Japanese companies will finance investments valued at $36 billion in energy and minerals projects in Ohio, Texas and Georgia as part of a trade agreement that will cut U.S. tariffs on Japanese imports to 15%, according to the Trump administration. The announcement is part of Japan’s 2025 agreement to invest $550 billion over the next four years at the direction of the U.S., with the funds aimed at rebuilding and expanding core American industries. In October, the Trump administration provided details on Japanese investments of up to $332 billion to…
Posts published in “Technologies”
Japan is preparing to lift long-standing restrictions on lethal weapons exports, marking another step in the erosion of its post-war arms export taboo. While the reform creates new diplomatic and commercial opportunities and allows deeper security cooperation with regional partners, Japan’s defence industrial base remains small, costly and capacity-constrained. Domestic procurement demands and labour shortages mean exports will likely remain modest, limiting the policy’s practical and strategic impact on regional military balances. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is looking to loosen Japan’s long-standing restrictions on weapons exports, marking another step…
Surveillance technology has long been part of policing the border. ICE’s growing raids are bringing it to many other areas. Heading west along the Texas-Mexico border into Big Bend Ranch State Park, the Martian landscape announces itself almost violently. One moment you’re in a sleepy resort town of 100 or so people, and the next, the highway shoots down and up like a roller coaster, walled by imposing rock faces that fade into a panorama of mesas and plateaus. At the lowest point, a skinny body of water runs so…
Last spring, Illinois county judge Jeffrey Goffinet noticed something startling: A legal brief filed in his courtroom cited a case that did not exist. Goffinet, an associate judge in Williamson County, looked through two legal research systems and then headed to the courthouse library — a place he hadn’t visited in years — to consult the book that purportedly listed the case. The case wasn’t in it. The fake case, generated by artificial intelligence, came across Goffinet’s desk just a few months after the Illinois Supreme Court’s policy on the…
Red flags that both job seekers and employers should watch for, in an era of AI slop and application scams. Hello world, My name is Andrew Losowsky, and I’m Product Director & Editor at The Markup and CalMatters. A few months ago, we wanted to hire a new engineer. Hiring is always a lengthy process, but this time I had to wade through what felt like an ocean of generative AI slop. Fake and exaggerated resumes have always existed, but now, thanks to the rise of AI tools, it’s incredibly…
Capitalism is driving ecological destruction and social upheaval. Is it a death cult, and can we escape it? We exist in a machine that is destroying the basis of life on the one planet we have to live on. This is commonly understood. Yet very little is done about it. Why? What are we to make of Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, saying in a 2023 interview: “AI will most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime there will be great companies created with…
State Sen. Scott Wiener wants to tackle energy affordability by making it easier than ever for households to adopt increasingly popular clean-energy tech. California lawmakers are considering two bills that would slash red tape for households looking to add certain types of clean tech. Earlier this month, state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), whose district includes San Francisco, introduced legislation that would make it easier for individuals to adopt all-electric, superefficient heat pumps (SB 222) and plug-in solar panels (SB 868). “The cost of energy is too high,” Wiener told Canary Media.…
States are passing laws to prevent artificially intelligent chatbots, such as ChatGPT, from being able to offer mental health advice to young users, following a trend of people harming themselves after seeking therapy from the AI programs. Chatbots might be able to offer resources, direct users to mental health practitioners or suggest coping strategies. But many mental health experts say that’s a fine line to walk, as vulnerable users in dire situations require care from a professional, someone who must adhere to laws and regulations around their practice. “I have…
Shanghai ranked first nationwide in overall science and technology innovation performance, according to the China Regional Science and Technology Innovation Evaluation Report 2025. The top ranking reflects the steady strengthening of Shanghai’s innovation ecosystem in recent years, underpinned by sustained increases in funding. From 2022 to 2025, the city’s fiscal spending on science and technology grew at an average annual rate of more than 20 percent, while investment in basic research increased by 85 percent. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), R&D expenditure as a share of GDP rose to around 4.5…
Despite public opposition, the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission opened 6,600 acres of Jockey Hollow and Egypt Valley wildlife areas in eastern Ohio to the natural gas industry. A state board voted Monday to open about 6,600 combined acres of public lands from both the Jockey Hollow and Egypt Valley Wildlife areas in eastern Ohio to the natural gas industry. The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission also selected Grenadier Energy, of Texas, as the winning bidder for mineral rights beneath about 172 acres of the Leesville Wildlife Area…