"Despite liquidity support from our lenders and key counterparties, the company was unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form," Northvolt said Wednesday.
Northvolt said a Swedish court-appointed trustee will oversee the company's bankruptcy process, including the sale of the business and its assets and settlement of outstanding obligations.
Waymo also recently launched a commercial robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, just in time for the city's annual South by Southwest festival.
While would-be competitors including Elon Musk's automaker Tesla, and Amazon-owned Zoox, are continuing their own robotaxi testing and development, Waymo has pulled far ahead of self-driving companies in the U.S.
Before Tuesday's expansion, Waymo said it was serving more than 200,000 paid trips per week across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Alphabet doesn't disclose financial results for the autonomous vehicle business, but Waymo is part of its "Other Bets." That business unit generated $400 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 and incurred operating losses of $1.17 billion, according to the company's most recent financial filing.
Closer to home in our own Milky Way galaxy, Spherex will hunt for water and other ingredients of life in the icy clouds between stars where new solar systems emerge.
The cone-shaped Spherex — at 1,110 pounds (500 kilograms) or the heft of a grand piano — will take six months to map the entire sky with its infrared eyes and wide field of view. Four full-sky surveys are planned over two years, as the telescope circles the globe from pole to pole 400 miles (650 kilometers) up.
Spherex won't see galaxies in exquisite detail like NASA's larger and more elaborate Hubble and Webb space telescopes, with their narrow fields of view.
Instead of counting galaxies or focusing on them, Spherex will observe the total glow produced by the whole lot, including the earliest ones formed in the wake of the universe-creating Big Bang.
It's like "looking at the universe through a set of rainbow-colored glasses," said deputy project manager Beth Fabinsky of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
To keep the infrared detectors super cold — minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 210 degrees Celsius) — Spherex has a unique look. It sports three aluminum-honeycomb cones, one inside the other, to protect from the sun and Earth's heat, resembling a 10-foot (3-meter) shield collar for an ailing dog.
Besides the telescope, SpaceX's Falcon rocket provided a lift from Vandenberg Space Force Base for a quartet of NASA satellites called Punch. From their own separate polar orbit, the satellites will observe the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere, and the resulting solar wind.
All eyes however will be on astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams who have been stuck aboard the ISS since June after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft developed propulsion issues and was deemed unfit for their return.
The pair, initially slated for an eight-day mission, were reassigned to Crew-9 after its astronauts arrived in September aboard a SpaceX Dragon. The spacecraft carried only two crew members instead of the usual four to make room for Wilmore and Williams. Crew-9 will remain in orbit until Crew-10 arrives.
"We came up prepared to stay long, even though we plan to stay short," Wilmore said in a recent news conference. "That's what your nation's human space flight program is all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies."
The issue recently sparked a heated online exchange between Musk and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, whom Musk called "fully retarded." Retired astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly and Chris Hadfield defended Mogensen.
One astronaut who backed Musk however was Wilmore, who offered contradictory statements in last week's press conference.
"I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says is absolutely factual," he said, seemingly endorsing the SpaceX founder's version of events, before adding "politics is not playing into this at all."
"We have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk, and obviously respect and admiration for our president of the United States, Donald Trump. We appreciate them... and we're thankful that they are in the positions they're in," he continued.
The Crew-10 team consists of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi, and Russia's Kirill Peskov.
"The longer that inflation runs above the Fed's target, even if it is due to temporary forces like tariffs, the greater the chance that expectations de-anchor to the upside," said Stephen Juneau, a U.S. economist at Bank of America Securities. "Were that to happen, restoring price stability would be that much harder for the Fed."
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI climbed 0.2% in February after gaining 0.4% in January. In the 12 months through February, the so-called core CPI increased 3.1% after rising 3.3% in January.
Following the cascade of tariffs, economists have upgraded their inflation forecasts.
New York Green Light Law, formally the Driver's License Access and Privacy Act, allows undocumented migrants to apply for drivers' licenses without providing a Social Security number, CBS News reported. The law also restricts the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing that data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi last month announced the Department of Justice is suing New York over immigration enforcement, specifically the Green Law.
While in Albany, Homan also will support state Senate and Assembly Republicans' efforts to push back on New York's sanctuary city policies. In February 2024, GOP lawmakers introduced a bill that, among other things, would require local and state law enforcement to notify ICE when an arrested person or defendant is not a U.S. citizen.
Zeldin cited an example of that wasteful spending: "Millions of tax dollars on a museum to praise environmental justice."
"[It's] the size of a one-bedroom apartment, just blocks from the White House, and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to operate," he said. "And that museum was designed with major gaps in EPA history, mainly between 2016 and January 2021 [the years of the first Trump administration]."
Zeldin said he has worked with "the talented team" at the Department of Government Efficiency to find unnecessary spending.
"I've now canceled over $2 billion in DEI and environmental grants — 2 billion!" he said. "This agency spends nearly $100 million on rent every year for headquarters buildings that have remained overwhelmingly empty. We will pursue efficiencies by reducing our real estate footprint.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that the bloc “will always remain open to negotiation.”
“As the U.S. are applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” she said. The commission manages trade and commercial conflicts on behalf of the 27 member EU countries.
“We firmly believe that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs,” von der Leyen said.
Trump said his taxes would help create U.S. factory jobs, but von der Leyen said: “Jobs are at stake. Prices will go up. In Europe and in the United States.”
He said on Wednesday that it became clear during the trip “that the EU is not the problem.”
“I argued to avoid the unnecessary burden of measures and countermeasures, but you need a partner for that. You need both hands to clap,” Šefčovič told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
European steel companies brace for losses
The EU could lose up to 3.7 million tons of steel exports, according to the European steel association Eurofer. The U.S. is the second biggest export market for EU steel producers, representing 16% of the total EU steel exports.
