor

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service said Harrison was renowned as the “Man with the Golden Arm.”

He was credited with saving the lives of 2.4 million babies through his plasma donations, the national agency responsible for collecting and distributing blood products, also known as Lifeblood, said in a statement.

Harrison’s plasma contained a rare antibody known as anti-D. The antibody is used to make injections that protect unborn babies from hemolytic disease of the newborn, in which a pregnant woman’s immune system attacks her fetus’ red blood cells. The disease is most common when a woman has an Rh negative blood type and her baby’s is Rh positive.

Australia has only 200 anti-D donors who help 45,000 mothers and their babies annually.

Lifeblood chief executive Stephen Cornelissen said Harrison had hoped that someone in Australia would one day beat his donation record.

“James was a remarkable, stoically kind and generous person, who was committed to a lifetime of giving, and he captured the hearts of many people around the world,” Cornelissen said in a statement.

“It was James’ belief that his donations were no more important than any other donors’ and that everyone can be special in the same way that he was,” Cornelissen added.

Antibody helps donor’s family

Mellowship said his mother, Tracey Mellowship, Harrison’s daughter, needed the treatment when he and his brother Scott were born.

Jarrod Mellowship said his own wife, Rebecca Mellowship, also needed the treatment when three of their four children were born.

There is speculation that Harrison developed a high concentrations of anti-D as a result of his own blood transfusions during major lung surgery when he was 14 years old.

“After the surgery, his dad Reg told grandad, you’re only really alive because people donated blood,” Jarrod Mellowship said. “The day he turned 18, he started donating.”

The application of anti-D in fighting hemolytic disease of the newborn was not discovered until the 1960s.

Harrison was born in Junee in New South Wales. He is survived by his sister Margaret Thrift, his daughter, two grandsons and four great grandchildren.
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VOA Mandarin: Who has better humanoid robots, US or China?

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Chinese tech firms and state media have spotlighted humanoid robots, which have grown in popularity since the Unitree G1 appeared to run, jump, dance and perform martial arts-like movements in a recent demonstration.

Both the United States and China are leaders in humanoid robot technology. But industry analysts believe that the United States is superior in AI technology, which is responsible for the robot’s “brain,” while Chinese technology companies have flourished in the hardware manufacturing capabilities of the robot’s “body.”

Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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China uses DeepSeek AI for surveillance and information attacks on US

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The United States may become the second country after Australia to ban China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence on government devices.

U.S. Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Darin LaHood introduced a bipartisan bill proposing the ban.

In their letter to 47 U.S. governors and the mayor of Washington, the congressmen warned that DeepSeek could pose security risks to sensitive government data and cybersecurity and Americans’ privacy, NBC News reported on March 3.

China denies the allegations. However, concerns highlighted by the U.S. lawmakers and state officials are not without merit, experts say.

The Chinese government has reportedly also used AI models like DeepSeek for mass surveillance, including the collection of biometric data and social media listening models that report to China’s security services and the military, as well as for information attacks on U.S. and Chinese dissidents abroad.

At least three leading Chinese surveillance and security companies — TopSec, QAX and NetEase — announced the integration of DeepSeek to enhance their services. 

All three companies provide services to the Chinese government, and some made it clear that DeepSeek will improve their cyber censorship and surveillance capabilities. This includes AI-driven biometric data capturing, face recognition and surveillance technologies such as “smart cities,” the Skynet Project, and the Xueliang Project, which can monitor all aspects of an individual’s public life, Wenhao Ma of VOA’s China Division reported.

In January, Canadian cybersecurity firm Feroot Security uncovered a code imbedded in DeepSeek’s login processes that shares user information with Chinese state-owned communication company China Mobile, AP reported.

The Associated Press described the code as a “heavily obfuscated computer script that when deciphered shows connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile.”

The U.S. banned China Mobile in 2019 following intelligence reports that it serves as the Chinese military’s spy arm.

China-based actors have been using ChatGPT along with DeepSeek models to generate phishing email and disinformation attacks on the U.S. “on behalf of unspecified clients in China,” OpenAI said in its February report.

OpenAI identified and blocked a cluster of China-originated accounts involved in malicious activities, such as Qianyue Overseas Public Opinion AI Assistant, reportedly designed to ingest and analyze posts and comments related to Chinese politics and human rights from platforms such as X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram and Reddit.

