Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were partially restricting calls in messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet.
In a statement, government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor justified the measure as necessary for fighting crime, saying that according to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities.
The regulator also alleged that repeated requests to take countermeasures have been ignored by the owners of the messengers. There was no immediate comment from either platform.
Russian authorities have long engaged in a deliberate and multipronged effort to rein in the internet. Over the years, they have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that wont comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic.
While its still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network services, those are routinely blocked, too.
Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections. Officials have insisted the measure was needed to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks, but experts argued it was another step to tighten internet control.
Russia’s Digital Development and Communications Ministry said this month that, along with internet providers, it was working on a white list of essential websites and services users could access during shutdowns.
In Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian-installed officials said Wednesday that shutdowns of cellphone internet may last indefinitely.
The government adopted a law last month punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit and threatened to go after WhatsAppone of the most popular platforms in the countrywhile rolling out a new national messaging app thats widely expected to be heavily monitored.
Reports that calls were being disrupted in WhatsApp and Telegram appeared in Russian media earlier this week, with users complaining about calls not going through or not being able to hear each other speak.
According to Russian media monitoring service Mediascope, WhatsApp in July was the most popular platform in Russia, with over 96 million monthly users. Telegram, with more than 89 million users, came in a close second.
Both platforms have had their run-ins with the Russian authorities in the past. The Kremlin tried to block Telegram between 2018 and 2020 but failed. After Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram, and outlawed their parent company, Meta, which also owns WhatsApp, labeling them as extremist.
In July, lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said WhatsApp should prepare to leave the Russian market and that a new national messenger, MAX, developed by Russian social media company VK, would take its place.
MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments, and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported.
Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its pre-installation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials, and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs to MAX.
The Digital Development and Communications Ministry said access to calls via WhatsApp and Telegram may be reinstated if the platforms comply with Russian legislation. It clarified that the partial restrictions, announced by Roskomnadzor, applied only to audio calls.
By Dasha Litvinova, Associated Press
New York’s iconic Eleven Madison Park, the worlds only three-Michelin-starred vegan restaurant, announced on Wednesday that it is putting meat back on the menu after achieving what most thought was impossiblesnagging the first and only coveted three-star Michelin rating for its entirely plant-based haute cuisine in 2022. (That’s something not even the food-loving countries of France and Spain have been able to achieve.)
The restaurant, which originally opened in 1998 by famed restaurateur Danny Meyer, was purchased by chef Daniel Humm and his business partner Will Guidara in 2011. It first earned three Michelin stars in 2012 with a meat-based menu, and retained its Michelin rating in 2022 after it went fully plant-based.
“Over the last five years . . . weve also been intently listening to our guests’ feedback. It became clear that while we had built something meaningful, we had also unintentionally kept people out,” Humm said in a statement on the restaurant’s website. “This is the opposite of what we believe hospitality to be. The all-or-nothing approach was necessary to develop our expertise, but that, too, comes with its own limitations. As a chef, I want to continue to open paths, not close them.”
Fast Company has reached out to Eleven Madison Park for further comment.
Starting October 14, Humm said Eleven Madison Park will integrate “our new language into a menu that embraces choice,” still offering the fully plant-based menu but also adding certain animal product dishes, including “fish, meat, and yes, our honey-lavender-glazed duck.”
Humm told The New York Times the decision was motivated by both financial and hospitality concerns.
Many people have criticized the move to bring back meat, saying a full vegan menu is widely accessible and doesn’t exclude others. On the restaurant’s Facebook page, more than 350 people have commented, many registering their dismay. Those comments range from you can still reverse this decision to “everyone can eat vegan food.” Added one disappointed patron: “Gross. Just like your morel butter. Now, vegans will not feel welcome at the table. Plenty of other fabulous restaurants in NYC, though. Let’s all support those.”
However, the plant-based menu will continue to be at the foundation of the fine dining restaurant, with plant-based options available for every course, according to its website. The tasting menus will be the same price regardless of one’s selection. (The full tasting menu, with eight to nine courses, runs $365 per person.) Both the cocktail menu and the pastry program will remain entirely plant-based.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday named country music star George Strait, Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone, singer Gloria Gaynor, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford among the first batch of Kennedy Center Honors nominees under his leadership as the centers chairman and said hell host the awards program.
Trump also said he will fully renovate the entire infrastructure of the Kennedy Center to make it a crown jewel of arts and culture in the United States.
Were going to bring it to a higher level than it ever hit, the president said, adding the venue would be featured in next years celebrations of Americas 250th anniversary.
Trump said he didnt want to host the program but was invited to do so and agreed.