The EU estimates that annual trade volume between both sides stands at about $1.5 trillion, representing some 30% of global trade. While the bloc has a substantial export surplus in goods, it says that is partly offset by the U.S. surplus in the trade of services.
Britain, which isn’t part of the EU, meanwhile said it won’t impose retaliatory measures of its own on the U.S. British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Wednesday he would “continue to engage closely and productively with the U.S. to press the case for U.K. business interests.”
He did not rule out future tariffs on U.S. imports, saying “we will keep all options on the table and won’t hesitate to respond in the national interest.”
"Reports, including from Elon Musk himself, link various Democrat-affiliated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the attacks, specifically, Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)," Greene's official wrote in a memo announcing the letter and call for investigation.
"These groups receive a significant amount of funding from ActBlue, a Democrat superPAC."
Nevertheless, locals and conservationists have expressed outrage at the environmental impact of the highway. The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity.
Professor Silvia Sardinha works as a wildlife researcher at a university animal hospital where injured animals are treated and then released back into the wild. The hospital overlooks where the highway is being built.
"From the moment of deforestation, there is a loss," Sardinha said. "We are going to lose an area to release these animals back into the wild, the natural environment of these species. Land animals will no longer be able to cross to the other side too, reducing the areas where they can live and breed."
The project also is harming locals' ability to raise income.
"Everything was destroyed," said Claudio Verequete, who lives
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said in court papers that the woman, who has not been identified publicly, came forward to prosecutors just days before the start of Weinstein's first trial but was not part of that case.
Prosecutors said they did not pursue the women's allegations after Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison, but they revisited them and secured a new indictment after the state's Court of Appeals threw out his conviction last April.
Farber ruled in October to combine the new indictment and existing charges into one trial.
Weinstein's lawyers contend that prosecutors prejudiced him by waiting nearly five years to bring the additional charge, suggesting they had elected not to include the allegation in his first trial so they could use it later if his conviction were reversed.
Weinstein has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
2 Senior GOP-Appointed Judges Speak on Federal Judiciary Threats
Amid threats of violence and impeachment against their colleagues in the judiciary, two senior federal judges, both appointed by Republican presidents, spoke out Tuesday.
Two senior federal judges, both appointed by Republican presidents, spoke out Tuesday against threats of violence and impeachment against their colleagues in the judiciary.
"Threats against judges are threats against constitutional government. Everyone should be taking this seriously,” said Judge Richard Sullivan, whom President Donald Trump appointed to the federal appeals court in New York.
"We allocate disappointment to half the people that come before us. Criticism is no surprise as part of the job. But I do think when it gets to the level of a threat, it really is about attacking judicial independence. And that’s just not good for the system or the country," said Sutton, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush.
Both judges stressed threats have been rising for years and neither mentioned Musk or Trump. Chief Justice John Roberts also devoted his year-end report to efforts to undermine judicial independence through intimidation, disinformation, and the prospect of public officials defying court orders.
Congress is not giving judges as much as they say they need for security, the judges said. Funding has been "flat" for the past two years, Sullivan said.
"Which means we're not even keeping up with inflation in an environment that is always changing and challenging," he said.
On impeachment talk, Sullivan said that parties to lawsuits get multiple cracks at the system, from the trial court to the Supreme Court.
"Impeachment is not, it shouldn't be a short-circuiting of that process. And so it is concerning if impeachment is used in a way that is designed to do just that," he said.
“The footprints are from 47 individual dinosaurs which passed across a patch of wet, white clay, possibly walking along or crossing a waterway,” Romilio said.
He further added: “It’s an unprecedented snapshot of dinosaur abundance, movement and behaviour from a time when no fossilised dinosaur bones have been found in Australia.”
Small-plant eating dinosaurs
The fossilized footprints display each distinctly three toes left by 47 individual dinosaurs. These weren’t giants but small plant-eaters.
No Early Jurassic dinosaur skeletons have ever been discovered in Australia.
Therefore, they’ve identified the footprints as belonging to Anomoepus scambus, an “ichnospecies” (a species defined by trace fossils like footprints).
Evidence suggests these creatures possessed legs ranging from a mere 15 to 50 centimeters in length.
With advanced 3D imaging and light filters, I was able to reveal hidden details in the footprints,” he added in the press release.
These techniques detected the subtle nuances of each footprint, providing insights into the dinosaurs’ movement and behavior.
Even more surprisingly, the research team uncovered another fossil sample — quite literally hiding in plain sight. This second rock, far larger than the school’s boulder, was being used as a simple car park entry delineator at the Callide Mine.
This unexpected find revealed two distinct footprints, larger than those found at the school, suggesting they were left by a slightly larger, bipedal dinosaur.
The new technique, which is safer, cheaper, and more sustainable than current plastic recycling methods, offers a promising path toward creating a circular economy for plastics.
“What’s particularly exciting about our research is that we harnessed moisture from air to break down the plastics, achieving an exceptionally clean and selective process,” Yosi Kratish, who is also the co-corresponding author of the study, said in a press release.
Recycling plastic remains a key focus in research, but existing methods often rely on extreme conditions—such as high temperatures, intensive energy use, and harsh solvents—that produce toxic byproducts.
Moreover, catalysts like platinum and palladium are expensive and contribute to the waste problem. Once the reaction is complete, researchers must separate the recycled materials from the solvents—a process that is both time-consuming and energy-intensive
“Instead of using solvents, we used water vapor from air. It’s a much more elegant way to tackle plastic recycling issues,” Kratish said.
