Every Sunday, the voices of a Ukrainian musical ensemble fill a home in a quiet suburb of Washington. For this group, music is much more than just art: It’s an expression of solidarity. Maxim Adams has the story. Camera: Artyom Kokhan
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday hosts top cryptocurrency players at the White House, a political boost for an industry that has struggled to gain legitimacy — and where the Republican president faces conflict of interest concerns.
The president’s “crypto czar,” Silicon Valley investor David Sacks, has invited prominent founders, CEOs and investors along with members of a Trump working group, to craft policies aimed at accelerating crypto growth, and providing legitimacy that the industry has long sought.
On Thursday night, Trump signed an executive order establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” a move that Sacks said made good on a campaign promise to an increasingly important component of his coalition.
Summit guests include twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of crypto platform Gemini, as well as Brian Armstrong of Coinbase and Michael Saylor, the boss of major bitcoin investor MicroStrategy.
In a post on X, Sacks said the event would take place as a roundtable, and despite industry interest, the White House would have to “keep it small.”
For believers, cryptocurrencies represent a financial revolution that reduces dependence on centralized authorities while offering individuals an alternative to traditional banking systems.
Bitcoin, the world’s most traded cryptocurrency, is heralded by advocates as a substitute for gold or a hedge against currency devaluation and political instability.
Memecoins
Critics, meanwhile, maintain that these assets function primarily as speculative investments with questionable real-world utility that could leave taxpayers on the hook for cleaning up if the market crashes.
The proliferation of “memecoins” — cryptocurrencies based on celebrities, internet memes, or pop culture items rather than technical utility — presents another challenge.
Much of the crypto industry frowns upon these tokens, fearing they tarnish the sector’s credibility, amid reports of quick pump-and-dump schemes that leave unwitting buyers paying for assets that end up worthless.
Trump also faces conflict of interest concerns.
U.S. crypto investors were major supporters of Trump’s presidential campaign, contributing millions of dollars toward his victory in hopes of ending the Biden administration’s deep skepticism toward digital currencies.
Trump also has significant financial ties to the sector, partnering with exchange platform World Liberty Financial and launching the “Trump” memecoin in January, as did his wife, Melania.
Once hostile to the crypto industry, Trump has already taken significant steps to clear regulatory hurdles.
Under Thursday’s executive order, the bitcoin stockpile will be composed of digital currency seized in U.S. criminal proceedings.
The use of these assets “means it will not cost taxpayers a dime,” Sacks said in a post Thursday night on X.
Sacks has said that if previous administrations had held onto their digital holdings over the past decade, they would be worth $17 billion today.
Trump also appointed crypto advocate Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Under Atkins, the SEC has dropped legal proceedings against major platforms like Coinbase and Kraken that were initiated during Biden’s term.
The previous administration had implemented restrictions on banks holding cryptocurrencies — which have since been lifted — and allowed former SEC chairman Gary Gensler to pursue aggressive enforcement.
However, meaningful change will likely require congressional action, where crypto legislation has remained stalled despite intense lobbying efforts led by investors, including Trump ally Marc Andreessen, an influential venture capitalist.
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Nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos, SpaceX launched another mammoth Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down and broke apart.
This time, wreckage from the explosion was seen streaming from the skies over Florida. It was not immediately known whether the spacecraft’s self-destruct system had kicked in to blow it up.
The 123-meter rocket blasted off from Texas. SpaceX caught the first-stage booster back at the pad with giant mechanical arms, but engines on the spacecraft on top started shutting down as it streaked eastward for what was supposed to be a controlled entry over the Indian Ocean, half a world away. Contact was lost as the spacecraft went into an out-of-control spin.
Starship reached nearly 150 kilometers in altitude before trouble struck and before four mock satellites could be deployed. It was not immediately clear where it came down, but images of flaming debris were captured from Florida, including near Cape Canaveral, and posted online.
“Unfortunately, this happened last time too, so we have some practice at this now,” SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot said from the launch site.
SpaceX later confirmed that the spacecraft experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly” during the ascent engine firing. “Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses,” the company said in a statement posted online.
Starship didn’t make it quite as high or as far as last time.