The purpose of the operation was reportedly “to feed the resulting insights to the Chinese authorities” such as “Chinese embassies abroad, and to intelligence agents monitoring protests in countries including the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom,” OpenAI said.

A set of ChatGPT accounts that OpenAI banned in February had been involved in Chinese influence operations focused on generating short comments in English and long-form Spanish-language articles critical of the United States published in local and national media outlets across Latin America and Spain.

One of the Chinese companies planting the articles in the Spanish-language outlets was Jilin Yousen Culture Communication Co., a subsidiary of the government-tied Beijing United Publishing House.

VOA reviewed nine of the Chinese AI-generated articles published in Spanish-language media between October and November 2024 as identified by OpenAI.

Two — in Mexico’s El Universal and Peru’s El Popular — criticized the United States’ use of sanctions targeting foreign governments and individuals.

The El Universal op-ed described the U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry for Tehran’s backing of terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah as exposing the U.S.’ “impotence” in dealing with global politics and the “rapid decline” of its “moral standing.”

Similarly, El Popular painted U.S. sanctions on a Hamas affiliate as “insane” and an “attack on the rights of Palestinian people.”

An article in Peru’s La Republica presented the U.S. as the biggest beneficiary of the Russian war in Ukraine, replicating the Kremlin’s key narrative. It criticized the U.S. for providing military aid to Kyiv, framing the American support as an escalation of the war.

China, however, has been a key provider of military technologies and weapons to Russia, which Moscow uses in daily attacks on Ukrainian civilians.

Another China-planted piece in La Republica described U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy as “undermining U.S. global leadership position.”

Three pieces in Peru’s Wapa, El Popular and El Plural exploited the issues of homelessness, child nutrition and crime in the U.S. — all presented as extremely acute and dangerous.

For example, the child nutrition piece claimed that most children in the U.S. “go hungry on weekends and holidays” due to the government’s neglect of children’s food security.

While the topics of these articles vary from human rights and social issues in the U.S. to foreign and domestic politics, they all paint a picture of a dysfunctional state with failing moral values and declining international influence, matching Beijing’s standard narrative.
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Trump, Taiwanese chipmaker announce new $100 billion plan to build five new US factories

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WASHINGTON — Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced on Monday plans to make an additional $100 billion investment in the United States and build five additional chips factories in the coming years.

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei announced the plan in a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump.

“We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here,” Trump said. “It’s a matter of national security for us.”

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is a leading supplier to major U.S. hardware manufacturers.

The $100 billion outlay, which would boost domestic production and make the United States less reliant on semiconductors made in Asia, is in addition to a major prior investment announcement. TSMC agreed in April to expand its planned U.S. investment by $25 billion to $65 billion and to add a third Arizona factory by 2030.

With his Nov. 5 election victory largely driven by voters’ economic concerns, Trump has stepped up efforts to bolster investments in domestic industries to create jobs.

The TSMC announcement is the latest in a string of such developments. In February, Apple said it would invest $500 billion in the next four years. Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani and SoftBank also have promised multibillion-dollar investments in the U.S.

TSMC said on Monday it looks “forward to discussing our shared vision for innovation and growth in the semiconductor industry, as well as exploring ways to bolster the technology sector along with our customers.”

The U.S. Commerce Department under then President Joe Biden finalized a $6.6 billion government subsidy in November for TSMC’s U.S. unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona.

Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act legislation in 2022 to provide $52.7 billion in subsidies for American semiconductor production and research.

Taiwan’s dominant position as a maker of chips used in technology from cellphones and cars to fighter jets has sparked concerns of over-reliance on the island, especially as China ramps up pressure to assert its sovereignty claims.

China claims Taiwan as its territory, but the democratically elected government in Taipei rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

Under Biden, the Commerce Department convinced all five leading-edge semiconductor firms to locate factories in the U.S. as part of the program to address national security risks from imported chips.

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told lawmakers last month that the program was “an excellent down payment” to rebuild the sector, but he has declined to commit grants that have already been approved by the department, saying he wanted to “read them and analyze them and understand them.”

A TSMC spokesperson said last month the company had received $1.5 billion in CHIPS Act money before the new administration came in as per the milestone terms of its agreement.

TSMC last year agreed to produce the world’s most advanced 2-nanometer technology at its second Arizona factory expected to begin production in 2028. TSMC also agreed to use its most advanced chip manufacturing technology called “A16” in Arizona.