To bridge this gap and bring artificial muscles closer to practical uses in robotics, prosthetics, and assistive technologies, researchers say new materials and manufacturing processes are needed to produce actuators that move naturally.
An important advancement has been made by researchers at Empa’s Laboratory for Functional Polymers, who have created a technique for 3D printing soft actuators.
According to the team, these DEAs are composed of interlocking layers of two silicone-based materials: a conductive electrode and a non-conductive dielectric. When voltage is applied, the actuator contracts like a muscle and relaxes when the voltage is removed.
However, the good news was short-lived as the start of Wall Street trading saw the return of characteristic selling pressure across crypto markets.
Bitcoin thus fell to $82,400 before consolidating, at the time of writing, circling the daily open.
In his latest market observations, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital saw reason for cautious optimism on BTC price performance.
“The latest Bitcoin Daily Close means that price has began the process of exiting its recently filled CME Gap after turning it into support,” he told X followers, referring to the difference between session closing and opening levels on CME Group’s Bitcoin futures — a common short-term price influence.
magniX’s new HeliStorm engines
The HeliStorm engines, powered by magniX’s Samson battery, will provide a significantly lighter alternative to the turbine engines typically used in helicopters.
The engines also have the capacity to generate electricity in the air. This means they can be used to extend the range of hybrid-electric rotorcraft.
To date, magniX has developed two separate integrations for the R44 helicopters. In June 2022, the first electric Robinson R44 helicopter powered by a magniX motor flew at the Los Alamitos Army Airfield in California.
According to magniX’s press statement, “this was a significant milestone in the development of electric aviation and subsequent tests went on to deliver the world’s first point-to-point flight of an electric helicopter.”
With the new HeliStorm engines, magniX is building on its experience to expand its portfolio into a new space.
“The helicopter market represents a tremendous opportunity for magniX, as the strengths of our technology align well with the market need,” Reed Macdonald, CEO of magniX, explained in the company’s statement.
“Our HeliStorm engines build on our existing world-class capabilities and offer a step-change in performance, reliability, and value for our customers,” he concluded. “We look forward to bringing our innovative technology to another segment of the aviation industry.”
cientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have synthesized and characterized “berkelocene,” the first organometallic molecule containing the highly radioactive element berkelium.
This discovery marks a significant leap in understanding the chemical behavior of heavy actinides and challenges “long-held theories about the chemistry of the elements that follow uranium in the periodic table.”
“Only a few facilities around the world can protect both the compound and the worker while managing the combined hazards of a highly radioactive material that reacts vigorously with the oxygen and moisture in air,” explained Polly Arnold, a co-corresponding author and director of Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division.
The research team overcame these obstacles by utilizing custom-designed gloveboxes, enabling air-free syntheses with highly radioactive isotopes.
“Then, with just 0.3 milligram of berkelium-249, the researchers conducted single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments,” added the team in a press release.
Crucial for addressing nuclear waste issues
Interestingly, an unexpected finding emerged from electronic structure calculations performed by Jochen Autschbach at the University of Buffalo.
These calculations revealed that the berkelium atom in berkelocene exhibits a tetravalent oxidation state (+4), stabilized by the berkelium-carbon bonds. This contradicts traditional periodic table expectations, which suggested berkelium would behave more like lanthanide terbium.
“Traditional understanding of the periodic table suggests that berkelium would behave like the lanthanide terbium,” highlighted Minasian.
“But the berkelium ion is much happier in the +4 oxidation state than the other f-block ions we expected it to be most like,” asserted Arnold.
The researchers emphasize that this discovery necessitates the development of more accurate models of actinide behavior across the periodic table. Such models are crucial for addressing critical issues related to long-term nuclear waste storage and remediation.
“When scientists study higher symmetry structures, it helps them understand the underlying logic that nature is using to organize matter at the atomic level,” concluded Minasian.
Alex Krainer paints a harrowing picture of the current debt situation faced by countries in the West, as they have overcommitted to the war in Ukraine without considering that their side might not end up with a victory. Alex explains why he believes the collapse of Great Britain is on the horizon, the curious case of US treasury futures potentially being cleared in London, Trump's tough economic threats and his demand to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and much more.
"We literally have not been able to confer with our client once since he was taken off the streets of New York City," he said.
"He was taken by U.S. government agents in retaliation, essentially, for exercising his First Amendment rights, for speaking up in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, for being critical of the U.S. government and of the Israeli government."
Khalil. 30, is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. The administration has not officially charged Khalil with a crime, but he has been accused of distributing pro-Hamas literature on the Columbia campus.
“Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. Our caucus is unified on a clean [CR through April 11] that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass.”
With Republicans holding a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, and legislation needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, at least seven Democrats would need to support the spending bill, which passed the House 217-213 Tuesday night.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also opposed the measure, so the GOP will need eight Democratic defections if there is full attendance in the chamber.
“In a shameful display of coordinated political theater, Democrats are willing to run out the clock on funding the government in a failed attempt to block the America First agenda,” the House speaker said. “Now it’s decision time for Senate Democrats: cast a vote to keep the government open or be responsible for shutting it down.”
Before Schumer’s announcement, the only Senate Democrat to openly back the House GOP continuing resolution was Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), while Sens. Jon Ossof (D-Ga.), Angus King (I-Maine), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) had signaled openness to supporting the bill.
“I’ve gone back and forth on this thing three times because it is two horrible choices,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) admitted to reporters before the lunch.
“If you shut down the government, the president is the person who decides what is essential,” Hickenlooper explained. “He decides what part of the government stays open, so you are actually giving him even more power.”
On the other side of the argument, a senior Senate Democratic aide told The Post that some members “worry a shutdown leaves Elon Musk alone in the candy store,” referring to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cost-cutting efforts.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., elicited a firestorm of conservative criticism this week when she said America is in its "angry teenage years" and suggested that President Donald Trump won the 2024 election because voters' brains are not fully formed.
