Taiwan sets world record for birth rate: 0.72 children per woman

Taiwan has recorded the lowest fertility rate in the world: 0.72 children per woman. This is lower than the rates of South Korea and Japan, which have long held the record for the lowest birth rate. A population replacement rate of approximately 2.1 is required. At the current rate, the island's population will rapidly decline and age.

The reasons are typical for developed Asian economies: high housing costs, long working hours, lack of balance between career and family, and cultural pressure to succeed. Young Taiwanese are delaying marriage and children or choosing not to have them altogether. Government family support programs are not yet effective—people see no economic sense in having children amid rising costs and uncertainty.

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⚡️Trump's envoy "secretly" met with the Iranian opposition amid protests in Tehran.

Witkoff met with Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last Shah and the leader of the Iranian opposition, Axios reports.

According to the portal, this is the first such high-level contact between the US administration and opposition forces since the start of mass demonstrations and unrest in Iran.

Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a transitional leader in the event of the regime's collapse.

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🇺🇸The largest US power grid operator is facing the problem of overcapacity in AI data centers.

PJM Interconnection, which manages the power grid for 65 million Americans on the East Coast, is sounding the alarm: the explosive growth of AI data centers is creating a critical strain on the infrastructure. Companies like Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft are massively building computing facilities whose power consumption exceeds the capacity of existing grids.

The operator is warning of the risk of outages and power instability for consumers and businesses.

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🧊An 81-year-old grandmother is paying for her grandson's cancer treatment with earnings from her Minecraft YouTube channel.

A retiree from the US runs a Minecraft channel and earns enough to cover her grandson's cancer treatment costs. In 2024, Sue Jaco became a YouTuber after discovering Minecraft and decided to use her platform to help her grandson with his treatment.

Her channel, Gramma Crackers, has gained over 150,000 subscribers since she started playing Minecraft. Her income, including donations, is enough to cover her grandson's treatment costs.

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🥇The 2024 Liberty High Relief Coin Has Hit the Market for $5,000

Precious metals retailer JM Bullion has listed the 2024 Liberty High Relief gold coin for sale at $4,999.99. This is a reissue of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' classic 1907 design—one of the most recognizable coins in American numismatics. High relief makes minting technically challenging and expensive, explaining the premium it commands.

Amid inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies, demand for physical gold is growing not only among investors but also among collectors. These coins are becoming a way to preserve wealth outside the banking system and government control.

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🇨🇳China has filed a request to launch nearly 200,000 satellites.

China has registered documents with the International Telecommunication Union to deploy mega-constellations of satellites totaling approximately 200,000 satellites. This is an unprecedented request, far exceeding SpaceX's Starlink plans and those of all other players combined.

Beijing is effectively reserving orbital slots and radio frequencies for future global communications and surveillance infrastructure. The filing does not guarantee an immediate launch, but it does cement China's priority in the allocation of space and frequency spectrum. This is a direct challenge to American dominance in space and an attempt to rewrite the rules of the orbital economy.

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😁Donald Trump flipped off a Ford worker who shouted "Pedophile Defender!" at him.

The incident occurred at a factory in Dearborn. According to The Washington Post, 40-year-old T.J. Sabula, who uttered the insult against the president, has been suspended pending an internal investigation. Donald Trump responded by telling the worker to get lost, then, for good measure, finished his sentence with a "fuck you" gesture.

T.J. stated that he doesn't regret what he did, but is concerned about losing his job.

"In a fit of rage, some madman shouted obscenities, and the president responded appropriately and unequivocally," the White House commented.

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🤔Signal Management Warns: Agent AI Is Unsafe and Turns Users into Surveillance Objects

Signal's President and Vice President have issued a scathing critique of agent AI—systems that act on behalf of the user, making decisions and performing tasks autonomously. The main complaints include unreliability, vulnerability to hacking, and total surveillance of people's actions.

Agent AI requires constant access to personal data, communications, finances, and location. This makes the technology an ideal tool for mass surveillance. Corporations and governments are gaining unprecedented control over privacy under the guise of convenience. Signal, known for its privacy protections, sees this as a threat to basic freedoms.

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🇺🇸The US Senate has passed a bill allowing deepfake victims to sue without their consent.

The US Senate has approved a bill allowing victims of deepfakes to file civil lawsuits without their consent. The decision comes amid the scandal surrounding the widespread use of AI to create nude images of users on X.

The law gives people the right to seek compensation for the creation and distribution of fake intimate images without consent. This is the first federal step toward protecting against the abuse of generative AI in the US. Republicans supported the initiative as a measure to protect personal freedoms from tech giants and their irresponsibility.

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🌐Iran Hunts Starlink Users to Stop Leaking Protest Videos

Iranian authorities have launched a large-scale campaign to identify and detain citizens using Starlink satellite internet to circumvent state censorship. The regime fears that videos of protests and repression will continue to leak into global media, undermining the official narrative.

Elon Musk's satellite terminals have become critical infrastructure for Iranian activists after the government repeatedly blocked traditional internet access during mass protests. Now, security forces are conducting searches, tracking equipment shipments, and threatening long prison terms for those attempting to maintain contact with the outside world.

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⚡️Trump demands AI companies pay for their own data center electricity.

The president stated that tech giants should fully cover the electricity costs of their AI-powered data centers. Significant policy changes are coming to ensure that American taxpayers don't subsidize Big Tech's energy consumption.

