In moments of political chaos, deepfakes and AI-generated content can thrive. Case in point: the online reaction to the US governments shocking operation in Venezuela over the weekend, which included multiple airstrikes and a clandestine mission that ended with the capture of the countrys president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. They were soon charged with narcoterrorism, along with other crimes, and theyre currently being held at a federal prison in New York.
Right now, the facts of the extraordinary operation are still coming to light, and the future of Venezuela is incredibly unclear. President Donald Trump says the U.S. government plans to run the country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated that, no, America isn’t going to do that, and that the now-sworn-in former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez will lead instead. Others are still calling for opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonalzez to take charge.
Its in moments like this that deepfakes, disinformation campaigns, and even AI-generated memes, can pick up traction. When the truth, or the future, isnt yet obvious, generative artificial intelligence allows people to render content that answers the as-yet-unanswered questions, filling in the blanks with what they might want to be true.
Weve already seen AI videos about whats going on in Venezuela. Some are meme-y depictions of Maduro handcuffed on a military plane, but some could be confused for actual footage. While a large number of Venezuelans did come out to celebrate Maduros capture, videos displaying AI-generated crowds have also popped up, including one that apparently tricked X CEO Elon Musk.
At least anecdotally, deepfake content related to Venezuela has spiked in recent days, says Ben Colman, the cofounder and CEO of Reality Defender, a firm that tracks deepfakes. Those narratives arent tied to any movement and run the gamut from nationalist to anti-government, pro-Venezuela, pro-US, pro-unity, anti-globalization, and everything in between, he says.
The difference between this event and events from even a few months ago is that image models have gotten so good in recent days that the most astute fact-checkers, media verification experts, and experts in our field are unable to manually verify many of them by pointing to specific aspects of the image as an indicator for validity or lack thereof, Colman explains. That battle (of manual, visual verification) is pretty much lost.”
OpenAI told Fast Company that its monitoring how Venezuela is playing out across its products and says it will take action where it sees violations of its usage policies.The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, a federal outfit established to monitor disinformation campaigns aboard, would have previously tracked the situation, a former employee says.
For instance, within the Russian war in Ukraine, the State Department saw deepfakes of leaders trying to convince soldiers to lay down their arms, and fake narratives about additional entrants into the war. During political chaos, its common for online actors to try to disincentivize opposing factions, the person adds. That center was later shut down, after Republicans accused the outfit of censoring Americans. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication.
‘Accelerants’
Political deepfakes and AI-generated content are now commonplace. A few years ago, AI-generated TV anchors spreading pro-government talking points, seemingly intended to promote the idea that Venezuela’s economy and security were generally good went viral across the country. In 2024, a party affiliated with former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, shared a deepfake video featuring an AI-generated Donald Trump endorsing their platform (that was far from the only example in the country). As even the recent New York City mayoral election showed, AI is often deployed during tense campaign seasons.
The Knight First Amendment Institute, which analyzed the use of AI in elections back in 2024, found that many deployments of AI, especially during election time, arent necessarily meant to deceiveand that misinformation isnt always created from AI. The problem isnt just that its easy to make disinformation with AI, but that people are open to ingesting disinformation. In other words, theres demand for this kind of content.
“Deepfakes in this context aren’t just misinformation, they are accelerants, Emmanuelle Saliba, chief investigative officer at GetReal Security, another firm that tracks deepfakes, told Fast Company. “While some of the fabricated content we’ve seen circulating is created to feed meme culture, some of it has been created and disseminated to confuse and destabilize people during an already volatile climate. Trust is hanging by a thread.”
Kim Kardashians apparel brand Skims is outfitting American athletes at the Olympics for the fourth time in a row, and this years collection is its cheekiest one yet.
Skims and Team USA have established something of an annual tradition. The brand has dressed Olympic and Paralympic athletes in new loungewear-slash-underwear capsules at the Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022, and Paris 2024 Gamesand now, its back for Milano Cortina 2026.
This years collection includes everything from Americana-themed panties to cozy pajama sets, tasteful sweaters, menswear, and accessories. The collection will be available to average folk starting on January 8 at Skims.com and some Skims flagship stores, with prices ranging between $20 and $88.