"I don't think there's anyone who feels like what's going on right now is normal, even if you voted for Trump," Slotkin told ABC's "The View" on Tuesday. "We're about to turn 250 years old, right? We're still pretty young for a country."
"These are like our angry teenage years. We are going through this push and pull where we're happy, we're sad, we want this, we want that," Slotkin continued. "And what do you do when you have a teenager threatening themselves and others? You just try to get them through this period alive so that their brain can fully form."
"I think it's on us to be clear about not only leadership — and there's lots of leaders in both parties — but also a strategy," she said. "I think that's something that, as Trump has been successful in flooding the zone and, like every day, 15 things happening, we are still finding our footing, and I think you can't get better until you admit you have a problem."
The CIS study also found that nearly three-quarters of U.S. immigrants in 2023 had legal status, with 49% becoming U.S. citizens and 19% holding green cards. The proportion of children living with at least one immigrant parent has doubled since 1990, rising from 13% to 26%.
The immigrant population remains concentrated in major urban areas. New York City has the largest total number of immigrants at 5.9 million, while Miami has the highest percentage at 42%, while Texas and Florida continue to see the greatest numerical growth.
Steven Camarota, CIS director of research, emphasized the scale of the shift, saying, "The new data is not only more up-to-date, and therefore better reflects the migrant surge, it is the first government survey to reflect the re-weighting the Census Bureau did to reflect that surge better. The total foreign-born is now 53.3, not 47.8 million. And the percent of the U.S. population is a record 15.8%."
Bowman, along with Fed governor Christopher Waller, voted against Barr's proposal. She was appointed to the Fed's governing board by President Donald Trump in 2018 during his first term in the White House.
Barr resigned from his post as vice chair for supervision but has remained on the Fed's seven-member board of governors. As a result, Trump was forced to choose from among the existing seven governors, rather than appointing someone from outside the Fed.
Prior to joining the Fed, Bowman was the state bank commissioner in Kanas in 2017-2018, after serving as vice president at a local bank. She also had previous stints in Washington at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for the governor said in a statement, "Governor Hochul has been clear with New Yorkers: She supports secure borders and deporting violent criminals but won't let New York help the Trump administration tear babies away from their parents. This isn't the first time Trump administration officials have lied about our policies — and it probably won't be the last — but Governor Hochul is staying focused on keeping New Yorkers safe."
Homan also denied that the Trump administration's decision to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams was related to the mayor's support for Trump's immigration policies and push for mass deportations.
"As far as all this, 'Oh, well he's making a deal because of his criminal issues' — I've been talking to him since November — it has nothing to do with that," Homan said. "Far as I'm concerned, I'm happy that the mayor of New York City, the largest city in the world, is actually sitting down with law enforcement to make that city safer."'
He also said that Adams "wanted to get federal immigration authorities back into Rikers Island to talk to illegal aliens who committed a crime against a citizen."
"I am done with the discussion of locker rooms, I am done with the discussion of bathrooms, and we better start having a conversation about the classroom," Emanuel said at a recent lecture. "We can lead a discussion and force a topic onto the agenda of this country that's worthy of having a debate about. The New York Times put crumbs all the way to the front door of the USAID headquarters and we just walked along back there."
In an appearance on "Real Time With Bill Maher," Emanuel lamented the party's handling of transgender issues.
"In seventh grade, if I had known I could've said the word ‘they' and gotten in the girls' bathroom, I would've done it," he said. "We literally are a superpower, we're facing off against China with 1.4 billion people and two-thirds of our children can't read eighth grade level."
While Emanuel has never lost a race, he declined to run for a third term as mayor of Chicago, following clashes with the teacher's union and his handling of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.
If he ran, he'd face fierce opposition from the party's left flank and the McDonald shooting could doom his support among Black voters.
"I'm not sure people in South Carolina know or care who Rahm Emanuel is," Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a longtime South Carolina Democrat lawmaker told Politico. "His connection to Barack Obama is decades old. We're in a different time."
As the Trump administration continues its massive deportation effort, ICE is reportedly running out of detention space, and officials told reporters on Wednesday that the agency is currently detaining 46,700 migrants as they await deportation.
Citing internal data, CBS reported that ICE detention facilities are presently at approximately 120% capacity.
Customs and Border Protection rolled out a new app on Monday that will allow illegal immigrants to notify the federal government of their plan to "self-deport" in lieu of waiting for immigration authorities to arrest and detain them.
Called CBP Home, the app will give migrants the option of signaling their "intent to depart," according to the agency.
Trump removed all exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on the metals, in addition to increasing the tariffs on aluminum from 10%. His moves, based off a February directive, are part of a broader effort to disrupt and transform global commerce.
He has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.
The EU announced its own countermeasures on Wednesday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that as the United States was “applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” or about $28 billion. Those measures, which cover not just steel and aluminum products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods, are due to take effect on April 1.
Outside forecasts by the Yale University Budget Lab, Tax Policy Center and others suggest that U.S. families would have the costs of the taxes passed onto them in the form of higher prices.
With Wednesday's tariffs on steel and aluminum, Trump is seeking to remedy his original 2018 import taxes that were eroded by exemptions.
After Canada and Mexico agreed to his demand for a revamped North American trade deal in 2020, they avoided the import taxes on the metals. Other U.S. trading partners had import quotas supplant the tariffs. And the first Trump administration also allowed U.S. companies to request exemptions from the tariffs if, for instance, they couldn’t find the steel they needed from domestic producers.