NASA has booked Starship to land its astronauts on the moon later this decade. SpaceX’s Elon Musk is aiming for Mars with Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket.
Like last time, Starship had mock satellites to release once the craft reached space on this eighth test flight as a practice for future missions. They resembled SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites, thousands of which orbit Earth, and were meant to fall back down following their brief taste of space.
During the last demo, SpaceX captured the booster at the launch pad, but the spacecraft blew up several minutes later over the Atlantic. No injuries or major damage were reported.
According to an investigation that remains ongoing, leaking fuel triggered a series of fires that shut down the spacecraft’s engines. The on-board self-destruct system kicked in as planned.
SpaceX said it made several improvements to the spacecraft following the accident, and the Federal Aviation Administration recently cleared Starship once more for launch.
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A New Mexico resident who has died, tested positive for measles, the state health department said on Thursday, marking the second measles-related death in the United States in more than a decade.
The unvaccinated adult patient did not seek medical care before death and was the first measles-related death in the state in more than 40 years, according to David Morgan, Public Information Officer for the New Mexico Department of Health.
The cause of death is still under investigation by the state medical examiner, Morgan said.
The death brings to 10 the number of measles cases that occurred in Lea County, located adjacent to Gaines County, Texas, where more than 100 cases and one death in an unvaccinated child have been reported.
The outbreak, one of the largest the United States has seen in the past decade, has put U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a longtime vaccine skeptic, to the test.
In a Cabinet meeting last week, Kennedy initially downplayed news that a school-aged child had died of measles, calling such outbreaks ordinary and failing to mention the role of vaccination to prevent measles.
Over the weekend, Kennedy published an opinion piece on Fox News that promoted the role of vaccination, but downplayed the role of vaccines by telling parents vaccination was a personal choice and urging them to consult with their physician.
He also stressed the role of vitamin A, overstating evidence for its use, which has only been shown to decrease measles severity in developing countries among individuals who are malnourished and vitamin A deficient, said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious diseases expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“It’s not clear to me that’s true in the developed world, where vitamin A malnutrition is uncommon,” he said.
As of Feb. 27, 164 measles cases have been reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in nine jurisdictions: Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Rhode Island, and Texas.
Measles typically kills one to three people per 1,000 cases, said Dr. Tina Tan, an infectious disease expert at Northwestern University in Chicago.
She said two deaths out of a total of 164 cases suggest “a much higher mortality rate than we would normally see,” adding that there are probably many undetected cases.
The cases in New Mexico included six adults and four children under the age of 17. Seven of these cases were unvaccinated, while the vaccination history of the remaining three was not yet known.
The Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is closely monitoring the situation and in communication with state health authorities. “CDC recommends vaccination as the best protection against measles infections,” he said.
New Mexico’s health department said it will host two community vaccination clinics on March 11.
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President Donald Trump is signaling a major change in how the U.S. will support growth in key domestic industries such as semiconductors. Michelle Quinn reports.
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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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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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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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James Harrison, whose blood plasma donations are credited with saving 2.4 million babies, dies at 88
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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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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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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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.
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”
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.
- “Captain America: Brave New World,” $15 million.
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“Last Breath,” $7.8 million.
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“The Monkey,” $6.4 million.
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“Paddington in Peru,” $4.5 million.
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“Dog Man,” $4.2 million.
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“Mufasa: The Lion King,” $1.9 million.
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“Ne Zha 2,” $1.8 million.
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“Heart Eyes,” $1.3 million.
9 “The Unbreakable Boy,” $1.2 million.
- “One of Them Days,” $925,000.
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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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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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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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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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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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LONDON — Singer Charli XCX, whose album Brat inspired a cultural phenomenon last summer, was the big winner at the BRIT Awards, Britain’s pop music honors, in London on Saturday, picking up five prizes.
Brat, which inspired fans to film themselves dancing to its tracks and whose lime green cover look was adopted by U.S. presidential hopeful Kamala Harris’ campaign on social media after the singer referenced her in a post, won the coveted album of the year category.
Charli XCX, who had led nominations, was also named artist of the year and best dance act. Her single Guess, featuring Billie Eilish, won song of the year, beating tracks including the Beatles’ Now and Then.
