Flagship

DeepSeek spurs massive stock selloff

The sudden success of Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek triggered a global stock selloff Monday. The rout wiped out roughly $1 trillion from the US stock market, with Nvidia suffering the largest single-day loss in history. Shares of even AI-adjacent companies, including energy and manufacturing firms, also tumbled. DeepSeek’s chatbot runs on less advanced chips than the most capable AI models from American firms like Meta and OpenAI, but performs similarly, shaking the belief “that only a few firms with huge budgets can compete” in AI, Bloomberg wrote. DeepSeek’s achievement also comes despite US efforts to limit China’s access to AI chips. Still, a Bernstein analyst cautioned that fears that the bot represented a “death knell of the AI infrastructure complex” seem overblown.

Colombia U-turn shows tariff impact

Colombia’s quick reversal on accepting US military flights carrying deportees in the face of threatened tariffs underscored the effectiveness of President Donald Trump’s hardline tactics. Trump ordered sanctions and 25% tariffs after Colombia pushed back on the flights Sunday, prompting a swift U-turn from Bogotá to avert a trade war. Beijing on Monday pledged to accept Chinese deportees, and India has also signaled it would cooperate with Trump’s immigration crackdown. The capitulation is likely to embolden White House officials, CNN noted, and could weigh on officials in Mexico and Canada, particularly. Some may not acquiesce so easily, though: The leader of Canada’s Ontario province vowed to hit back “twice as hard” if Trump targets Ottawa.

China factory activity declines

China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly declined at the start of the year, increasing the pressure on Beijing to boost stimulus efforts. The new data is “alarming,” Bloomberg analysts said, given that manufacturing had been something of a bright spot for the country’s weary economy. Meanwhile, the government missed its 2024 spending target in the face of a housing market slump. Travel ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday might have contributed to the decline of the manufacturing gauge, but “the economy is far from recovering,” a China economist said. Experts warned the malaise could persist through 2025 unless Beijing pursues a more aggressive fiscal stimulus to boost demand.

Tesla, BMW sue EU over China tariffs

Tesla and BMW are suing the European Commission over the bloc’s tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. The automakers, which both have operations in China, joined several Chinese firms in challenging the import duties. Brussels said the tariffs protect European industry from subsidized Chinese competition, but the automakers argue the measures increase the cost of exporting their made-in-China cars to Europe, hurting their bottom line. The trade spat comes at an especially precarious time for Germany’s auto sector: Domestic EV demand is muted, while Chinese firms are looking to set up shop in Europe: German car giant Volkswagen is open to letting Chinese firms take over some of its domestic production lines, the Financial Times reported.

EU to ease Syria sanctions

The European Union agreed a “roadmap” to ease some sanctions on Syria, as the country’s new government attempts to mount an economic recovery. The bloc’s top diplomat warned that the process to lift sanctions will be gradual and “can be reversed if wrong steps are taken.” Like the US, Brussels is taking a cautious approach as it monitors how the new government in Damascus — led by a group the US considers a terrorist organization — shapes up. There have been some troubling signs that Syria’s new rulers are “already abandoning an inclusive mentality,” a Middle East expert wrote in Foreign Affairs, adding that world powers should pressure Damascus to be more tolerant.

Indian news sites challenge OpenAI

Media outlets owned by India’s richest men joined in an escalating legal battle against OpenAI in the country. The news divisions of billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani’s business empires are part of a growing number of Indian publishers arguing that OpenAI improperly used their content to train their flagship AI bot, ChatGPT. OpenAI argued it is beyond the jurisdiction of Indian courts because it has no corporate presence in the country — the company is facing similar lawsuits in the US. India is an expanding market for AI: Ambani is planning to build what could be the world’s biggest data center, with the stated aim of making AI cheaper to run, Bloomberg reported.

AfD popularity rises ahead of election

Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party appears to be gaining mainstream support weeks ahead of the country’s general election. The ruling Social Democrats are widely expected to be ousted by Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats in the Feb. 23 poll. Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that the “firewall to the AfD must not crumble,” but Merz seems open to working with the far right, breaking with “a central political taboo” in Berlin, Bloomberg wrote: Usually, no mainstream party would cooperate with the hard right, underscoring a broad “sense of central political tenets of the postwar period being ripped up.” US tech billionaire Elon Musk is supporting the AfD, telling a recent party rally to “be proud of German culture, German values.”

Australia is sandbox for ag-tech

Australia is testing new technologies aimed at boosting crop and livestock yields and reducing agriculture’s environmental impact. Experimental fungi that trap nutrients in soil, emission-tracking apps, and automated fertilizers are among the innovations being tested: Australia has relatively low farm subsidies and is “on the frontline of climate change,” the Financial Times reported, so farmers there are particularly keen to “innovate and streamline.” The country’s geographic isolation, relatively progressive regulatory environment, and — by Western standards — high technology adoption rates have spurred Australia to act as a test-bed for now-everyday tech before, including chip-and-pin and contactless payments.

India is global outlier on asbestos

India is an outlier when it comes to demand for asbestos, despite global efforts to ban it. The silicon-based material is both fire-resistant and cheap to make, but inhaling its fibers over time can cause cancer. Dozens of countries have either imposed total bans or strictly regulate its use. Yet India — which has ended domestic asbestos mining — still employs the material widely: The country accounts for 56.7% of global asbestos imports, with much of the stuff coming from Brazil and Russia. One anti-asbestos lobbyist told Nikkei Asia that “commercial interests” hamper further restrictions: The government acknowledges the risk, but there are no laws prohibiting its import, trade, or use in construction.

British Museum targeted by hack

A cyberattack briefly shuttered the British Museum last week, highlighting the institution’s vulnerability to hacks. Several galleries and temporary exhibitions were closed after a former IT contractor who had been dismissed earlier this month re-entered the museum and shut down some of its computer systems; museum officials told the BBC they were working to restore operations. Home to some of the most important cultural artifacts in the world, including the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, the British Museum saw nearly 6 million visitors last year. Its sister institution the British Library was crippled by a cyberattack in 2023, in which hackers demanded £600,000 ($750,000) ransom to restore access to its files: Its online system was down for months.

Jan. 28:

• Boeing reports its fourth quarter earnings for 2024.
• The UN Security Council meets to discuss the Palestinian relief agency ahead of an Israeli ban.
• The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists makes its annual Doomsday Clock announcement.

A page billed as the worst site on the internet both mimics and amplifies the small, daily frustrations that arise from using the web. Stimulation Clicker, by 26-year-old programmer Neal Agarwal, is part-game, part-parody, and a “pointed commentary on how online life went wrong,” The Atlantic wrote. Visitors are greeted by a “Click Me” button, which, on being clicked, triggers a barrage of online tasks to earn points, such as emptying their inboxes, answering a Duolingo trivia question, and caring for a digital pet. The successive layers of attention-sucking digital chores form “a remarkable rendering of how digital life has gone off the rails,” taking players on “the all-too-familiar journey from ‘this is neat’ to ‘this is ruining my life.’”

Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong has found his MAGA whisperer, reports Semafor’s Max Tani. According to a Times insider, Soon-Shiong has increasingly solicited advice from Eric Beach — a veteran of California GOP politics and the former head of Great America PAC — in the pharmaceutical billionaire’s quest to shape the newspaper’s internal culture and political leanings. Soon-Shiong also recently appointed pro-Trump CNN commentator Scott Jennings to an advisory role at the paper, Tani noted.