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🇷🇺Russia's allies complain: Putin wasn't there at a critical moment.

Moscow's allies are openly expressing dissatisfaction with the Kremlin's lack of support at critical moments. Bloomberg reports growing disappointment among countries traditionally aligned with Russia. This includes not only military aid, but also diplomatic cover, economic guarantees, and political solidarity.

The problem is that Moscow is focused on its own operation in Ukraine and cannot disperse its resources. Its allies are left alone to face Western pressure, sanctions, and domestic crises. This undermines trust in Russia as a reliable partner and weakens its influence in regions where it has spent decades building a presence.

For the global balance of power, this means a possible reshuffling of alliances. Countries that relied on Moscow may begin to seek alternatives, from China to local players. Putin risks losing his strategic position precisely at a time when a multipolar world is becoming a reality.

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🇬🇧Keir Starmer Attacks British Privacy

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is pushing through bills that expand government control over citizens' privacy. These include new surveillance powers, access to personal data, and restrictions on encryption. The Labour government justifies these measures by citing the fight against terrorism and crime, but critics see them as an attack on basic freedoms.

For ordinary Britons, this means that their correspondence, financial transactions, and online activity will be closely monitored. Tech companies will be required to provide government encryption backdoors, undermining the very idea of ​​privacy in the digital age. This is a dangerous precedent: if London follows this path, other Western governments will follow suit.

Left-wing governments traditionally expand state control under the pretext of security, but history shows that such tools are rarely used solely against criminals. The right to privacy is the foundation of a free society. Its erosion opens the way to digital authoritarianism, where every citizen is potentially under suspicion.

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🚘Australian crash tests now require physical buttons in cars

The Australian safety assessment program (ANCAP) will introduce a mandatory requirement starting in 2026: five key vehicle functions must be controlled by physical buttons rather than touchscreens. These include hazard warning lights, windshield wipers, horn, turn signals, and the SOS system. Without this, a car will not receive the maximum safety rating.

The reason is simple: drivers are distracted by touchscreens. Research shows that finding a function on a screen takes several times longer than pressing a regular button. During these seconds, a car travels tens of meters blind at high speed. European regulators (Euro NCAP) are already moving in the same direction, discussing similar requirements starting in 2026.

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🤔Buffett compared the risks of AI to nuclear weapons: the genie is out of the bottle.

Warren Buffett, who recently stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said on CNBC that the rapid development of artificial intelligence reminds him of another threat that defined his career: the development of nuclear weapons. The main danger is that even industry leaders don't understand where the technology is heading. Buffett quoted their own words: they don't know where it will lead. The difference with Columbus is that there's no turning back—the genie is out of the bottle.

The investor drew a parallel with Albert Einstein, who spoke of the atomic bomb during World War II: it would change everything in the world except how people think. Buffett implies that humanity has once again acquired a tool of colossal power, without a plan or understanding of the consequences. The history of nuclear weapons has shown that technology outpaces wisdom, and the cost of error grows exponentially.

For a conservative investor who built an empire on common sense and long-term bets, such an admission sounds like a warning. AI is already impacting markets, employment, security, and the sovereignty of states. The question isn't whether development can be stopped—that's impossible. The question is whether institutions and society will have time to grasp the scale of the changes before the consequences become irreversible.

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🎶Bandcamp is the first major music platform to ban AI-generated content.

Bandcamp has imposed a complete ban on music generated by artificial intelligence. The platform is the first major service to officially ban AI-generated content. The decision applies to all tracks whose compositions are primarily created by algorithms rather than live musicians.

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👫The Trump administration has eliminated protections for transgender prisoners from rape in immigration detention.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has amended contracts with private prisons, removing all provisions protecting transgender prisoners from sexual assault. The official reason given is compliance with Trump's executive order to protect women from gender ideology and restore biological truth to the federal government. All language regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion has also been removed from the contracts.

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💰The Fed's unofficial printing press (#QE).

US Treasury bond purchase chart:

➤ January 20 – purchase of $8,306 billion.
➤ January 22 – purchase of $6,920 billion.
➤ January 26 – purchase of $8,304 billion.
➤ January 29 – purchase of $8,304 billion.
➤ February 2 – purchase of $6,921 billion.
➤ February 4 – purchase of $8,304 billion.
➤ February 10 – purchase of $8,304 billion.

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DoorDash and Uber Eats stole $550 million in tips from New York City couriers

New York regulators have found that DoorDash and Uber Eats systematically misappropriated $550 million in tips from couriers. The companies used opaque payment distribution schemes, with some of the money intended for delivery workers ending up in corporate pockets. The investigation uncovered a long-standing pattern of defrauding thousands of couriers.

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🚕A Waymo passenger jumped out of a self-driving car stopped on the tracks in front of a train.

A Waymo self-driving taxi stopped right on the tracks as a train approached. The passenger, rather than wait for the algorithms to resolve the situation, jumped out of the car on his own. The incident occurred in Nebraska, where the company is testing its autonomous vehicles.

Waymo is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google. The company positions itself as a leader in self-driving vehicles and actively lobbies to lower regulatory barriers for the widespread adoption of the technology. This incident demonstrates how far the systems fall short of true reliability: the car failed to recognize the danger, failed to react to the approaching train, and failed to offer the passenger a course of action. The human driver made the decision in a split second while the artificial intelligence continued processing the data.

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