The Download: the secrets of vitamin D, and an AI party in Africa
“At some point you’ve got to wonder whether the bug is a feature.” —Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, ponders xAI and Grok’s…
Section
Culture
Bitcoin crash continues as ‘fear and greed’ index hits historic lows. What’s happening with crypto now?
Bitcoin is having a horrible week. Until yesterday, the cryptocurrency had declined by roughly 2.5% over the preceding five days. But in the last 24 hours alone, the coin has taken a major…
Ex-Lloyd’s CEO lost US$17 million AIG job after office romance
American International Group’s announcement last week that it was parting ways with incoming President John Neal stunned insurance industry observers and raised questions about what caused…
Creative Technology interim CEO and executive chairman Tan Jok Tin to step down in Jan 2026
Tan has been in the interim role since July, when Freddy Sim stepped down as chief for health reasons Creative Technology on Friday (Nov 21) announced that its interim chief executive…
Deutsche Bank’s DWS cuts Asia private credit team: sources
Despite the retreat from Asia private credit, DWS sees alternatives driving growth and plans hires in Singapore DWS Group, an asset management arm of Deutsche Bank, has dismissed its…
Jon M. Chu wants to ‘entertain the hell’ out of people
Before Wicked opened on Broadway in October 2003, the musical’s production team took the show to the Curran Theatre in San Francisco for what’s called an “out of town tryout.” The…
VinFast’s quarterly revenue jumps on strong deliveries, taps debt to fuel expansion
The company signed two loan facilities during the quarter, totaling US$250 million Vietnam’s VinFast reported a sharp rise in third-quarter revenue on Friday (Nov 21), bolstered by strong…
VinFast’s quarterly loss widens on hefty spending
The company signed two loan facilities during the quarter, totaling US$250 million — Vietnam’s VinFast reported a bigger third-quarter net…
Going Nuclear
The Trump administration is right to make nuclear power part of the U.S. energy solution. Source link
The Week: Trump’s Epstein Files Flip-Flop
Plus: Remembering David Pryce-Jones. Source link
Nuremberg in the Age of Lawfare
A warped history of justice, Tarantino-style. Source link
Is President Trump Thinking About Greenland Again?
Much-touted pharmaceutical deals could end up giving the president new leverage. Source link
The Tariffs Aren’t Helping
Donald Trump is a wholeheartedly pro-manufacturing president, and he’s definitely here to help — with a dizzying array of tariffs. Source link
A $100 Million AI Super PAC Targeted New York Democrat Alex Bores. He Thinks It Backfired
It turns out that when an AI-friendly super PAC with $100 million in backing from Silicon Valley bigwigs identifies you as its first target, it ends up generating a lot of attention. “I…
Transcript: Trump’s Tirade Calling for “Death” to Dems Backfires Badly
The following is a lightly edited transcript of the November 21 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here. Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced…
Google is spending $40 billion to build 3 new data centers in Texas
Google has 44 data centers in operation or in development around the world, but as demand for AI and the need for compute capacity grows, the company is getting started on three more. This…
Parenthood Has Made Me Detest Robots
You can’t throw a pacifier in American discourse without hitting someone talking about how having kids changed them. From Pete Buttigieg to Sarah Palin to the legions of guys who had…
Polluters Have Their Claws in These Democratic Governors
Lil Sis, a group that tracks corporate influence in politics, reports that polluting industries have spent $15.9 million on lobbying in New York state since 2021, increasing their spending…
Trump’s Polls Are Tumbling. So Is the Stock Market. Coincidence?
It would be difficult to dispute that the economy has stumbled on Trump’s watch. Inflation started rising immediately after Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs. Job creation…
Donald Trump Is a Lame Duck Now
When Democrats ended the government shutdown a week after the election—without securing an extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies—it seemed like they were throwing Trump a…
Foxconn-Nvidia US$1.4 billion Taiwan supercomputing cluster to be ready by H1 2026, Foxconn says
Apple’s top iPhone assembler has been expanding beyond electronics into electric vehicles and AI data centres Foxconn said on Friday (Nov 21) that a US$1.4 billion supercomputing centre it…
Japanese logistics firm Nippon Express expands footprint in Singapore
Move enables it to meet increasing demand for logistics services amid development of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone LOGISTICS company, Nippon Express (NX) opened an expanded…
Singapore stocks track regional declines on Friday; STI down 1%
Local stocks ended lower on Friday (Nov 21), tracking declines in the region. The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) was down 1 per cent or 42.73 points at 4,469.14, although the iEdge…
TikTok cares about your well-being and now has a special hub to prove it
Instead of teens simply putting down their phones to take a break, TikTok wants them to use the app’s new breathing exercises and affirmation journal to improve their well-being. Over the…