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Canada PM heads to Asia seeking new trade partners as US ties fray – www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser February 24, 2026 0

Blurb:

TORONTO: Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney heads to Asia this week seeking to broaden international trade, part of his plan to reduce Canadian reliance on the United States, which he says has left the country vulnerable.

Carney leaves Thursday (Feb 26) for India, the first stop on a three-country tour that includes Australia and Japan.

“In a more uncertain world, Canada is focused on what we can control,” Carney said in a statement announcing the trip.

“We are forging new partnerships abroad to create greater certainty, security and prosperity at home.”

Sam Altman Defends A.I. Energy Use With Human Comparison, Spark Debate– observer.com

pgnewser February 24, 2026 0

Blurb:

Sam Altman challenged critics of A.I.’s water and electricity consumption. Photo by John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images

Sam Altman is pushing back on mounting criticism over the environmental toll of A.I. The OpenAI chief has dismissed claims about A.I.’s water consumption as “fake” and drawn comparisons between the electricity required to power A.I. systems and the energy it takes to develop human intelligence.

Figures suggesting that tools like ChatGPT consume multiple gallons of water per query are “totally insane” and have “no connection to reality,” Altman said in a Feb. 20 interview with The Indian Express on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Last year, Altman claimed that ChatGPT uses 0.000085 gallons of water per query—roughly one-fifteenth of a teaspoon—though he did not explain how he calculated that figure.

A.I.’s water footprint largely stems from the need for evaporative cooling systems used to keep data center hardware from overheating. But Altman argued that companies like OpenAI are no longer directly managing such cooling processes. Many A.I. developers, he noted, are shifting toward cooling systems that recirculate liquid rather than continually drawing fresh supplies. Meanwhile, tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, Google and Amazon have pledged to replenish more water than they withdraw by 2030.

Researchers baked 3x inference speedups directly into LLM weights — without speculative decoding– venturebeat.com

pgnewser February 24, 2026 0

Blurb:

As agentic AI workflows multiply the cost and latency of long reasoning chains, a team from the University of Maryland, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Columbia University and TogetherAI has found a way to bake 3x throughput gains directly into a model’s weights.

Unlike speculative decoding, which requires a separate drafting model, this approach requires no additional infrastructure — just a single special token added to the model’s existing architecture.

Amazon’s AI ‘Deleted and Recreated’ a Live AWS Environment – RedState– redstate.com

pgnewser February 24, 2026 0

Blurb:

Amazon Web Services suffered a 13-hour outage in December after its internal AI coding agent determined that the optimal solution to a problem was to wipe and rebuild an environment in production. This was not a cyberattack. It was not foreign interference. It was an AI system operating with operator-level permissions inside one of the most economically critical cloud platforms in the world.

“The people said the agentic tool, which can take autonomous actions on behalf of users, determined that the best course of action was to ‘delete and recreate the environment’.”

Delete and recreate the environment.

That command halted a live cloud service for half a day. AWS accounts for roughly 60 percent of Amazon’s operating profits and supports payroll systems, logistics networks, enterprise back ends, and consumer-facing applications used by millions. Its reliability is not a bonus feature. It is the product.

‘Biggest dilemma’ in homeland counter drone strategy is ‘how broad the threat exists’– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser February 23, 2026 0

Blurb:

The federal government, in conjunction with state and local governments, is desperately trying to catch up to the threat posed by drones, but needs to close the gap for U.S. defenses before it’s too late.

The sheer scope and scale of what’s needed is hard to quantify. Any public event, airport, airplane, military installation, or critical infrastructure could be targeted by a drone or drone swarms, and the U.S. needs to be prepared to not only stop the perceived threat, but do so in a way that avoids collateral damage.

“The biggest dilemma is just how broad the threat exists. And then how do you layer in solutions that can take into account how much just territory is required to be defended,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told the Washington Examiner. “What keeps me up at night is just the sheer magnitude of the problem that is required.”

Alan Dershowitz Says Trump Team Made ‘Wrong Argument’ In Tariff Case– dailycaller.com

pgnewser February 23, 2026 0

Blurb:

Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Friday on Newsmax that President Donald Trump’s legal team made the “wrong argument” defending Trump’s tariff authority.

The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize Trump to impose tariffs, holding that the statute’s phrase “regulate importation” does not include the distinct and extraordinary power to levy duties absent explicit congressional approval. Dershowitz appeared on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

“I thought that the lawyers for Trump made the wrong argument to the Supreme Court, and I predicted they were going to lose based on their argument. Look, if you argue that it’s fundraising activity by Congress, of course you’re going to lose,” Dershowitz said. “This, the Article One of the Constitution, says that duties and taxes can be imposed only by Congress, and Congress can delegate that authority to the president.”

 

Trump Announces Increase In Global Tariff Rate, Vows Additional Moves– trendingpoliticsnews.com

pgnewser February 23, 2026 0

Blurb:

President Donald Trump announced Saturday an increase in the global tariff rate on imports from 10 percent to 15 percent. The change — which comes just a day after the administration was forced to restructure due to a controversial Supreme Court ruling — took effect immediately and applies to goods imported from most countries.

The announcement came one day after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling on in the consolidated cases Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. The Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.

EU demands ‘full clarity’ from Trump on tariffs — RT World News– www.rt.com

pgnewser February 23, 2026 0

Blurb:

The EU’s top executive body has urged US President Donald Trump not to impose new tariffs on the bloc’s goods and to clarify his position following the US Supreme Court ruling that struck down most of his earlier measures.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had no authority to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Trump responded by signing an order imposing a 10% global tariff through a different law and later said he would raise it to 15%. He denounced the justices who ruled against him as “a disgrace to the nation.”