TSMC has already begun producing advanced 4-nanometer chips for U.S. customers in Arizona.

The TSMC award included up to $5 billion in low-cost government loans.

 
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List of winners: 97th Academy Awards

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LOS ANGELES — Adrien Brody took home his second leading man Oscar for “The Brutalist,” Mikey Madison took home the best actress statuette and “Anora” was crowned best picture on its way to five awards Sunday.

Kieran Culkin won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his work on “A Real Pain” and Zoe Saldaña won for her work in “Emilia Pérez.” Sean Baker had a stunning night, winning the screenplay, director and editing awards for “Anora.”

“Flow” beat “The Wild Robot” for best animated feature film while Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win an Oscar for costume design for his work on “Wicked.”

Here’s the complete list of winners at the 97th annual Academy Awards:

Best picture: “Anora”

Best Actor: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”

Best Actress: Mikey Madison, “Anora”

Director: Sean Baker, “Anora”

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”

International Film: “I’m Still Here”

Documentary Feature: “No Other Land”

Original Screenplay: “Anora,” Sean Baker

Adapted Screenplay: “Conclave,” Peter Straughan

Original Score: “The Brutalist,” Daniel Blumberg

Original Song: “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”

Animated Film: “Flow”

Visual Effects: “Dune: Part Two”

Costume Design: “Wicked,” Paul Tazewell

Cinematography: “The Brutalist,” Lol Crawley

Documentary Short Film: “The Only Girl in the Orchestra”

Best Sound: “Dune: Part Two”

Production Design: “Wicked”

Makeup and Hairstyling: “The Substance”

Film Editing: “Anora,” Sean Baker

Live Action Short Film: “I’m Not a Robot”

Animated Short Film: “In the Shadow of the Cypress”

 
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‘Captain America: Brave New World’ on top during weak Oscars’ weekend

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LOS ANGELES — “Captain America: Brave New World” kept falling but still hovered above all others at a weak weekend box office. 

The latest Disney-Marvel offering brought in another $15 million according to studio estimates Sunday, when most of Hollywood’s attention was on the Oscars. 

The Anthony Mackie-led “Captain America: Brave New World” opened strong at about $120 million on a three-day weekend last month, but plunged to $28.2 million last week in one of the most significant second-week drops for a Marvel movie. It’s earned $163.7 since its release. 

It was slammed by many critics and audiences, failing to bring the Marvel reset some had hoped for. That task now falls to May’s “Thunderbolts” and July’s “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” But “Captain America” will face little competition through March and could remain at No. 1 for a while. 

The weekend’s only significant new release, Focus Features’ “Last Breath,” earned just $7.8 million. The based-on-a-true-story adventure starring Woody Harrelson, Simi Liu and Chris Lemons is about a routine deep-sea diving mission that goes terribly wrong when a young diver is stranded some 300 feet below the surface. 

It got strong reviews, with Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press praising the “white-knuckle experience” and “pure suspense and anxiety” it brings. 

At No. 3 was Oz Perkins’ “The Monkey,” which brought in $6.4 million for a two-week total of $24.6 million. It’s among the strongest openings for indie distributor Neon, whose film “Anora,” and its director Sean Baker could make a major mark at the Oscars later Sunday. 

“The Monkey” marks another successful low-budget collaboration between Perkins and Neon, whose “Longlegs” brought in $126.9 million globally last year. 

“Paddington in Peru” was fourth with $4.5 million in its third weekend for a total of $31.4 million. 

Top 10 movies by domestic box office 

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. 

  1. “Captain America: Brave New World,” $15 million. 

  2. “Last Breath,” $7.8 million. 

  3. “The Monkey,” $6.4 million. 

  4. “Paddington in Peru,” $4.5 million. 

  5. “Dog Man,” $4.2 million. 

  6. “Mufasa: The Lion King,” $1.9 million. 

  7. “Ne Zha 2,” $1.8 million. 

  8. “Heart Eyes,” $1.3 million. 

9 “The Unbreakable Boy,” $1.2 million. 

  1. “One of Them Days,” $925,000. 
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Oscars take the stage on Sunday with best picture up for grabs

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LOS ANGELES — The Academy Awards, the highest honors in the film business, take place on Sunday with no clear frontrunner among “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Conclave” and other movies contending for the prestigious best picture prize.

Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore are vying for their first Oscars at the red-carpet ceremony in Hollywood. The show will air live on Walt Disney’s ABC network starting at 4 p.m. Pacific time (0000 GMT on Monday).

Comedian and host Conan O’Brien said he planned to mix jokes, celebrations of filmmakers and serious moments including tributes to Los Angeles as it recovers from January’s wildfires. He likely will address U.S. politics but not dwell on it, he said.

“Good jokes are really important, but there’s also more than that,” O’Brien told reporters last week as he prepared for his first Oscars hosting gig. “We’re trying to go for different tones, different textures.”

This year’s Oscars race has featured twists and turns, and no movie has dominated the precursor film awards.

That will keep the drama going until the end of Sunday’s show. Any of three films could score best picture, according to Oscars pundits. One is “Anora,” the story of a sex worker with a shot at a Cinderella story. The other two are “The Brutalist,” about a Jewish immigrant and architect chasing the American dream, and “Conclave,” which imagines the secret proceedings for choosing a pope.

Others in the best picture field include blockbuster musical “Wicked,” a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” and “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic starring Chalamet. 

Netflix musical “Emilia Perez” heads into the ceremony with the most nominations. But its chances of victory dwindled when offensive social media posts surfaced from star Karla Sofia Gascon. The actress, the first openly transgender person nominated for an acting Oscar, disappeared from the awards circuit but is expected to attend Sunday’s ceremony. 

Her co-star, Zoe Saldana, is the favorite to win the supporting actress trophy for playing a fixer who helps a Mexican drug lord (Gascon) transition to a woman and start a new life. 

Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

Behind the glitz, Hollywood is fighting a battle to keep its place at the center of the global film business. None of the 10 best picture contenders were filmed in Los Angeles, home to most major film companies for more than a century. 

Supporting actor nominee Kieran Culkin is the favorite for his role as a man who travels with his cousin to Poland to study family history in “A Real Pain.” 

Best actor could go to either Chalamet or “The Brutalist” star Adrien Brody, according to awards experts. 

Brody became the youngest best actor winner when he landed the prize at age 29 for “The Pianist” in 2002. Chalamet is nine months younger than Brody was at the time. 

Best actress is widely expected to go to Moore for “The Substance,” though one pundit said the category could produce an upset win for Brazil’s Fernanda Torres of “I’m Still Here.” The academy has increased its international membership, which could favor Torres, said Ian Sandwell, movies editor at Digital Spy. 

“She could well be a surprise and the only one to take it away from Demi on the night,” Sandwell said. 

Producers scrapped the annual tradition of having musicians perform each of the nominated original songs, saying they wanted to focus instead on the songwriters. 

They do promise many musical moments, including a performance by “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and a tribute to music producer Quincy Jones, who died in November. 

Also, expect some previously unannounced guests. 

“We absolutely love the element of surprise,” executive producer Raj Kapoor said.
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Private lunar lander Blue Ghost touches down on moon with special delivery for NASA

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CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth’s celestial neighbor ahead of astronaut missions.

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander descended from lunar orbit on autopilot, aiming for the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact basin on the moon’s northeastern edge of the near side.

Confirmation of successful touchdown came from the company’s Mission Control outside Austin, Texas, following the action some 360,000 kilometers away.

“You all stuck the landing. We’re on the moon,” Firefly’s Will Coogan, chief engineer for the lander, reported.

An upright and stable landing makes Firefly — a startup founded a decade ago — the first private outfit to put a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or falling over. Even countries have faltered, with only five claiming success: Russia, the U.S., China, India and Japan.

A half hour after landing, Blue Ghost started to send back pictures from the surface, the first one a selfie somewhat obscured by the sun’s glare.

Two other companies’ landers are hot on Blue Ghost’s heels, with the next one expected to join it on the moon later this week.

Blue Ghost — named after a rare U.S. species of fireflies — had its size and shape going for it. The squat four-legged lander stands 2 meters tall and 3.5 meters wide, providing extra stability, according to the company.

Launched in mid-January from Florida, the lander carried 10 experiments to the moon for NASA. The space agency paid $101 million for the delivery, plus $44 million for the science and tech on board. It’s the third mission under NASA’s commercial lunar delivery program, intended to ignite a lunar economy of competing private businesses while scouting around before astronauts show up later this decade.