The 32-year-old pop star won her first BRIT, songwriter of the year, earlier this week.
“I’ve always felt like an outsider in the industry but particularly in the British music industry and so it feels really nice to be recognized on this album,” she said as she received the album of the year award.
“I would just like to share this with all artists who have ever felt that they need to compromise to be recognized and to have their moment in the sun because I think I’m living proof that maybe it takes a long time, but … you don’t need to compromise your vision.”
Jazz quintet Ezra Collective was named group of the year.
“This moment right here is because of the great youth clubs and great teachers and the great schools that support young people playing music,” drummer Femi Koleoso said in one of several of the night’s acceptance speeches that called for more support for young musicians and grassroots venues.
U.S. singer Chappell Roan won international artist of the year while her track Good Luck, Babe! won international song of the year.
Espresso singer Sabrina Carpenter was named as the first international recipient of the global success award, which recognizes artists with “phenomenal global sales,” following in the footsteps of One Direction, Adele, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.
The ceremony also featured a tribute dedicated to late One Direction singer Liam Payne, who died in October after falling from a third-floor hotel room balcony in Buenos Aires, shocking fans of the boy band, one of the most popular of all time.
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SEATTLE — President Donald Trump’s plan to pull federal funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth will remain blocked on a long-term basis under a federal judge’s ruling in Seattle late Friday.
U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King previously granted a two-week restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration — Colorado has since joined the case.
King’s temporary order expired Friday, and she held arguments that day before issuing a preliminary injunction blocking most of Trump’s plan pending a final decision on the merits of the case.
The judge found the states lacked standing on one point: the order’s protections against female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is already illegal in the four states that are part of the lawsuit, and the judge said the record “is bereft of any evidence” that the plaintiffs plan to perform such procedures.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown praised the ruling. An email message was sent to the White House seeking comment.
Two of Trump’s executive orders are at issue in the case.
One, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism,” calls for stripping federal money from programs that “promote gender ideology.”
The other, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” calls for the federal government to cut off research and educational grants for institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, that provide gender-affirming care to people under age 19. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care, including puberty blockers and hormone treatments, following the order.
Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-affirming care, and Trump’s “Protecting Children” order suggests that practice could end. It also raises the prospect that medical professionals could be criminally charged for providing gender-affirming care under a law that bans medically unnecessary genital mutilation of underage females — a notion that the states suing Trump call repugnant and legally unsupportable.
Young people who persistently identify as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth — a condition called gender dysphoria — are far more likely to suffer from severe depression and to kill themselves if they do not receive treatment, which can include evaluation by a team of medical professionals; a social transition, such as changing a hairstyle or pronouns; and eventually puberty blockers or hormones. Surgery is extremely rare for minors.
In her ruling Friday, the judge said the order was not limited to children or to irreversible treatments and that it doesn’t target medical interventions performed on cisgender children.
“In fact, its inadequate ‘means-end fit’ would prevent federally funded medical providers from providing necessary medical treatments to transgender youth that are completely unrelated to gender identity,” she wrote. “For example, a cisgender teen could obtain puberty blockers from such a provider as a component of cancer treatment, but a transgender teen with the same cancer care plan could not.”
In his arguments Friday, Washington Assistant Attorney General William McGinty stressed the urgency of the issue.
“There are going to be young people who are going to take their lives if they can no longer receive this care,” he said.
King, the judge in Seattle, grilled Justice Department attorney Vinita Andrapalliyal in court about the meaning and effect of Trump’s executive orders.
The judge continued to press, saying she was “looking for a legitimate government interest” that would justify Trump’s orders.
The four Democratic attorneys general suing in Seattle argued that the orders violate equal rights protections, the separation of powers and the states’ right to regulate issues not delegated to the federal government.
The Trump administration disputed those claims in court filings. “The President’s authority to direct subordinate agencies to implement his agenda, subject to those agencies’ own statutory authorities, is well established,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.
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NEW YORK — David Johansen, the last surviving member of the glam and protopunk band the New York Dolls who later performed as his campy, pompadoured alter ego, Buster Poindexter, has died. He was 75.