US trade chief says no countries have said they will withdraw from tariff deals– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser February 23, 2026 0

Blurb:

He told ABC that the USTR already had open investigations into Brazil and China, and expected to initiate investigations into areas such as industrial excess capacity, which would cover many countries in Asia, and unfair trading practices regarding rice, which is heavily subsidised by some countries.

Greer said he did not expect the ruling and subsequent change in tariffs to affect Trump’s planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of March.

“The purpose of this meeting with President Xi is not to fight about trade. It’s to maintain stability, make sure that the Chinese are holding up their end of our deal and buying American agricultural products and Boeings and other things,” Greer said. “I don’t see this really affecting that meeting.”

Trump unveils critical minerals, 2 other investment projects with Japan– japantoday.com

pgnewser February 18, 2026 0

Blurb:

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday that Japan will finance the production of synthetic diamonds and two energy projects worth about $36 billion as the initial tranche of investments under a deal reached last year following months of tariff negotiations.

Trump’s announcement that the three projects had been selected, as part of a $550 billion package that Japan committed to in exchange for his administration reducing tariffs on Japanese cars and other goods, was confirmed hours later by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

“These projects are so large, and could not be done without one very special word, TARIFFS,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “America is building again. America is producing again. And America is WINNING again.”

Thousands of executives aren’t seeing AI productivity boom, reminding economists of IT-era paradox– fortune.com

pgnewser February 18, 2026 0

Blurb:

 

In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the information age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected these new technologies to disrupt workplaces and result in a surge of productivity. Instead, productivity growth slowed, dropping from 2.9% from 1948 to 1973, to 1.1% after 1973.

Lagarde to Step Down Early to Ensure Globalist ECB Successor: Report– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser February 18, 2026 0

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Arch globalist Christine Lagarde is reportedly planning to leave her post at the helm of the European Central Bank before the end of her term next year in a bid to lock in liberal leadership long after French President Emmanuel Macron leaves office.

The anti-Trump former French finance minister has served as president of the European Central Bank since 2019. While her eight-year term is set to expire in October next year, the Financial Times, citing a “person familiar with her thinking”, reported that Lagarde is considering stepping down before then to allow French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to select her successor.

Mamdani Proposes 9.5% Property Tax Hike if New York Won’t Pass Wealth Tax– legalinsurrection.com

pgnewser February 18, 2026 0

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When you elect a communist, you get a communist community.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani introduced his $127 billion preliminary budget plan on Tuesday.

That’s $11 billion higher than 2025. And cuts? Mamdani claimed he “identified another $1.7 billion in savings to reduce the budget gap.”

Did Mamdani explain those cuts? Of course not! Probably because he has no intention to cut any spending.

Now, Experts Are Warning Revolutionary AI Tools Change Everything – RedState– redstate.com

pgnewser February 17, 2026 0

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The advent of artificial intelligence is rattling a lot of cages. Trust me, I should know; two of our four daughters are freelance commercial graphic artists, and they are (rightfully) worried about being underbid and driven out of the market by computers. As for me, I’m not too worried – what computer could ever match my inimitable style, my wit, my wisdom, not to mention my modesty?

Elon Musk says, “You have to go to the moon” as he announces AI satellite factory plan with lunar mass driver |– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

pgnewser February 11, 2026 0

Blurb:

Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind SpaceX and the artificial intelligence company xAI, has unveiled one of his most ambitious plans yet. During an all-hands meeting with xAI staff on Tuesday, February 10, Musk announced a proposal to establish a manufacturing facility on the Moon that would build satellites equipped with advanced computing capabilities. According to The New York Times, Musk described the Moon as a necessary step in gaining a competitive advantage for future AI systems, saying simply, “You have to go to the Moon.”The idea involves constructing a lunar factory that could produce satellites outfitted with hardware designed to support artificial intelligence workloads.

One Big Beautiful Bill Act will add $4.7 trillion to deficits: CBO– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser February 11, 2026 0

Blurb:

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump last year, will add $4.7 trillion to deficits through 2035, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The numbers were released Wednesday as part of the nonpartisan congressional scorekeeper’s annual budget and economic update, which includes projections for the debt, spending, inflation, and GDP.

Taiwan pushes back against Washington’s 40% chip supply relocation goal– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser February 10, 2026 0

Blurb:

Taiwan has told Washington that its proposal to move 40% of the island’s semiconductor supply chain to the U.S. was “impossible,” the country’s top tariff trade negotiator said in an interview.

Speaking on a local television broadcast Sunday, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun said she had made it clear to Washington that the country’s semiconductor ecosystem, built over decades, could not simply be relocated.

Taiwan’s international expansion, including its investments in the U.S., is predicated on the notion that the industry remains’ rooted in Taiwan and continues to expand domestic investments, she said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.

Feds Investigate Nike for Racial Discrimination – PJ Media– pjmedia.com

pgnewser February 10, 2026 0

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When it comes to racism, Nike decided to “just do it.”

The woke footwear company that enthusiastically promoted serial grifter and race-baiter Colin Kaepernick is — surprise, surprise — fixated on skin color and other external characteristics rather than merit. Now, however, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on February 4 that it had filed an action in federal court against Nike.