!summarize #elonmusk #trump #tesla
"Despite liquidity support from our lenders and key counterparties, the company was unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form," Northvolt said Wednesday.
Northvolt said a Swedish court-appointed trustee will oversee the company's bankruptcy process, including the sale of the business and its assets and settlement of outstanding obligations.
Waymo also recently launched a commercial robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, just in time for the city's annual South by Southwest festival.
While would-be competitors including Elon Musk's automaker Tesla, and Amazon-owned Zoox, are continuing their own robotaxi testing and development, Waymo has pulled far ahead of self-driving companies in the U.S.
Before Tuesday's expansion, Waymo said it was serving more than 200,000 paid trips per week across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Alphabet doesn't disclose financial results for the autonomous vehicle business, but Waymo is part of its "Other Bets." That business unit generated $400 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 and incurred operating losses of $1.17 billion, according to the company's most recent financial filing.
!summarize #windmill #blades #recycling #energy
Closer to home in our own Milky Way galaxy, Spherex will hunt for water and other ingredients of life in the icy clouds between stars where new solar systems emerge.
The cone-shaped Spherex — at 1,110 pounds (500 kilograms) or the heft of a grand piano — will take six months to map the entire sky with its infrared eyes and wide field of view. Four full-sky surveys are planned over two years, as the telescope circles the globe from pole to pole 400 miles (650 kilometers) up.
Spherex won't see galaxies in exquisite detail like NASA's larger and more elaborate Hubble and Webb space telescopes, with their narrow fields of view.
Instead of counting galaxies or focusing on them, Spherex will observe the total glow produced by the whole lot, including the earliest ones formed in the wake of the universe-creating Big Bang.
It's like "looking at the universe through a set of rainbow-colored glasses," said deputy project manager Beth Fabinsky of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
To keep the infrared detectors super cold — minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 210 degrees Celsius) — Spherex has a unique look. It sports three aluminum-honeycomb cones, one inside the other, to protect from the sun and Earth's heat, resembling a 10-foot (3-meter) shield collar for an ailing dog.
Besides the telescope, SpaceX's Falcon rocket provided a lift from Vandenberg Space Force Base for a quartet of NASA satellites called Punch. From their own separate polar orbit, the satellites will observe the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere, and the resulting solar wind.
All eyes however will be on astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams who have been stuck aboard the ISS since June after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft developed propulsion issues and was deemed unfit for their return.
The pair, initially slated for an eight-day mission, were reassigned to Crew-9 after its astronauts arrived in September aboard a SpaceX Dragon. The spacecraft carried only two crew members instead of the usual four to make room for Wilmore and Williams. Crew-9 will remain in orbit until Crew-10 arrives.
"We came up prepared to stay long, even though we plan to stay short," Wilmore said in a recent news conference. "That's what your nation's human space flight program is all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies."
The issue recently sparked a heated online exchange between Musk and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, whom Musk called "fully retarded." Retired astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly and Chris Hadfield defended Mogensen.
One astronaut who backed Musk however was Wilmore, who offered contradictory statements in last week's press conference.
"I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says is absolutely factual," he said, seemingly endorsing the SpaceX founder's version of events, before adding "politics is not playing into this at all."
"We have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk, and obviously respect and admiration for our president of the United States, Donald Trump. We appreciate them... and we're thankful that they are in the positions they're in," he continued.
The Crew-10 team consists of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi, and Russia's Kirill Peskov.
"The longer that inflation runs above the Fed's target, even if it is due to temporary forces like tariffs, the greater the chance that expectations de-anchor to the upside," said Stephen Juneau, a U.S. economist at Bank of America Securities. "Were that to happen, restoring price stability would be that much harder for the Fed."
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI climbed 0.2% in February after gaining 0.4% in January. In the 12 months through February, the so-called core CPI increased 3.1% after rising 3.3% in January.
Following the cascade of tariffs, economists have upgraded their inflation forecasts.
New York Green Light Law, formally the Driver's License Access and Privacy Act, allows undocumented migrants to apply for drivers' licenses without providing a Social Security number, CBS News reported. The law also restricts the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing that data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi last month announced the Department of Justice is suing New York over immigration enforcement, specifically the Green Law.
While in Albany, Homan also will support state Senate and Assembly Republicans' efforts to push back on New York's sanctuary city policies. In February 2024, GOP lawmakers introduced a bill that, among other things, would require local and state law enforcement to notify ICE when an arrested person or defendant is not a U.S. citizen.
Zeldin cited an example of that wasteful spending: "Millions of tax dollars on a museum to praise environmental justice."
"[It's] the size of a one-bedroom apartment, just blocks from the White House, and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to operate," he said. "And that museum was designed with major gaps in EPA history, mainly between 2016 and January 2021 [the years of the first Trump administration]."
Zeldin said he has worked with "the talented team" at the Department of Government Efficiency to find unnecessary spending.
"I've now canceled over $2 billion in DEI and environmental grants — 2 billion!" he said. "This agency spends nearly $100 million on rent every year for headquarters buildings that have remained overwhelmingly empty. We will pursue efficiencies by reducing our real estate footprint.
The EU moves to protect itself
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that the bloc “will always remain open to negotiation.”
“As the U.S. are applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” she said. The commission manages trade and commercial conflicts on behalf of the 27 member EU countries.
“We firmly believe that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs,” von der Leyen said.
Trump said his taxes would help create U.S. factory jobs, but von der Leyen said: “Jobs are at stake. Prices will go up. In Europe and in the United States.”
He said on Wednesday that it became clear during the trip “that the EU is not the problem.”