Firefly’s Ray Allensworth said the lander skipped over hazards including boulders to land safely. Allensworth said the team continued to analyze the data to figure out the lander’s exact position, but all indications suggest it landed within the 100-meter target zone in Mare Crisium.

The demos should get two weeks of run time, before lunar daytime ends and the lander shuts down.

It carried a vacuum to suck up moon dirt for analysis and a drill to measure temperature as deep as 3 meters below the surface. Also on board: a device for eliminating abrasive lunar dust — a scourge for NASA’s long-ago Apollo moonwalkers, who got it caked all over their spacesuits and equipment.

On its way to the moon, Blue Ghost beamed back exquisite pictures of the home planet. The lander continued to stun once in orbit around the moon, with detailed shots of the moon’s gray pockmarked surface. At the same time, an on-board receiver tracked and acquired signals from the U.S. GPS and European Galileo constellations, an encouraging step forward in navigation for future explorers.

The landing set the stage for a fresh crush of visitors angling for a piece of lunar business.

Another lander — a tall and skinny 15-footer built and operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines — is due to land on the moon Thursday. It’s aiming for the bottom of the moon, just 160 kilometers from the south pole. That’s closer to the pole than the company got last year with its first lander, which broke a leg and tipped over.

Despite the tumble, Intuitive Machines’ lander put the U.S. back on the moon for the first time since NASA astronauts closed out the Apollo program in 1972.

A third lander from the Japanese company ispace is still three months from landing. It shared a rocket ride with Blue Ghost from Cape Canaveral on January 15, taking a longer, windier route. Like Intuitive Machines, ispace is also attempting to land on the moon for the second time. Its first lander crashed in 2023.

The moon is littered with wreckage not only from ispace, but dozens of other failed attempts over the decades.

NASA wants to keep up a pace of two private lunar landers a year, realizing some missions will fail, said the space agency’s top science officer Nicky Fox.

“It really does open up a whole new way for us to get more science to space and to the moon,” Fox said.

Unlike NASA’s successful Apollo moon landings that had billions of dollars behind them and ace astronauts at the helm, private companies operate on a limited budget with robotic craft that must land on their own, said Firefly CEO Jason Kim.

Kim said everything went like clockwork.

“We got some moon dust on our boots,” Kim said.
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Pope Francis stable in hospital, had peaceful night, Vatican says

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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is in a stable condition as he fights double pneumonia in hospital for the 17th day, and is resting having had a peaceful night, the Vatican said on Sunday.

The Vatican said on Saturday evening that the 88-year-old pontiff’s condition had stabilized, following an “isolated” breathing crisis a day earlier.

“The night was peaceful, the pope is still resting,” said a one-line note from the Vatican on Sunday morning that did not provide more details. A full medical update on the pope’s condition is expected Sunday evening.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 with severe respiratory problems that swiftly degenerated into double pneumonia – a serious infection in both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe.

The pope suffered a constriction of his respiratory airways on Friday, akin to an asthma attack.

However, in a more upbeat tone on Saturday, the Vatican said the pope did not have a fever and did not show signs of an increased white blood cell count, adding that his blood flow and circulation remained stable.

An elevated white blood cell count often indicates the presence of an active infection or inflammation.

“The Holy Father’s clinical condition remained stable,” the Vatican said on Saturday, adding that the prognosis was still guarded, meaning he was not yet out of danger.

The Vatican added on Saturday that for a second day running the pope required noninvasive, mechanical ventilation, alternating between this and “long periods of high-flow oxygen therapy.”

Francis has experienced several bouts of ill health over the last two years and is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.

The pope has not been seen in public since entering hospital, his longest absence from view since his papacy started in March 2013, and his doctors have not said how long his treatment might last.

Francis will not lead his usual Sunday prayer with pilgrims for the third week running. The text of the prayer will be published rather than read out by the pontiff. 
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Uganda reports second Ebola death, a 4-year-old, WHO says

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KAMPALA, UGANDA — A second Ebola patient, a 4-year-old child, has died in Uganda, the World Health Organization said, citing the country’s health ministry.

The fatality brings the number of confirmed cases in Uganda to 10.

The East African country declared an outbreak of the highly infectious and often fatal hemorrhagic disease in January after the death of a male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital of Kampala.

The WHO’s Uganda office posted late on Saturday on X that the ministry had reported “an additional positive case in Mulago hospital of a 4 1/2-year-old child, who tragically passed away” on Tuesday.