Trump avoided the Kennedy Center Honors awards program during his first term after artists said they would not attend out of protest. This year, the Republican president has taken over as the Kennedy Centers new chairman and fired the board of trustees, which he replaced with loyalists.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump teased a name change for the center, formally the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and said it would be restored to its past glory.
GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS, Trump wrote. He said work was being done on the site that would be bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment.
It had fallen on hard times, physically, BUT WILL SOON BE MAKING A MAJOR COMEBACK!!! he wrote.
In a statement on its social media feed, the Kennedy Center said it was honored to host Trump, who was visiting for the third time since January.
Thanks to his advocacy, our beautiful building will undergo renovations to restore its prestige and grandeur, the venue said.
Trump complained during a March visit that the building is in a state of tremendous disrepair.
It is unclear how this years honorees were chosen, though Trump had indicated he wanted a more active role. Historically, a bipartisan advisory committee selects the recipients, who over the years have ranged from George Balanchine and Tom Hanks to Aretha Franklin and Stephen Sondheim. A message sent to the Kennedy Center press office asking how this years honorees were selected wasnt returned Tuesday.
In the past, Trump has floated the idea of granting Kennedy Center Honors status to singer-songwriter Paul Anka and Stallone, one of three actors Trump named as Hollywood ambassadors earlier this year. Anka was supposed to perform My Way at Trumps first inaugural and backed out at the last moment.
The Kennedy Center Honors were established in 1978 and have been given to a broad range of artists. Until Trumps first term, presidents of both major political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed politically with a given recipient.
Prominent liberals such as Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were honored during the administration of Republican George W. Bush, and a leading conservative, Charlton Heston, was feted during the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton.
In 2017, after honoree Norman Lear declared that he would not attend a White House celebration in protest of Trumps proposed cuts to federal arts funding, Trump and first lady Melania Trump decided to skip the Kennedy Center event and remained away throughout his first term. Honorees during that time included such Trump critics as Cher, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sally Field.
Since taking office for a second time, Trump has taken a much more forceful stance on the Kennedy Center and inserted himself into its governance. Besides naming himself chairman and remaking the board, he also has indicated he would take over decisions regarding programming at the center and vowed to end events featuring performers in drag.
The steps have drawn further criticism from some artists. In March, the producers of Hamilton pulled out of staging the Broadway hit musical in 2026, citing Trumps aggressive takeover of the institutions leadership. Other artists who canceled events include actor Issa Rae, singer Rhiannon Giddens and author Louise Penny.
House Republicans added an amendment to a spending bill that Trump signed into law in July to rename the Kennedy Centers Opera House after Melania Trump, but that venue has yet to be renamed. Maria Shriver, a niece of the late President Kennedy, a Democrat, has criticized as insane a separate House proposal to rename the entire center after Trump.
Annie Ma and Hillel Italie, Associated Press
Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
Under the watchful eye of M23 rebels in the hills around the Congolese town of Rubaya, a line of men in rubber boots ferry sacks full of crushed rocks up winding paths cut into the slopes.
The laborers are hauling coltan ore, a mineral that powers the modern world. The ore will be loaded onto motorbikes and eventually shipped thousands of kilometers away to Asia. There its processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that fetches more than $300 a kilogram and is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.
Rubaya produces around 15% of the worlds coltan, all dug manually by impoverished locals who earn a few dollars per day. Control of this mine is the biggest prize in a long-running conflict in this central African nation.
The area was seized in April 2024 by M23, a rebel group the United Nations says has plundered Rubayas riches to help fund its insurgency, backed by the government of neighboring Rwanda. The heavily-armed rebels, whose stated aim is to overthrow the government in Kinshasa and ensure the safety of the Congolese Tutsi minority, captured even more mineral-rich territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this year.
The region and its mineral wealth are in the spotlight as M23 and the DRC have pledged to sign a peace deal at a ceremony in Qatars capital, Doha, this month. The United States is mediating parallel talks between Congo and Rwanda, dangling potentially billions of dollars in investment if hostilities cease.
The United States Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned other alleged participants in minerals smuggling in Congo, including PARECO-FF, a pro-government Congolese militia that the U.S. said controlled the Rubaya mining site from 2022 to early 2024, prior to M23s takeover.
PARECO-FF could not be reached for comment.
Asked at a press briefing why Washington was targeting PARECO-FF rather than M23, a senior U.S. government official noted that M23 has been under U.S. sanctions since 2013 for fueling conflict in the region.
The Treasury Department will not hesitate to take action against groups that deny the United States and our allies access to the critical minerals vital for our national defense, John K. Hurley, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a separate statement.
Jason Stearns, a former U.N. investigator in Congo, said the fact that M23 was not targeted by the new mining-related sanctions was surprising, adding the move might be aimed at keeping the Doha talks on track.