“I argued to avoid the unnecessary burden of measures and countermeasures, but you need a partner for that. You need both hands to clap,” Šefčovič told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
European steel companies brace for losses
The EU could lose up to 3.7 million tons of steel exports, according to the European steel association Eurofer. The U.S. is the second biggest export market for EU steel producers, representing 16% of the total EU steel exports.
The EU estimates that annual trade volume between both sides stands at about $1.5 trillion, representing some 30% of global trade. While the bloc has a substantial export surplus in goods, it says that is partly offset by the U.S. surplus in the trade of services.
Britain, which isn’t part of the EU, meanwhile said it won’t impose retaliatory measures of its own on the U.S. British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Wednesday he would “continue to engage closely and productively with the U.S. to press the case for U.K. business interests.”
He did not rule out future tariffs on U.S. imports, saying “we will keep all options on the table and won’t hesitate to respond in the national interest.”
"Reports, including from Elon Musk himself, link various Democrat-affiliated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the attacks, specifically, Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)," Greene's official wrote in a memo announcing the letter and call for investigation.
"These groups receive a significant amount of funding from ActBlue, a Democrat superPAC."
Nevertheless, locals and conservationists have expressed outrage at the environmental impact of the highway. The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity.
Professor Silvia Sardinha works as a wildlife researcher at a university animal hospital where injured animals are treated and then released back into the wild. The hospital overlooks where the highway is being built.
"From the moment of deforestation, there is a loss," Sardinha said. "We are going to lose an area to release these animals back into the wild, the natural environment of these species. Land animals will no longer be able to cross to the other side too, reducing the areas where they can live and breed."
The project also is harming locals' ability to raise income.
"Everything was destroyed," said Claudio Verequete, who lives
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said in court papers that the woman, who has not been identified publicly, came forward to prosecutors just days before the start of Weinstein's first trial but was not part of that case.
Prosecutors said they did not pursue the women's allegations after Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison, but they revisited them and secured a new indictment after the state's Court of Appeals threw out his conviction last April.
Farber ruled in October to combine the new indictment and existing charges into one trial.
Weinstein's lawyers contend that prosecutors prejudiced him by waiting nearly five years to bring the additional charge, suggesting they had elected not to include the allegation in his first trial so they could use it later if his conviction were reversed.
Weinstein has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
2 Senior GOP-Appointed Judges Speak on Federal Judiciary Threats
Amid threats of violence and impeachment against their colleagues in the judiciary, two senior federal judges, both appointed by Republican presidents, spoke out Tuesday.
Two senior federal judges, both appointed by Republican presidents, spoke out Tuesday against threats of violence and impeachment against their colleagues in the judiciary.
"Threats against judges are threats against constitutional government. Everyone should be taking this seriously,” said Judge Richard Sullivan, whom President Donald Trump appointed to the federal appeals court in New York.
"We allocate disappointment to half the people that come before us. Criticism is no surprise as part of the job. But I do think when it gets to the level of a threat, it really is about attacking judicial independence. And that’s just not good for the system or the country," said Sutton, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush.
Both judges stressed threats have been rising for years and neither mentioned Musk or Trump. Chief Justice John Roberts also devoted his year-end report to efforts to undermine judicial independence through intimidation, disinformation, and the prospect of public officials defying court orders.
Congress is not giving judges as much as they say they need for security, the judges said. Funding has been "flat" for the past two years, Sullivan said.
"Which means we're not even keeping up with inflation in an environment that is always changing and challenging," he said.
On impeachment talk, Sullivan said that parties to lawsuits get multiple cracks at the system, from the trial court to the Supreme Court.
"Impeachment is not, it shouldn't be a short-circuiting of that process. And so it is concerning if impeachment is used in a way that is designed to do just that," he said.
“The footprints are from 47 individual dinosaurs which passed across a patch of wet, white clay, possibly walking along or crossing a waterway,” Romilio said.
He further added: “It’s an unprecedented snapshot of dinosaur abundance, movement and behaviour from a time when no fossilised dinosaur bones have been found in Australia.”
Small-plant eating dinosaurs
The fossilized footprints display each distinctly three toes left by 47 individual dinosaurs. These weren’t giants but small plant-eaters.
No Early Jurassic dinosaur skeletons have ever been discovered in Australia.
Therefore, they’ve identified the footprints as belonging to Anomoepus scambus, an “ichnospecies” (a species defined by trace fossils like footprints).
Evidence suggests these creatures possessed legs ranging from a mere 15 to 50 centimeters in length.
With advanced 3D imaging and light filters, I was able to reveal hidden details in the footprints,” he added in the press release.
These techniques detected the subtle nuances of each footprint, providing insights into the dinosaurs’ movement and behavior.
Even more surprisingly, the research team uncovered another fossil sample — quite literally hiding in plain sight. This second rock, far larger than the school’s boulder, was being used as a simple car park entry delineator at the Callide Mine.
This unexpected find revealed two distinct footprints, larger than those found at the school, suggesting they were left by a slightly larger, bipedal dinosaur.
The new technique, which is safer, cheaper, and more sustainable than current plastic recycling methods, offers a promising path toward creating a circular economy for plastics.
“What’s particularly exciting about our research is that we harnessed moisture from air to break down the plastics, achieving an exceptionally clean and selective process,” Yosi Kratish, who is also the co-corresponding author of the study, said in a press release.
Recycling plastic remains a key focus in research, but existing methods often rely on extreme conditions—such as high temperatures, intensive energy use, and harsh solvents—that produce toxic byproducts.
Moreover, catalysts like platinum and palladium are expensive and contribute to the waste problem. Once the reaction is complete, researchers must separate the recycled materials from the solvents—a process that is both time-consuming and energy-intensive
“Instead of using solvents, we used water vapor from air. It’s a much more elegant way to tackle plastic recycling issues,” Kratish said.