From left: Dani Aravich, Kaysha Love, Madison Chock. [Photo: Skims]
Compared to previous collaborations, this years launch isnt exactly reinventing the wheel. However, sprinkled throughout the more standard offerings are a few items that feel like Juicy Couture turned sportyand for Skims, those pieces make complete sense.
Skims Team USA serves up business in the front, party in the back
For years, Team USAs Olympic aesthetic has largely been defined by its ultra-preppy, buttoned-up collaboration with Ralph Lauren, which has officially helmed the countrys ceremony outfits since 2008. Other brands, like J. Crew, have worked on more casual takes on Olympic apparel (see this years 70s-inspired collection), but Skims has led the charge on some of the most approachable Team USA gear in recent years, bringing its quintessential focus on minimalist silhouettes and soft fabrics to each new collection.
This years Skims Team USA capsule is largely in line with years past. Staples include basic Team USA-themed ringer tees, undies, and tank tops, paired with flannel sleep shorts and wooly crewneck sweatersessentially, exactly what one might imagine from a Skims x Team USA collab.
But a couple of the pieces seem to wink at a slightly more experimental direction. At least one of the pairs of underwear includes the phrase Team USA emblazoned in bold retro lettering across the bum. And in one photo, the Skims team styled this design quirk with a pair of white, over-the-knee socks, also featuring Team USA lettering. Its a shot that feels like a glimpse of how y2k Juicy Couture mightve handled Olympic outfitting; and it brings a sexier design ethos to prepand the worlds most anticipated athletic event.
It makes sense that Skims Team USA might try something a bit more out-of-the-box this year, given that its cachet in the athleisure and brand collaboration spaces has expanded massively since its first Olympic partnership in 2020, including official partnerships with the NBA, WNBA, Nike, and North Face.
If any brand could get away with bringing a bit of lighthearted levity to the Games apparel, it would be Skimsand as long as it doesnt verge into nipple bra or merkin territory, well take it.
A golden phone that President Donald Trump‘s family business promised to release last year remains mysteriously under wraps as the technology industry serves up a glut of new gadgets at CES in Las Vegas this week.
When the Trump Organization launched a mobile phone service last June, it was supposed to be a stage setter for a new smartphone bathed in gold with a $500 price tag a bargain compared to Apple’s latest iPhone models that sell for anywhere from $800 to $1,200. The newly formed Trump Mobile targeted its T1 phone for an August or September release.
What’s more, Trump Mobile initially hailed T1 as a device that would be proudly designed and built in the United States for customers who expect the best.”
But both the T1’s shipping date and U.S. manufacturing ambitions gradually began to shift, even as Trump Mobile continues to accept $100 deposits for the device.
Not long after announcing the device, Trump Mobile pivoted from describing it as a phone that would be made in the U.S. to framing it as a device that would be proudly American. Trump Mobile’s website now touts the T1 as having an American-proud design, with no further explanation.
Analysts believed that the shift stemmed from a recognition that the U.S. lacked the supply chain and other logistics required to make a smartphone for less than $1,000 the same hurdles that made it implausible for Apple to acquiesce to President Trump’s demands that the company move its iPhone manufacturing from China and India.
Later in the summer, Trump Mobile also became more vague about when the T1 would become available, but still indicated it would be delivered to customers who paid the $100 deposit by the end of 2025. Trump Mobile’s website continues to list the T1’s targeted release date as later this year.
The Trump Organization didn’t respond to inquiries from The Associated Press about the delays or when the device is now expected to be shipped. The Financial Times recently reported that it was told by a customer representative for Trump Mobile that the phone will be shipped in late January and attributed its delayed release to the 43-day shutdown of the federal government last year.
Whatever the reason, the T1’s ongoing absence from the smartphone market didn’t come as a surprise to International Data Corp. analyst Francisco Jeronimo.
We have always been quite skeptical about this phone, Jeronimo said. They are probably finding that it is harder to build a phone than they thought it would be. Let’s see if this thing comes to life or not.
While the T1 has remained in a holding pattern, Trump Mobile has been selling its wireless service for $47.45 per month a price tied to Donald Trump’s titles as the 47th and 45th President. For customers looking for a smartphone that they can use sooner rather than later, Trump Mobile is also selling refurbished versions of older iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy models at prices ranging from $370 to $630.