M23s advance poses the most serious threat to the Kinshasa government in at least two decades of conflict rooted in Rwandas 1994 genocide, which saw around 1 million of Rwandas Tutsi ethnic group killed by Hutu militias.
Rwandas government has long denied that it traffics in coltan looted from its neighbor or that it backs M23. But Rwandas ruling party, mainly headed by Tutsis, shares the same concerns as the Tutsi-dominated M23 insurgents over the purported threat posed by rival Hutu groups operating in eastern Congo. A July 3 U.N. report, reviewed by Reuters, says that as of April, Rwanda had placed at least 1,000 to 1,500 troops in Congos rebel-controlled areas.
M23 now controls two key Congolese cities Goma and Bukavu on the border with Rwanda. U.N. investigators say that it is through these cities that Congolese minerals are illegally trucked to Rwanda, often at night, where the ore is mixed with Rwandan coltan production in a bid to disguise its provenance before export.
M23 and the Rwandan and Congolese governments did not respond to requests for comment. Congolese officials have repeatedly accused Rwanda of fomenting the conflict to plunder Congos mineral wealth.
According to a December U.N. report, the scale of the trade reached new heights after the capture of Rubaya by M23. The rebels went on to establish a parallel administration controlling mining activities, trade, transport and the taxation of the minerals produced there, the U.N. reported.
Reuters reporters visited Rubaya in March this year and were told by M23 officials that the rebels had imposed a tax on mineral traders of 15% on the value of coltan they purchase from the informal miners who work the area. M23 was taking in $800,000 monthly from levies collected from coltan mining in eastern Congo, according to the December U.N. report.
Mud and motorbikes
Simply reaching Rubayas sprawling, beehive-like maze of pits is a major undertaking. Reuters journalists who visited the mining sites in March had to abandon their four-wheel-drive Land Cruisers after the vehicles became stuck on the muddy road from Goma. They walked 5 kilometers (3 miles) to reach the town and then hopped on the back of motorcycles with rebel officials to reach the pits.
Activity in Rubaya begins before dawn, when thousands of miners descend on the pits cut into the rolling hills of Congos North Kivu province, where many toil in 12-hour shifts.
The tunnels can be as deep as 15 meters (49 feet) underground. Once fragments of ore are dislodged, porters carry sacks of the rubble to the surface where laborers have dug shallow basins that are filled with water. There, other workers, including women and children, wash the ore and separate it from sand and other debris before laying it into the sun to dry.
The journalists were supervised by unarmed M23 personnel throughout their visit to the mining area. A reporter saw a rebel official jotting down in a notebook how many sacks each porter covered in a fine white dust carted to each collection point. Once the ore is dry, it is stacked on the backs of motorbikes that carry it to one of several depots in the nearby town of Rubaya, where it is sold to traders.
With a M23 chaperone listening, Pascal Mugisha Nsabimana, a 32-year-old miner, told Reuters that working under rebel occupation was preferable to toiling under the supervision of Congos military and its allies, who fled when M23 moved in on the area last year.
Previously, there was too much harassment, there were many different taxes, and often we, the diggers, were not paid. And even if we got something, it was poorly paid, the miner said. He added that his current day rate had at least tripled to 15,000 Congolese francs ($5.15) with M23 in charge.
In the early months following M23s takeover of Rubaya in April 2024, smugglers used motorcycles to sneak the ore into Rwanda via backroads to avoid scrutiny by Congolese forces remaining along the border, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the situation, including current and former smugglers, miners and local businessmen. The journey could take an entire day, according to two ex-smugglers who transported coltan this way until last year. They said they loaded their bikes each trip with three 50-kilogram bags and were paid about $34 for delivering it to coltan traders.
But alterations implemented by M23 have proven a game changer in terms of efficiency, nine of those people said. Motorcycles are no longer the primary means of transport and are used only to ferry the coltan from the mine to the town of Rubaya. From there, the ore is loaded into four-wheel drive SUVs, pickups and other vehicles capable of hauling anywhere from two tons to 20 tons each, according to the people and the July U.N report. The system is faster, too. Since M23 drove Congolese troops from Goma and took control of that border city, coltan trucks can now pass freely through it on paved roads into Rwanda, slashing transport times, the people said.
U.N. experts and human rights activists have long warned that profits from illegal mining are funding conflict. They say the trade has brought little wealth to local people nd that child labor is common. Reuters witnessed at least a dozen children working at the Rubaya mine: Young boys entered the shafts to haul out ore and carry it to the basins where girls worked alongside adults washing and drying the coltan.
Gregory Mthembu-Salter, a former U.N. expert on Congo who now does consulting on conflict minerals, said broad efforts by the mining industry, U.N. agencies and non-government organizations that began around 2010 to clean up the regions supply chain and prevent human rights abuses have largely failed.