To bridge this gap and bring artificial muscles closer to practical uses in robotics, prosthetics, and assistive technologies, researchers say new materials and manufacturing processes are needed to produce actuators that move naturally.
An important advancement has been made by researchers at Empa’s Laboratory for Functional Polymers, who have created a technique for 3D printing soft actuators.
According to the team, these DEAs are composed of interlocking layers of two silicone-based materials: a conductive electrode and a non-conductive dielectric. When voltage is applied, the actuator contracts like a muscle and relaxes when the voltage is removed.
However, the good news was short-lived as the start of Wall Street trading saw the return of characteristic selling pressure across crypto markets.
Bitcoin thus fell to $82,400 before consolidating, at the time of writing, circling the daily open.
In his latest market observations, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital saw reason for cautious optimism on BTC price performance.
“The latest Bitcoin Daily Close means that price has began the process of exiting its recently filled CME Gap after turning it into support,” he told X followers, referring to the difference between session closing and opening levels on CME Group’s Bitcoin futures — a common short-term price influence.
magniX’s new HeliStorm engines
The HeliStorm engines, powered by magniX’s Samson battery, will provide a significantly lighter alternative to the turbine engines typically used in helicopters.
The engines also have the capacity to generate electricity in the air. This means they can be used to extend the range of hybrid-electric rotorcraft.
To date, magniX has developed two separate integrations for the R44 helicopters. In June 2022, the first electric Robinson R44 helicopter powered by a magniX motor flew at the Los Alamitos Army Airfield in California.
According to magniX’s press statement, “this was a significant milestone in the development of electric aviation and subsequent tests went on to deliver the world’s first point-to-point flight of an electric helicopter.”
With the new HeliStorm engines, magniX is building on its experience to expand its portfolio into a new space.
“The helicopter market represents a tremendous opportunity for magniX, as the strengths of our technology align well with the market need,” Reed Macdonald, CEO of magniX, explained in the company’s statement.
“Our HeliStorm engines build on our existing world-class capabilities and offer a step-change in performance, reliability, and value for our customers,” he concluded. “We look forward to bringing our innovative technology to another segment of the aviation industry.”
cientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have synthesized and characterized “berkelocene,” the first organometallic molecule containing the highly radioactive element berkelium.
This discovery marks a significant leap in understanding the chemical behavior of heavy actinides and challenges “long-held theories about the chemistry of the elements that follow uranium in the periodic table.”
“Only a few facilities around the world can protect both the compound and the worker while managing the combined hazards of a highly radioactive material that reacts vigorously with the oxygen and moisture in air,” explained Polly Arnold, a co-corresponding author and director of Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division.
The research team overcame these obstacles by utilizing custom-designed gloveboxes, enabling air-free syntheses with highly radioactive isotopes.
“Then, with just 0.3 milligram of berkelium-249, the researchers conducted single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments,” added the team in a press release.
Crucial for addressing nuclear waste issues
Interestingly, an unexpected finding emerged from electronic structure calculations performed by Jochen Autschbach at the University of Buffalo.
These calculations revealed that the berkelium atom in berkelocene exhibits a tetravalent oxidation state (+4), stabilized by the berkelium-carbon bonds. This contradicts traditional periodic table expectations, which suggested berkelium would behave more like lanthanide terbium.
“Traditional understanding of the periodic table suggests that berkelium would behave like the lanthanide terbium,” highlighted Minasian.
“But the berkelium ion is much happier in the +4 oxidation state than the other f-block ions we expected it to be most like,” asserted Arnold.
The researchers emphasize that this discovery necessitates the development of more accurate models of actinide behavior across the periodic table. Such models are crucial for addressing critical issues related to long-term nuclear waste storage and remediation.
“When scientists study higher symmetry structures, it helps them understand the underlying logic that nature is using to organize matter at the atomic level,” concluded Minasian.
Alex Krainer paints a harrowing picture of the current debt situation faced by countries in the West, as they have overcommitted to the war in Ukraine without considering that their side might not end up with a victory. Alex explains why he believes the collapse of Great Britain is on the horizon, the curious case of US treasury futures potentially being cleared in London, Trump's tough economic threats and his demand to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and much more.
"We literally have not been able to confer with our client once since he was taken off the streets of New York City," he said.
"He was taken by U.S. government agents in retaliation, essentially, for exercising his First Amendment rights, for speaking up in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, for being critical of the U.S. government and of the Israeli government."
Khalil. 30, is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. The administration has not officially charged Khalil with a crime, but he has been accused of distributing pro-Hamas literature on the Columbia campus.
“Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. Our caucus is unified on a clean [CR through April 11] that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass.”
With Republicans holding a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, and legislation needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, at least seven Democrats would need to support the spending bill, which passed the House 217-213 Tuesday night.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also opposed the measure, so the GOP will need eight Democratic defections if there is full attendance in the chamber.
“In a shameful display of coordinated political theater, Democrats are willing to run out the clock on funding the government in a failed attempt to block the America First agenda,” the House speaker said. “Now it’s decision time for Senate Democrats: cast a vote to keep the government open or be responsible for shutting it down.”
Before Schumer’s announcement, the only Senate Democrat to openly back the House GOP continuing resolution was Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), while Sens. Jon Ossof (D-Ga.), Angus King (I-Maine), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) had signaled openness to supporting the bill.
“I’ve gone back and forth on this thing three times because it is two horrible choices,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) admitted to reporters before the lunch.
“If you shut down the government, the president is the person who decides what is essential,” Hickenlooper explained. “He decides what part of the government stays open, so you are actually giving him even more power.”