Maybe they changed their strategy and figured out they are better off just selling refurbished phones, Jeronimo said.
Michael Liedtke, AP technology writer
Pipeline safety regulators on Monday assessed their largest fine ever against the company responsible for leaking 1.1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana in 2023. But the $9.6 million fine isn’t likely to be a major burden for Third Coast to pay.This single fine is close to the normal total of $8 million to $10 million in all fines that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration hands out each year. But Third Coast has a stake in some 1,900 miles of pipelines, and in September, the Houston-based company announced that it had secured a nearly $1 billion loan.Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram said this spill “resulted from a company-wide systemic failure, indicating the operator’s fundamental inability to implement pipeline safety regulations,” so the record fine is appropriate and welcome.“However, even record fines often fail to be financially meaningful to pipeline operators. The proposed fine represents less than 3% of Third Coast Midstream’s estimated annual earnings,” Caram said. “True deterrence requires penalties that make noncompliance more expensive than compliance.”The agency said Third Coast didn’t establish proper emergency procedures, which is part of why the National Transportation Safety Board found that operators failed to shut down the pipeline for nearly 13 hours after their gauges first hinted at a problem. PHMSA also said the company didn’t adequately assess the risks or properly maintain the 18-inch Main Pass Oil Gathering pipeline.The agency said the company “failed to perform new integrity analyses or evaluations following changes in circumstances that identified new and elevated risk factors” for the pipeline.That echoed what the NTSB said in its final report in June, that “Third Coast missed several opportunities to evaluate how geohazards may threaten the integrity of their pipeline. Information widely available within the industry suggested that land movement related to hurricane activity was a threat to pipelines.”The NTSB said the leak off the coast of Louisiana was the result of underwater landslides, caused by hazards such as hurricanes, that Third Coast, the pipeline owner, failed to address despite the threats being well known in the industry.A Third Coast spokesperson said the company has been working to address regulators’ concerns about the leak, so it was taken aback by some of the details the agency included in its allegations and the size of the fine.“After constructive engagement with PHMSA over the last two years, we were surprised to see aspects of the recent allegations that we believe are inaccurate and exceed established precedent. We will address these concerns with the agency moving forward,” the company spokesperson said.The amount of oil spilled in this incident was far less than the 2010 BP oil disaster, when 134 million gallons were released in the weeks following an oil rig explosion, but it could have been much smaller if workers in the Third Coast control room had acted more quickly, the NTSB said.
Josh Funk, AP Transportation Writer
Workplace training invites are dropping in many employees inboxes now that the new year is underway. Most employers require staff to complete multiple HR modules annually: training on harassment, workplace relationships, or conflicts of interest, for example, followed by a quick quiz.
Recently, however, a new TikTok trend imagining fake workplace training modules is going viral.
Its 5 pm and you notice one of your colleagues is crying at their desk, creator @pepsimasc posted in November. Do you A: check in and ask how theyre doing, or B: tell them to shut the fuck up? the skit begins.
He continues on to the next imaginary scenario: Youre in a meeting and notice one colleague bullying another. Do you A: stand up for them, B: report it to HR, C: offer them a lift home and crash the car, or D: all of the above?
In the final scenario, he explains: Youre walking to the lunchroom and notice someone has smashed a glass on the floor and left it there. Do you A: contact facilities, B: clean it up immediately, or C: spill baby oil around it so someone can fall onto the glass?
For those well-acquainted with this type of training, the multiple-choice framing should be painfully familiar.
The videos even share that familiar elevator music that plays in the background as you click your way through the slides. (Listen long enough, and you can feel your brain slowly powering down.)
Across TikTok, creators are posting their own parody HR trainings, riffing on the fact that after years of mandatory workshops and assessments, theyve got the scripts practically memorized and the tone down to a T.
Another creator parodies a common phishing prompt. You get an email with a link that you think might be a scam. Whats the appropriate course of action? A: tell HR, or B: throw out your laptop.
Another, in a video watched more than 8.2 million times, asks viewers to select the example of harassment. Option one: Jane gives you a high five. Option two: Marcus gives you a pat on the back. Option three: John runs at you fully erect.
The comments are filled with corporate workers who feel seen by the skit. One said: And then theyre like, actually its ALL of them.