Johansen died Friday at his home in New York City, according to Rolling Stone, citing a family spokesperson. It was revealed in early 2025 that he had stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor.
The New York Dolls were forerunners of punk and the band’s style — teased hair, women’s clothes and lots of makeup — inspired the glam movement that took up residence in heavy metal a decade later in bands like Faster Pussycat and Motley Crue.
“When you’re an artist, the main thing you want to do is inspire people, so if you succeed in doing that, it’s pretty gratifying,” Johansen told The Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2011.
Rolling Stone once called the Dolls “the mutant children of the hydrogen age” and Vogue called them the “darlings of downtown style, tarted-up toughs in boas and heels.”
“The New York Dolls were more than musicians; they were a phenomenon. They drew on old rock ‘n’ roll, big-city blues, show tunes, the Rolling Stones and girl groups, and that was just for starters,” Bill Bentley wrote in “Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen.”
The band never found commercial success and was torn by internal strife and drug addictions, breaking up after two albums by the middle of the decade. In 2004, former Smiths frontman and Dolls admirer Morrissey convinced Johansen and other surviving members to regroup for the Meltdown Festival in England, leading to three more studio albums.
In the 1980s, Johansen assumed the persona of Buster Poindexter, a pompadour-styled lounge lizard who had a hit with the kitschy party single “Hot, Hot, Hot” in 1987. He also appeared in such movies as “Candy Mountain,” “Let It Ride,” “Married to the Mob” and had a memorable turn as the Ghost of Christmas Past in Bill Murray-led hit “Scrooged.”
Johansen was in 2023 the subject of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” which mixed footage of his two-night stand at the Cafe Carlyle in January 2020 with flashbacks through his wildly varied career and intimate interviews.
“I used to think about my voice like: ‘What’s it gonna sound like? What’s it going to be when I do this song?’ And I’d get myself into a knot about it,” Johansen told The Associated Press in 2023. “At some point in my life, I decided: ‘Just sing the (expletive) song. With whatever you got.’ To me, I go on stage and whatever mood I’m in, I just claw my way out of it, essentially.”
David Roger Johansen was born to a large, working-class Catholic family on Staten Island, his father an insurance salesman. He filled notebooks with poems and lyrics as a young man and liked a lot of different music — R&B, Cuban, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding.
The Dolls — the final original lineup included guitarists Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane and drummer Jerry Nolan — rubbed shoulders with Lou Reed and Andy Warhol in the Lower East Side of Manhattan the early 1970s.
They took their name from a toy hospital in Manhattan and were expected to take over the throne vacated by the Velvet Underground in the early 1970s. But neither of their first two albums — 1973’s “New York Dolls,” produced by Todd Rundgren, nor “Too Much Too Soon” a year later produced by Shadow Morton — charted.
“They’re definitely a band to keep both eyes and ears on,” read the review of their debut album in Rolling Stone, complimentary of their “strange combination of high pop-star drag and ruthless street arrogance.”
Their songs included “Personality Crisis” (“You got it while it was hot/But now frustration and heartache is what you got”), “Looking for a Kiss” (I need a fix and a kiss”) and a “Frankenstein” (Is it a crime/For you to fall in love with Frankenstein?”)
Their glammed look was meant to embrace fans with a nonjudgmental, noncategorical space. “I just wanted to be very welcoming,” Johansen said in the documentary, “’cause the way this society is, it was set up very strict — straight, gay, vegetarian, whatever… I just kind of wanted to kind of like bring those walls down, have a party kind of thing.”
Rolling Stone magazine, reviewing their second album, called them “the best hard-rock band in America right now” and called the wiry, gravelly-voiced Johansen a “talented showman, with an amazing ability to bring characters to life as a lyricist.”
Decades later, the Dolls’ influence would be cherished. Rolling Stone would list their self-titled debut album at Number 301 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, writing “it’s hard to imagine the Ramones or the Replacements or a thousand other trash-junky bands without them.”
The Dolls, representing rock at its most debauched, were divisive. In 1973, they won the Creem magazine poll categories as the year’s best and worst new group. They were nominated several times for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but never got in.