Mulago is the country’s sole national referral hospital for Ebola cases.

The ministry said on Feb. 18 that all eight Ebola patients under care had been discharged but that at least 265 contacts remained under strict quarantine in Kampala and two other cities.

Ebola symptoms include fever, headache and muscle pains. The virus is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue. 
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‘Bernd das Brot,’ a depressed German loaf of bread, has spent 25 years as a TV cult classic

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berlin — Forget SpongeBob SquarePants, Sesame Street and the sourdough starter craze — a depressed German loaf of bread named Bernd das Brot is celebrating his 25th anniversary as the reluctant star of a children’s television program that accidentally became equally popular with adults.  

A cult classic in Germany, Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread) is a puppet renowned for his deep, gloomy voice, his perpetual pessimism and his signature expression, “Mist!” (Think “Crap!” in English.)  

Played and voiced by puppeteer Jorg Teichgraeber, Bernd is a television presenter who wants nothing to do with TV and can’t wait to go home to stare at the wallpaper. This year, his friends — a sheep and a flower bush — are urging him to become a bread influencer.  

Born as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a pizzeria, Bernd was drawn by Tommy Krappweis, who modeled it after co-creator Norman Coster’s face. The duo had been asked to come up with mascots for KiKA, a German children’s public television channel.

Comic artist Georg Graf von Westphalen designed Bernd as a pullman loaf — white bread typically sliced for sandwiches — with short arms and a permanent scowl. Bernd channels German stereotypes with his grumpy disposition, penchant for complaining, and dry sense of humor and irony.  

Bernd’s first episode aired on KiKA in 2000 alongside his more optimistic pals, Chili the Sheep and Briegel the Bush. 

A reluctant popularity  

Because KiKA is a children’s channel, there was typically dead air from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. 

On Jan. 1, 2003, the network put Bernd’s short episodes into the night loop for the first time. The move brought an adult audience into Bernd’s world, often those sitting at home and smoking pot, or returning after a long night of partying.  

The night loop cemented his popularity as a German cult classic.  

In 2004, Bernd won the Adolf Grimme Prize, the German television equivalent of an Emmy. The jury said he represents “the right to be in a bad mood.”  

“Bernd shows you that you are less vulnerable with humor and self-irony. And perhaps the most important point is: It’s totally OK if you don’t feel well sometimes. That’s completely fine,” Krappweis said in a KiKA Q&A about Bernd’s anniversary.  

Bernd’s broken heart 

Bernd is depressed for a multitude of reasons, including his failed attempt to be the mascot for a bakery’s advertising campaign (that’s how he ended up as a TV presenter, as a last resort).  

But it’s in Episode 85 that we finally learn about Bernd’s broken heart. “A long, long time ago I fell in love with a beautiful, slim baguette. She was so incredibly charming and funny,” Bernd tells Chili and Briegel. 

But unfortunately it was in vain. “She only had eyes for this run-of-the-mill multigrain bread with its 10 types of grain. It was so depressing.”  

The kidnapping 

Despite Bernd’s best efforts — one of his catchphrases is “I would like to leave this show” — the episodes have never become stale. He sings, he dances, he’s been to space. He’s the star of merchandise, a video game and headlines like “Give Us Our Daily Bernd.”  

He was even kidnapped. In 2009, his 2-meter-tall statue was stolen from his traditional place outside the town hall in Erfurt, where KiKA is based.  

A claim of responsibility surfaced on YouTube, by sympathizers of a group of demonstrators who were protesting a company that had produced cremation ovens for the Nazis’ Auschwitz extermination camp. The demonstrators, however, denied involvement in Bernd’s kidnapping, and the video was removed from the internet.  

Bernd was held hostage for nearly two weeks before being discovered unharmed in an abandoned barracks.  

KiKA is honoring Bernd’s 25th anniversary, despite his complaints. New episodes, an update to his hit song, and online activities for kids and adults alike will be featured.  

The celebrations are at hand, as Bernd’s birthday is Feb. 29. The latest series will premiere in September as Bernd, Chili and Briegel launch the social media channel “Better with Bernd” in their efforts to make him into a bread influencer.  

The trio will present inventions to make school, and life, easier for viewers, but naturally their concoctions backfire. Bernd instead becomes a defluencer — and an involuntary trendsetter. 
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