This is so funny, another wrote. And unfortunately, accurate.
Its not just XRP that is having a good 2026 so far. One of the worlds oldest assets, gold, is also having a good run in the first week of the year. Heres where the precious metal stands, and why its price is rising.
An ounce of gold is close to its all-time high
The price of one ounce of gold reached $4,497.20 on Tuesday, according to data from Yahoo Finance. That price represents a 1% gain for the precious metal for the day so far, or an increase of $45.70 per ounce.
At over $4,497, gold is now near its all-time high of $4,549.74, which it reached just weeks ago on December 26.
Since the year began, gold has now risen about 2.8%. As Reuters notes, 2025 was a phenomenal year for gold. The precious metal rose 64% in the yeara gain of that magnitude has not been seen since 1979.
Why is gold rising?
That gold is up again near an all-time high is of little surprise given the investment history of the metal.
Gold has traditionally been a safe-haven asseta resource people turn to when there is volatility or uncertainty in the markets or the world.
And 2026 has kicked off with a high level of geopolitical volatility and uncertainty thanks to America’s attack on Venezuela over the weekend to forcibly extradite its president, Nicolás Maduro.
The U.S government has indicted Maduro on a number of charges, including drug trafficking.
The foreign intervention from the United States has left governments around the world uncertain about Americas next steps under President Trumps leadership. The forcible extradition of a sitting head of stateand apparent threats to use force against more countrieshave many wondering if America may be on the cusp of a new doctrine that prioritizes military might over international rules-based norms.
Such a shift in policy would have wide geopolitical and economic ramifications, and the uncertainty about how far the Trump administration is willing to go down this new path has sent many investors seeking relatively safe-haven assets like gold, which generally fluctuates less in times of uncertainty than other assets, such as stocks.
Venezuela isnt the only reason gold is up
Yet Americas strike on its South American neighbor isnt the only reason gold is rising.
Several economic factors are also driving people to the safe-haven asset, Reuters points out. Those factors include U.S. manufacturing activity contracting more than expected in December and the chance Americas jobless rate could increase in the near future.
Both those factors can have negative consequences for the broader economy and signal a potential economic downturn. Safe-haven assets are a way for investors to hedge against such downturns.
Other precious metals up, too
Gold isnt the only precious metal rising.
The price of platinum is currently up more than 5% today to $2,404.
Silver is also up significantly, rising by more than 4.6% today as of the time of this writing. The metal had a somewhat volatile December, rising and then falling at various points throughout the month. But it’s up more than 161% over the last year.
Interestingly, all this comes as traditional stock markets also continue to perform well. The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq Composite are all in positive territory for the week so far and close to record highs.
While the Lego Group has dipped its toes into tech waters before, the company hasnt strayed far from its analog roots. But on Monday, the 94-year-old company unveiled a new product line that embraces the digital age, without abandoning its core business.
At CES, Lego announced the upcoming launch of the Lego Smart Play system, an interactive technology that lets users Lego creations respond to player actions with tailored sounds, lights, behavior, and more. The company says its a way to further engage digital native kids without having them stare at yet another screen.
While the toy market has struggled for the past few years, sales at the Lego Group have remained strong; 2024 was a record year, with revenues of $10.8 billion, and the first half of 2025 showed further growth. But the competition for kids’ attention continues to grow. Through Smart Play, the company hopes to keep younger Lego enthusiasts engaged.
[Image: Lego]
Everything that we do is driven with an appetite for innovation, says Julia Goldin, chief product and marketing officer of the Lego Group. It took a long time to craft the technology that would enable us to do it in a way that’s also lesson-based.
The first three products, launching March 1, will be Star Wars-themed: Luke Skywalker’s 548-piece X-Wing ($100), Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (743 pieces, $69), and a 962-piece set that includes the Emperor’s Throne Room and an A-Wing for $160.
[Photo: Lego]
Lego showcased the technology in demos at CES, showing how Smart Play could work in a number of scenarios. When a Lego minifigure robber tried to steal a police car, for instance, an alarm sounded, but when the police minifigure sat in the drivers seat, it triggered a siren. Lego ducks quacked. And car wheels squealed when players took sharp turns with their Lego creations.
