Author: Justin M. Larson

Nvidia and Alphabet’s VC arms have backed British AI startup Synthesia in a $200 million funding round, amid a surge of private investment in promising young tech companies seeking to capitalize on the AI boom.The round sees Synthesia hit a $4 billion valuation and was led by Alphabet’s GV, with participation from Evantic, Hedosophia, Nvidia’s NVentures, Accel, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Air Street Capital. It nearly doubles the price tag the startup hit a year ago, when it picked up $180 million in funding, and a valuation of $2.1 billion.Synthesia develops video generation tools for enterprises to be used…

Read More

The European Commission on Monday said it opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s X over the spreading of sexually explicit material by the AI chatbot Grok. The probe is being conducted under the European Union’s sweeping Digital Services Act (DSA) regulation. “The new investigation will assess whether the company properly assessed and mitigated risks associated with the deployment of Grok’s functionalities into X in the EU,” the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement.”This includes risks related to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, including content that may amount to…

Read More

ReutersThe fire began early on Monday morning at the Violanta biscuit factoryAt least three people have been killed and two others are still missing after a fire broke out at a food factory near the central Greek city of Trikala, officials say.The blaze began in the early hours of Monday at a Violanta biscuit factory, where 13 workers were on site, according to local media. Eight people managed to escape, while firefighters later recovered three bodies from the building.Drone footage showed thick smoke billowing from the fire. A powerful explosion was reportedly heard before it broke out but an investigation…

Read More

A worker shovels snow during a winter storm in Lower Manhattan in New York, US, on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. A colossal winter storm reached the US East Coast Sunday morning after dropping ice and snow across much of the nation, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power and causing a wave of flight cancellations that may last for days.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesU.S. natural gas prices surged above $6 for the first time since late 2022 on Monday as a huge winter storm swept across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and forcing mass flight…

Read More

Watch: Ryan Wedding escorted by police in handcuffs after arrestFormer Canadian Olympic snowboarder and alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has been arrested in Mexico and will be extradited to the US after years on the run, FBI Director Kash Patel has said.Wedding, who had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, is accused of running a transnational drug trafficking operation that moved tonnes of cocaine across international borders.Wedding, 44, was also wanted on murder charges. US officials had said they believed Wedding was living in Mexico under the Sinaloa drug cartel’s protection.The head of Canada’s federal police force,…

Read More

Gemma HandyBusiness reporter, St John’s, AntiguaGemma HandyAntiguan cannabis grower Michaelus Tracey says that a lot of effort is put into developing new strainsRub the leaf and inhale the fragrance, Michaelus Tracey is saying.The musky scent of this cannabis plant is distinctly different from the citrusy aroma of another that he is also holding.To the untrained eye, the neat rows of flowering cannabis crops in front of us are indistinguishable from each other.Yet master cultivator Tracey can identify the separate varieties by their smell and the shape of their leaves.Nine strains are being grown here at Pineapple Road, a farm deep…

Read More

Key PointsGlobal hedge fund assets have hit an all-time high of almost $5.2 trillionTheir coffers swelled by a record $642.8 billion in 2025The most favored strategy type among investors was long/short equityGlobal hedge fund assets have hit an all-time high of almost $5.2 trillion after investors poured more money into the industry last year than at any other time since before the Global Financial Crisis. Hedge funds’ coffers swelled by a record $642.8 billion in 2025, driven by a mix of strong capital inflows from investors and positive investment performances, according to new data published by industry tracker Hedge Fund…

Read More

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) listens as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting on Jan. 21, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland. Chip Somodevilla | Getty ImagesEurope and U.S. relations are facing their “lowest moment” since NATO came into being, former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, as Washington’s disruptive approach to diplomacy forces allies to reexamine the transatlantic relationship. “There are some doubts about the relationship with the United States,” Barroso, also former prime minister of Portugal, said in an interview with CNBC’s “The China…

Read More

Archaeologists in Sweden have uncovered a striking Stone Age discovery: The well-preserved remains of a dog buried around 5,000 years ago alongside a carefully crafted dagger made from bone. The burial was found in a wetland that was once a lake, a setting that helped protect fragile remains for millennia. What makes the find so fascinating is how deliberate it appears. This was not a random deposit or scattered bones. The placement suggests intention, meaning, and possibly even ceremony. To researchers, the message is clear: This dog may have been valued far beyond an ordinary animal.The ‘dog burial’ that stopped…

Read More

A leading Venezuelan human rights group says at least 80 political prisoners have been released under pressure from the US.Alfredo Romero, head of Foro Penal, said his group was verifying the identities of those freed from prisons across the country on Saturday – and more releases were likely to take place.It is the latest batch of detainees released since the US seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a raid, and took him to New York to stand trial on drug-trafficking charges earlier this month.On Friday Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez said more than 600 prisoners had been freed – but…

Read More

Since the beginning of the civil war in Sudan, tens of thousands of refugees have fled south to the area, carrying with them not only what they could salvage from their homes, but the woes of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.On a sweltering November day, at the start of the dry season, a tall woman was standing in the shade of a tree near a plastic tent, amid the thatched-roof houses of Korsi, a neighbourhood hastily built on the outskirts of Birao to absorb the tide of new arrivals. Nafeesa, as we’ll call her, said she came from a city outside Khartoum,…

Read More

ReutersThe Grinch was intercepted by the French navy on ThursdayFrench officials have taken the Indian captain of a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker into custody days after the oil tanker was seized.On Thursday, the French navy intercepted the tanker – named the Grinch – which President Emmanuel Macron said was “subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag”.The Grinch had been travelling through the Mediterranean Sea from the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk. It is now moored, under guard, at a southern French port near Marseille.Although Moscow is yet to comment, Macron said on Thursday that the…

Read More

In Kenya, agriculture employs up to 75 per cent of the population, but farmers’ livelihoods are being threatened by a changing climate and the loss of productive land, which is impacting the whole of Africa.As droughts and extreme weather events in the East African nation increase in frequency and intensity, Maryanne Gichanga believes innovation is vital in helping Kenya’s agricultural community build resilience.  Farmers in Kenya are using new data tools to improve their productivity. 16-01-2026-Maryanne-Gichanga-03Speaking to the UN ahead of the International Day of Clean Energy Day, marked annually on 26 January, she explains how in a ‘male-dominated field’, she…

Read More

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Google designed Fast Pair to make Bluetooth connections fast and effortless. One tap replaces menus, codes and manual pairing. That convenience now comes with serious risk. Security researchers at KU Leuven uncovered flaws in Google’s Fast Pair protocol that allows silent device takeovers. They named the attack method WhisperPair. An attacker nearby can connect to headphones, earbuds or speakers without the owner knowing. In some cases, the attacker can also track the user’s location. Even more concerning, victims do not need to use Android or own any Google products. iPhone users are…

Read More

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Remembering to take medication sounds simple. However, missed doses put people at serious health risk every day. Because of that, engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have designed a pill that confirms when someone swallows it. As a result, doctors could track treatment more accurately, and patients could stay on schedule more easily. At the same time, the pill safely breaks down inside the body, which helps reduce long-term risk.Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your…

Read More