By the end of their first run, the Dolls were being managed by legendary promoter Malcolm McLaren, who would later introduce the Sex Pistols to the Dolls’ music. Culture critic Greil Marcus in “Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century” writes the Dolls played him some of their music and he couldn’t believe how bad they were.
After the first demise of the Dolls, Johansen started his own group, the David Johansen band, before reinventing himself yet again in the 1980s as Buster Poindexter.
He is survived by his wife, Mara Hennessey, and a stepdaughter, Leah Hennessey.
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WASHINGTON — More than 50 years passed between the last Apollo mission and the United States’ return to the lunar surface, when the first private lander touched down last February 2024.
Now, starting Sunday, two more missions are set to follow within a single week, marking a bold push by NASA and its industry partners to make moon landings a routine part of space exploration.
First up is Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”
After launching in January on a 45-day journey, it is targeting touchdown near Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature in Mare Crisium on the moon’s northeastern near side, at 3:34 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Along the way, it captured stunning footage of the moon, coming as close as 100 kilometers above the surface.
The golden lander, about the size of a hippopotamus, carries 10 instruments, including one to analyze lunar soil, another to test radiation-tolerant computing and a GPS-based navigation system.
Designed to operate for a full lunar day (14 Earth days), Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth blocks the Sun from the Moon’s horizon.
On March 16, it will record a lunar sunset, offering insights into how dust levitates above the surface under solar influence — creating the mysterious lunar horizon glow first documented by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.
Hopping drone
Blue Ghost’s arrival will be followed on March 6 by Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, featuring its lander, Athena.
Last year, Intuitive Machines made history as the first private company to achieve a soft landing on the moon, although the moment was tempered by a mishap.
Coming down too fast, one of the lander’s feet caught on the lunar surface, tipping it over and causing it to rest sideways — limiting its ability to generate solar power and cutting the mission short.
This time, the company says it has made key improvements to the hexagonal-shaped lander, which has a taller, slimmer profile than Blue Ghost and is around the height of an adult giraffe.
Athena launched Wednesday aboard a SpaceX rocket, taking a more direct route toward Mons Mouton — the southernmost lunar landing site ever attempted.
It carries an ambitious set of payloads, including a unique hopping drone designed to explore the moon’s underground passages carved by ancient lava flows, a drill capable of digging 3 feet beneath the surface in search of ice and three rovers.
The largest, about the size of a beagle, will connect to the lander and hopper using a Nokia cellular network in a first-of-its-kind demonstration.
But “Grace,” the hopping drone — named after computing pioneer Grace Hopper — could well steal the show if it succeeds in showing it can navigate the moon’s treacherous terrain in ways no rover can.
NASA’s private moon fleet
Landing on the moon presents unique challenges due to the absence of an atmosphere, making parachutes ineffective. Instead, spacecraft must rely on precisely controlled thruster burns to slow their descent while navigating hazardous terrain.
Until Intuitive Machines’ first successful mission, only five national space agencies had accomplished this feat: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and Japan, in that order.
Now, the United States is working to make private lunar missions routine through NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, a public-private initiative designed to deliver hardware to the surface at a fraction of traditional mission costs.
These missions come at a pivotal moment for NASA amid speculation that it may scale back or even cancel its Artemis lunar program in favor of prioritizing Mars exploration — a key goal of President Donald Trump and his close advisor, SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
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CAIRO — Observant Muslims the world over will soon be united in a ritual of daily fasting from dawn to sunset as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starts.
For Muslims, it’s a time of increased worship, religious reflection, charity and good deeds. Socially, it often brings families and friends together in festive gatherings around meals to break their fast.
Ramadan is followed by the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Ramadan’s religious rituals and spiritual essence unite diverse Muslim communities around the world. The plights of some fellow Muslims and some issues that have resonance beyond borders — including conflicts and political turmoil — can become part of the focus of the month’s prayers, giving or advocacy for many.
This year, Ramadan is approaching as the fragile ceasefire deal — which has paused over 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, which the U.S., the U.K. and other Western countries have designated a terror group — nears the end of its first phase. Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed vast areas of Gaza.