Those were just tech demos and not something Lego plans to release. The Star Wars sets will mark the debut of Lego Smart Play at retail. Like the demos, though, the X-Wing and TIE Fighter make the same sounds fans know from the big screen as players pretend to fly them through the air. Crash the X-Wing (or turn it upside down) and R2-D2 will scream in terror.
[Photo: Lego]
Lego will begin taking preorders on Jan. 9 through its website and retail stores. (Other retailers will as well.) And while the initial focus is on kids, Goldin says, based on early feedback, she’s confident the technology will find its way to larger Lego kits tailored to adults.
A long time coming
Work on Lego Smart Play started eight years ago, with more than six years of technological development. The result is a system that incorporates three interactive elements: Lego Smart Tags, Lego Smart Bricks, and Lego Smart Minifigures.
Those three elements work in tandem. Smart tagsflat-topped two-by-two pieces that sit atop the Smart Brickscontrol the sounds, lights, and behaviors that are performed. And multiple smart tags can interact with each other, making for a more complex (and interactive) experience. The Smart Brick itself is loaded with sensors, accelerometers, a mini speaker, and moreand powered by a newly created silicon ASIC chip that’s smaller than one standard Lego stud. Smart Minifigures, meanwhile, have their own personalities, with programmed moods and reactions that are heard through the Smart Brick’s speaker.
[Image: Lego]
The Smart Brick reacts differently depending on how its moved, twisted, and turned. And because it has a synthesizer embedded, it can create any sound the programmers want, versus a limited set. In total, Lego has filed 25 patents for the new technology, and the company says at its peak, the production line for the Smart Brick was as long as seven school buses.
Some of the interactive elements almost didn’t happen. Lego spent years developing the positioning system that lets Smart Bricks know precisely how close they are to other Smart Bricks, Smart Tags, and Smart Minifigures and react appropriately. Deadlines came and went. Finally, just as executives decided to scrap the concept, the team tweaked the system one last timeand managed to get it working
One of the key factors in designing and building the new type of Lego brick, says Lego Group senior vice president and head of Creative Play Lab Tom Donaldson, was to create something that would have the same longevity as the classic bricks (which were introduced in 1958).
“We want to [build] a platform that lasts for a period of time,” he says. “If you have a Lego brick from this year, it works with a Lego brick from 10 or 30 years ago. We spent a lot of time thinking how do we build a system that lasts rather than a system that you have to upgrade? We don’t expect consumers will have to replace their bricks every two years. We want them to keep the same bricksand that brings a lot of challenges.”
That doesn’t mean the technlogy won’t improve. Donaldson says the company will push software upgrades in years to come, rather than update the hardware, giving players new abilities without having to invest in new technology.
The Lego Smart Bricks will come with a wireless charger. Battery life will vary depending on how hard users play with the bricks. Times can range from roughly 40 minutes to a couple of hours, says Soren Holme, a design director at Lego. They can interact with each other from as far as 23 feet away in open spaces, he adds.
[Photo: Lego]
And to ensure the Smart Bricks can be played with for years, they hold their charge in a coil, much like an electric toothbrush. That not only makes them easier to charge wirelessly, it ensures a longer lifespan.
The new bricks are loaded with all manner of tech, but what you won’t find included is artificial intelligence. While so many other products at CES are hopping on board the AI bandwagon, Lego decided to abstain with its new productfor now, at least.
When we first started, we expected to bring in AI at some point, but it wasn’t the first thing to bring in, says Donaldson. At the moment, we think we have some tremendous opportunities that don’t require AI and that’s where we really want to focus today.
Should we see an opportunity where AI can play a role, it’s possible to integrate and evolve it in the future, adds Goldin. But we wanted to design an experience the consumers would really loveand we didn’t think we needed AI for that experience.