On the other side of the argument, a senior Senate Democratic aide told The Post that some members “worry a shutdown leaves Elon Musk alone in the candy store,” referring to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cost-cutting efforts.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., elicited a firestorm of conservative criticism this week when she said America is in its "angry teenage years" and suggested that President Donald Trump won the 2024 election because voters' brains are not fully formed.
"I don't think there's anyone who feels like what's going on right now is normal, even if you voted for Trump," Slotkin told ABC's "The View" on Tuesday. "We're about to turn 250 years old, right? We're still pretty young for a country."
"These are like our angry teenage years. We are going through this push and pull where we're happy, we're sad, we want this, we want that," Slotkin continued. "And what do you do when you have a teenager threatening themselves and others? You just try to get them through this period alive so that their brain can fully form."
"I think it's on us to be clear about not only leadership — and there's lots of leaders in both parties — but also a strategy," she said. "I think that's something that, as Trump has been successful in flooding the zone and, like every day, 15 things happening, we are still finding our footing, and I think you can't get better until you admit you have a problem."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
The CIS study also found that nearly three-quarters of U.S. immigrants in 2023 had legal status, with 49% becoming U.S. citizens and 19% holding green cards. The proportion of children living with at least one immigrant parent has doubled since 1990, rising from 13% to 26%.
The immigrant population remains concentrated in major urban areas. New York City has the largest total number of immigrants at 5.9 million, while Miami has the highest percentage at 42%, while Texas and Florida continue to see the greatest numerical growth.
Steven Camarota, CIS director of research, emphasized the scale of the shift, saying, "The new data is not only more up-to-date, and therefore better reflects the migrant surge, it is the first government survey to reflect the re-weighting the Census Bureau did to reflect that surge better. The total foreign-born is now 53.3, not 47.8 million. And the percent of the U.S. population is a record 15.8%."
Bowman, along with Fed governor Christopher Waller, voted against Barr's proposal. She was appointed to the Fed's governing board by President Donald Trump in 2018 during his first term in the White House.
Barr resigned from his post as vice chair for supervision but has remained on the Fed's seven-member board of governors. As a result, Trump was forced to choose from among the existing seven governors, rather than appointing someone from outside the Fed.
Prior to joining the Fed, Bowman was the state bank commissioner in Kanas in 2017-2018, after serving as vice president at a local bank. She also had previous stints in Washington at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for the governor said in a statement, "Governor Hochul has been clear with New Yorkers: She supports secure borders and deporting violent criminals but won't let New York help the Trump administration tear babies away from their parents. This isn't the first time Trump administration officials have lied about our policies — and it probably won't be the last — but Governor Hochul is staying focused on keeping New Yorkers safe."
Homan also denied that the Trump administration's decision to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams was related to the mayor's support for Trump's immigration policies and push for mass deportations.
"As far as all this, 'Oh, well he's making a deal because of his criminal issues' — I've been talking to him since November — it has nothing to do with that," Homan said. "Far as I'm concerned, I'm happy that the mayor of New York City, the largest city in the world, is actually sitting down with law enforcement to make that city safer."'
He also said that Adams "wanted to get federal immigration authorities back into Rikers Island to talk to illegal aliens who committed a crime against a citizen."
"I am done with the discussion of locker rooms, I am done with the discussion of bathrooms, and we better start having a conversation about the classroom," Emanuel said at a recent lecture. "We can lead a discussion and force a topic onto the agenda of this country that's worthy of having a debate about. The New York Times put crumbs all the way to the front door of the USAID headquarters and we just walked along back there."
In an appearance on "Real Time With Bill Maher," Emanuel lamented the party's handling of transgender issues.
"In seventh grade, if I had known I could've said the word ‘they' and gotten in the girls' bathroom, I would've done it," he said. "We literally are a superpower, we're facing off against China with 1.4 billion people and two-thirds of our children can't read eighth grade level."
While Emanuel has never lost a race, he declined to run for a third term as mayor of Chicago, following clashes with the teacher's union and his handling of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.
If he ran, he'd face fierce opposition from the party's left flank and the McDonald shooting could doom his support among Black voters.
"I'm not sure people in South Carolina know or care who Rahm Emanuel is," Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a longtime South Carolina Democrat lawmaker told Politico. "His connection to Barack Obama is decades old. We're in a different time."
As the Trump administration continues its massive deportation effort, ICE is reportedly running out of detention space, and officials told reporters on Wednesday that the agency is currently detaining 46,700 migrants as they await deportation.
Citing internal data, CBS reported that ICE detention facilities are presently at approximately 120% capacity.
Customs and Border Protection rolled out a new app on Monday that will allow illegal immigrants to notify the federal government of their plan to "self-deport" in lieu of waiting for immigration authorities to arrest and detain them.
Called CBP Home, the app will give migrants the option of signaling their "intent to depart," according to the agency.
Trump removed all exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on the metals, in addition to increasing the tariffs on aluminum from 10%. His moves, based off a February directive, are part of a broader effort to disrupt and transform global commerce.
He has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.
The EU announced its own countermeasures on Wednesday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that as the United States was “applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” or about $28 billion. Those measures, which cover not just steel and aluminum products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods, are due to take effect on April 1.
Outside forecasts by the Yale University Budget Lab, Tax Policy Center and others suggest that U.S. families would have the costs of the taxes passed onto them in the form of higher prices.
With Wednesday's tariffs on steel and aluminum, Trump is seeking to remedy his original 2018 import taxes that were eroded by exemptions.
After Canada and Mexico agreed to his demand for a revamped North American trade deal in 2020, they avoided the import taxes on the metals. Other U.S. trading partners had import quotas supplant the tariffs. And the first Trump administration also allowed U.S. companies to request exemptions from the tariffs if, for instance, they couldn’t find the steel they needed from domestic producers.