The war was sparked by an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel in which Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. For some Muslims, Ramadan also comes amid changes in their countries. In the Middle East, for instance, this will be the first Ramadan for Syrians since the Syrian government fell in a stunning end to decades of the Assad family rule.
When is Ramadan? Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar; the month cycles through the seasons. The start of the month traditionally depends on the sighting of the crescent moon. This year, the first day is expected to be on or around March 1. The actual start date may vary among Muslim communities due to declarations by multiple Islamic authorities around the globe on whether the crescent has been sighted or different methodologies used to determine the start of the month.
Why and how do Muslims fast? Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, along with the profession of faith, prayer, almsgiving, and pilgrimage. Muslims see various meanings and lessons in observing the fast. It’s regarded as an act of worship to attain God-conscious piety and one of submission to God.
The devout see benefits including practicing self-restraint, growing closer to God, cultivating gratitude and empathizing with people who are poor and hungry.
The daily fast in Ramadan includes abstaining from all food and drink – not even a sip of water is allowed – from dawn to sunset before breaking the fast in a meal known as “iftar” in Arabic.
Those fasting are expected to also refrain from bad deeds, such as gossiping, and to increase good deeds.
Muslims typically stream into mosques for congregational prayers and dedicate more time for religious contemplation and the reading of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. Charity is a hallmark of Ramadan.
Among other ways of giving, many seek to provide iftar for those in need, distributing Ramadan boxes filled with pantry staples, handing out warm meals alongside such things as dates and juice or helping hold free communal meals. Muslims eat a pre-dawn meal, called “suhoor,” to hydrate and nurture their bodies ahead of the daily fast.
Are there exemptions from fasting? Yes. There are certain exemptions from fasting, such as for those who are unable to because of illness or travel. Those unable to fast due to being temporarily ill or traveling need to make up for the missed days of fasting later.
What are some cultural and social traditions associated with Ramadan? Muslims are ethnically and racially diverse and not all Ramadan traditions are rooted in religion. Some customs may transcend borders, while others can differ across cultures.
Many social rituals center on gathering and socializing after the daily fast. Some Muslims decorate their homes, put out Ramadan-themed tableware and centerpieces or throng to markets and Ramadan bazaars.
In Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, Ramadan is typically a festive time. Colorful lanterns, in different shapes and sizes, dangle from children’s hands and adorn homes or the entrances of buildings and stores. Ramadan songs may be played to welcome the month.
Ramadan’s soundscape in Egypt has traditionally included the pre-dawn banging on drums by a “mesaharati” who roams neighborhoods, calling out to the faithful, sometimes by name, to awake them for the suhoor meal.
New tv shows, communal meals
A lineup of new television series is another fixture of the month in some countries, and advertisers compete for the attention of viewers.
In various regions, some Muslims worry that the month is being commercialized, and that an emphasis on decorations, TV shows, outings or lavish iftar banquets, especially in the social media era, can detract from Ramadan’s religious essence.
Others feel that a balance can be struck and that, done in moderation, such rituals are part of the month’s festive spirit.
In Indonesia, some Ramadan rituals vary across regions, reflecting the diversity of local cultures.
People in Indonesia’s deeply conservative Aceh province slaughter animals during Meugang festivities. The meat is cooked and shared in a communal feast with family, friends, poor people and orphans.
Hundreds of residents in Tangerang, a city just outside the capital of Jakarta, flock to the Cisadane River to wash their hair with rice straw shampoo and welcome the fasting month with a symbolic spiritual cleansing.
Across Sumatra island, after evening prayers, many boys and girls parade through the streets, carrying torches and playing Islamic songs.
In India, where the country’s Muslim minority encompasses more than 200 million people, stalls lining many streets sell such things as dates, sweets and freshly cooked food.
At night, some New Delhi neighborhoods become lively as Muslims head to mosques to attend prayers. Some Indian Muslims also visit Sufi shrines decorated with lights and colorful flowers.
In the United States, where Muslims make up a diverse minority, gathering at mosques and Islamic centers when possible for iftar meals and prayers provides many Muslim families with a sense of community.
Some Muslims also organize or attend interfaith iftar meals. Some big U.S. retailers have started catering to Ramadan shoppers, selling such things as Ramadan-themed decor.
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