Nvidia, AMD and Intel all had important chip and AI platform announcements on the first day of CES 2026, but all audiences wanted to see more of was Star Wars and Jensen Huang’s little robot buddies.CES is a huge opportunity annually for companies both large and small to parade products they plan to put on shelves this year. As predicted, artificial intelligence was anchored in nearly everything as tech firms continue to look for AI products that will attract customers.Here are the highlights from Day 1:
Nvidia gets physical
The biggest buzzword in the air at CES is “physical AI,” Nvidia’s term for AI models that are trained in a virtual environment using computer generated, “synthetic” data, then deployed as physical machines once they’ve mastered their purpose.CEO Jensen Huang showed off Cosmos, an AI foundation model trained on massive datasets, capable of simulating environments governed by actual physics. He also announced Alpamayo, an AI model specifically designed for autonomous driving. Huang revealed that Nvidia’s next generation AI superchip platform, dubbed Vera Rubin, is in full production, and that Nvidia has a new partnership with Siemens. All of this shows Nvidia is going to fight increased competition to retain its reputation as the backbone of the AI industry.But once Huang called for two little, waddling, chirping robots to join him on stage, that’s all the audience wanted to see more of.
The chips are back in town
AMD CEO Lisa Su announced a new line of its famed Ryzen AI processors as the company continues to expand its footprint in the world of AI-powered personal computers.For gamers, AMD also showed off the latest version of its gaming-focused processor, the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D.Meanwhile, Intel announced its new AI chip for laptops, Panther Lake (also known as the Intel Core Ultra Series 3), and said the company has plans to launch a new platform to address a growing market for handheld video gaming machines.Intel, a Silicon Valley pioneer that enjoyed decades of growth as its processors powered the personal computer boom, fell into a slump after missing the shift to the mobile computing era unleashed by the iPhone. It fell further behind after the AI boom propelled Nvidia into the spotlight.President Donald Trump’s administration stepped in recently to secure a 10% stake in the company, making the government one of Intel’s biggest shareholders. Federal officials said they invested in Intel to support U.S. technology and domestic manufacturing.
Uber dives back into the robotaxi game
Uber is giving the public a first look at their robotaxi at this CES this week. Uber, along with luxury electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors and vehicle tech company Nuro, introduced an autonomous vehicle with an Uber-designed in-cabin experience.Uber calls it the most luxurious robotaxi yet. It features cameras, sensors and radars that provide 360-degree perception and a low-profile roof “halo” with integrated LEDs that will display riders’ initials to help them spot their car and track their ride status. Inside, riders can personalize everything from climate and seat heating to music, while real-time visuals show exactly what the vehicle is seeing on the road and the route it plans to take.Autonomous on-road testing began last month in San Francisco, led by Nuro, marking a major step toward what the companies said is a planned launch before the end of the year.
Star Wars and Lego announce new a partnership
When Lucasfilm chief creative officer David Filoni brought out an array of X-Wing pilots, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C-3PO, he won the Star Wars fandom for Lego.Lego announced its Lego Smart Play platform on Monday, which introduces new smart bricks, tags and special minifigs for your collection. The new bricks contain sensors that enable them to sense light and distance, and to provide an array of responses, essentially lights and sounds, when they are used in unison.Combine this with a newly announced partnership with the Star Wars franchise and now you can create your own interactive space battles and light-saber duels.
LG reveals a new robot to help around the home
File this one under intrigued, for now.The Korean tech giant gave the media a glimpse Monday of its humanoid robot that is designed to handle household chores such as folding laundry and fetching food. Although many companies have robots on display at CES, LG certainly is one of the biggest tech companies to promise to put a service robot in homes.It will be on display beginning Tuesday, so we’ll have more to report soon.
What’s new with lollipops?
Music you can taste was on display Monday at CES: Lollipop Star unveiled a candy that plays music while you eat it. The company says it uses something called “bone induction technology,” which lets you hear songs like tracks from Ice Spice and Akon through the lollipop as you lick it or bite it in the back of your mouth, according to spokesperson Cassie Lawrence.The musical lollipops will go on sale after CES on Lollipop Star’s website for $8.99 each. And if that wasn’t enough star power, Akon was expected to visit the company’s booth Tuesday when CES opens to the public.
Atlas holds up Hyundai’s (manufacturing) world
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated its humanoid robot Atlas for the first time at the CES tech showcase, ratcheting up a competition with Tesla and other rivals to build robots that look like people and do things that people do.
The company said a version of the robot that will help assemble cars is already in production and will be deployed by 2028 at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing facility near Savannah, Georgia.
Delta gets spherical
Delta Air Lines is taking entertainment to new heights as the “official airline” of the Sphere in Las Vegas. The airline announced a new multiyear partnership with Sphere Entertainment Co. that it says will deliver premium experiences to the venue, including a Delta SKY360° Club lounge.The carrier said SkyMiles members can unlock exclusive access to other experiences at the Sphere, starting during the final weekend of the Backstreet Boys’ residency in February with features including private suite seating, food and beverages. The partnership brings Delta branding to the Sphere’s massive exterior LED screen. Delta says more exclusive SkyMiles experiences will roll out in 2026 and beyond.
Shawn Chen and Rio Yamat, Associated Press
For retirement savers and retirees, the new year brings more than the usual inflation adjustments to retirement contributions. The retirement legislation known as Secure 2.0 will also continue to phase in, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have impacts too.Here’s a roundup of three key changes and some moves to consider.
Roth-only catch-up contributions for high-income 401(k) investors
Thanks to a provision in the Secure 2.0 retirement legislation, high-income earners (with $150,000 or more in FICA income in the prior year) who are over 50 and investing in 401(k) or other company retirement plans must make catch-up contributions to their plans’ Roth option, rather than traditional tax-deferred contributions, starting this year.For 2026, 401(k) investors under 50 can contribute $24,500 to their company plans, plus $8,000 in catch-up contributions if they’re over 50, for a total of $32,500. In addition, people age 60 to 63 can make “super-catch-up” contributions: $11,250 on top of $24,500.Potential Action Items: Some 401(k) plans may not have a Roth option, so those participants should instead consider making a full IRA contribution in addition to their baseline 401(k) contributions ($24,500).This year, the IRA contribution limit is $8,600 for people over 50and $7,500 for those under 50. If you can invest even more than that, steer the overage to a taxable brokerage account.A separate issue is how 401(k) investors should proceed if their goal is to make traditional tax-deferred contributions rather than Roth. Secure 2.0 forces higher-income older workers into Roth, at least with the catch-up portion of their contributions. In that case, workers can contribute the base 401(k) limit ($24,500) to the traditional tax-deferred option, with catch-up contributions directed to the Roth option.
Higher SALT deduction amounts
Thanks to OBBBA, taxpayers can now deduct a higher amount of state and local taxes. The SALT deduction cap was increased from $10,000 to $40,000 starting in 2025. It will revert to $10,000 in 2030.Potential Action Items: How is this related to retirement? The amount of SALT that’s deductible phases out for higher-income taxpayersthose with modified adjusted gross incomes over $500,000. High-income earners should consider ways to come in under $500,000 if they’re close. They might favor contributions to traditional tax-deferred retirement plans rather than Roth or max out their health savings accounts. Qualifying for the higher SALT tax deduction might also argue against strategies that increase income, such as converting traditional IRAs to Roth.Of course, don’t miss the forest for the trees. Strategies like making Roth contributions or converting IRAs might make sense long-term, even if they curtail the deductibility of SALT.
Senior deduction
Through 2028, people 65and up can take advantage of a new $6,000 deduction. It’s available whether you itemize or not and doubles to $12,000 for married couples filing jointly, assuming both are 65. For non-itemizers, the new deduction would stack on top of standard deductions.Here’s how the deductions look this year:
Single filers (standard deduction): $16,100
Single filers over 65: $16,100+ $2,050 + $6,000 = $24,150
Married couples filing jointly (standard deduction): $32,200
Married couples over 65 filing jointly: $32,200 + $1,650×2 + $6,000×2 = $47,500
Higher-income seniors, take note: Income limits apply. The deduction is reduced for single filers with modified adjusted gross incomes over $75,000 and married couples filing jointly with MAGI over $150,000.It goes away entirely for singles with MAGI over $175,000 and married couples filing jointly with MAGI of $250,000 or more.
Potential Action Items: Early retirees who have a lot of control over their taxable income levels because they’re not yet receiving Social Security or subject to required minimum distributions may be tempted to try to keep MAGI down to qualify for the full deduction. But it’s wise to balance those aims alongside other worthwhile tactics, such as converting traditional IRA balances to Roth.
This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more retirement content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/retirement.ChristineBenz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar.
Christine Benz of Morningstar
The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of cutting the number of vaccines it recommends for every child a move that leading medical groups said would undermine protections against a half-dozen diseases.The change is effective immediately, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend that all children get vaccinated against 11 diseases. What’s no longer broadly recommended is protection against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis or RSV. Instead, protections against those diseases are only recommended for certain groups deemed high risk, or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”Trump administration officials said the overhaul, a move long sought by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., won’t result in families who want the vaccines losing access to them, and said insurance will continue to pay. But medical experts said the decision creates confusion for parents and could increase preventable diseases.States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.The change comes as U.S. vaccination rates have been slipping and the share of children with exemptions has reached an all-time high, according to federal data. At the same time, rates of diseases that can be protected against with vaccines, such as measles and whooping cough, are rising across the country.
Review came at the request of President Trump
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the overhaul was in response to a request from President Donald Trump in December. Trump asked the agency to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations and consider revising U.S. guidance accordingly.HHS said its comparison to 20 peer nations found that the U.S. was an “outlier” in both the number of vaccinations and the number of doses it recommended to all children. Officials with the agency framed the change as a way to increase public trust by recommending only the most important vaccinations for children to receive.“This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health,” Kennedy said in a statement Monday.Trump, reacting to the news on his Truth Social platform, said the new schedule is “far more reasonable” and “finally aligns the United States with other Developed Nations around the World.”Among those left on the recommended-for-everyone list are vaccines against measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus, chickenpox and human papillomavirus, or HPV. The guidance reduces the number of recommended vaccine doses against HPV from two or three shots depending on age to one for most children.Medical experts said Monday’s changes without what they said was public discussion or a transparent review of the data would put children at risk.“Abandoning recommendations for vaccines that prevent influenza, hepatitis and rotavirus, and changing the recommendation for HPV without a public process to weigh the risks and benefits, will lead to more hospitalizations and preventable deaths among American children,” said Michael Osterholm of the Vaccine Integrity Project, based at the University of Minnesota.Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics said countries carefully consider vaccine recommendations based on levels of disease in their populations and their health systems.“You can’t just copy and paste public health and that’s what they seem to be doing here,” said O’Leary. “Literally children’s health and children’s lives are at stake.”Most high-income countries recommend vaccinations against a dozen to 15 serious pathogens, according to a recent review by the Vaccine Integrity Project, a group that works to safeguard vaccine use.France today recommends all children get vaccinated against 14 diseases, compared to the 11 that the U.S. now will recommend for every child under the new schedule.
Doctors’ groups criticize decision
The changes were made by political appointees, without any evidence that the current recommendations were harming children, O’Leary said.The pediatricians’ group has issued its own childhood vaccine schedule that its members are following, and it continues to broadly recommend vaccines that the Trump administration demoted.O’Leary singled out the flu vaccine, which the government and leading medical experts have long urged for nearly everyone starting at age 6 months. He said the government is “pretty tone deaf” for ending its recommendation while the country is at the beginning of a severe flu season, and after 280 children died from flu last winter, the most since 2009.Even a disease that parents may not have heard of, rotavirus, could come roaring back if vaccination erodes, he added. That diarrheal disease once hospitalized thousands of children each winter, something that no longer happens.The decision was made without input from an advisory committee that typically consults on the vaccine schedule, said senior officials at HHS. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the changes publicly.The officials added that the new recommendations were a collaborative effort between federal health agencies but wouldn’t specify who was consulted.Scientists at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases were asked to present to the agency’s political leadership about vaccine schedules in other countries in December, but they were not allowed to give any recommendations and were not aware of any decisions about vaccine schedule changes, said Abby Tighe, executive director of the National Public Health Coalition, an advocacy organization of current and former CDC employees and their supporters.“Changes of this magnitude require careful review, expert and public input, and clear scientific justification. That level of rigor and transparency was not part of this decision,” said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, of the American Medical Association. “The scientific evidence remains unchanged, and the AMA supports continued access to childhood immunizations recommended by national medical specialty societies.”
Kennedy is a longtime vaccine skeptic
The move comes as Kennedy, a longtime activist against vaccines, has repeatedly used his authority in government to translate his skepticism about the shots into national guidance.In May, Kennedy announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women a move immediately questioned by public health experts who saw no new data to justify the change.In June, Kennedy fired an entire 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee later installing several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine skeptis.Kennedy in November also personally directed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism, without supplying any new evidence to support the change.
Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this report. _The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Ali Swenson and Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