Here we are, 15 years later, (and) the same thing is happening, said Mthembu-Salter, director of Phuzumoya Consulting.
U.S. investors eye Rubaya’s riches
Some U.S. entrepreneurs have also set their sights on Rubayas coltan treasure as President Donald Trump seeks to broker a peace deal to end the conflict and promote development of the regions mineral wealth. In Congo, those riches include huge reserves of cobalt, gold, copper, lithium and diamonds in addition to coltan. The countrys formal mining sector at present is dominated by Chinese companies.
Texas hedge fund manager Gentry Beach, who is chairman of investment firm America First Global and helped raise funds for Trumps election campaign in 2016, was part of a consortium looking to negotiate rights to the Rubaya mine, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The Financial Times earlier reported Gentrys interest in Congos coltan.
The source told Reuters that Beach’s group had proposed to the Congolese government taking a majority stake in the mine, with Kinshasa retaining a 30% interest.
Beach confirmed his interest in the project to Reuters but declined to provide additional details.
Some U.S. lawmakers are pushing back. In an Aug. 8 letter to Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, more than 50 Democratic congress members criticized what they said was the administrations lack of transparency in its negotiations with the DRC. They also raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest in a Trump ally angling for rights to develop the Rubaya mine.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in an Aug. 5 emailed statement that the agreement between Congo and Rwanda arranged by Trump has the potential to lead to lasting peace and stability in the region. The presidents vision is a win-win outcome where all parties benefiteconomically and politicallythrough cooperation and shared prosperity, the statement said. She did not respond to a follow-up query about the letter from congressional Democrats.
The U.S. State Department did not comment. On Aug. 1, the State Department said in a statement that it was committed to supporting efforts being made by Rwanda and Congo to advance security and economic cooperation. Heads of state would soon be invited to Washington for a summit, according to the statement, which did not elaborate.
The U.S.-backed accord does not include M23. The rebel group is part of a separate, parallel mediation led by Qatar that seeks to end hostilities. The success of those talks in Doha is key to any lasting peace and in making Rubaya safe for investment and development by Western mining interests.
Some diplomats and analysts are dubious about the prospects for a speedy resolution.
Congo and M23 rebels pledged in Doha to reach a peace deal by August 18. But progress has been jeopardized by the killing of at least 319 civilians in eastern Congo last month, according to the U.N., which says the attacks were carried out by M23.
Reuters could not independently confirm those killings. M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa told the news agency last month that it would investigate, but he said reports of atrocities could be a smear campaign against the insurgent group.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-brokered deal calls for Rwandan troops to pull out of Congo. But Rwandan President Paul Kagame said last month he was not sure the agreement would hold.
Kagame said Congo first must live up to its promises to subdue the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an eastern Congo-based ethnic Hutu militia linked to the Rwandan genocide, which Kigali sees as an existential threat.
Josaphat Musamba, a Congolese researcher and Ph.D student at Ghent University in Belgium, said suppressing the militia would be a tall order for the DRCs military, which is no longer present in large swathes of M23-controlled territory.
Its difficult to neutralize the FDLR as long as M23 are there and the Congolese army has not redeployed, Musamba said. He described both peace initiatives as piecemeal efforts that arent dealing with the reality on the ground.
Another formidable undertaking would be transforming Rubayas current crude system of coltan extraction into a modern operation, said a senior diplomat who is closely following events.
No one talks about the feasibility of giving out these mining concessions and running these concessions, especially since the whole mine is artisanal mining, done almost entirely by hand, the diplomat said.
Giulia Paravicini and David Lewis, Reuters
Additional reporting by Sonia Rolley and Jarrett Renshaw.
Beneath red banners and a gold bust of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi’s central party school, Communist Party chief To Lam declared the arrival of a new era of development late last year. The speech was more than symbolic it signaled the launch of what could be Vietnams most ambitious economic overhaul in decades.
Vietnam aims to get rich by 2045 and become Asias next tiger economy a term used to describe the earlier ascent of countries like South Korea and Taiwan.
The challenge ahead is steep: Reconciling growth with overdue reforms, an aging population, climate risks and creaking institutions. There’s added pressure from President Donald Trump over Vietnams trade surplus with the U.S., a reflection of its astounding economic trajectory.
In 1990, the average Vietnamese could afford about $1,200 worth of goods and services a year, adjusted for local prices. Today, that figure has risen by more than 13 times to $16,385.
Vietnam’s transformation into a global manufacturing hub with shiny new highways, high-rise skylines and a booming middle class has lifted millions of its people from poverty, similar to China. But its low-cost, export-led boom is slowing and it faces a growing obstacle to its proposed reforms expanding private industries, strengthening social protections and investing in technology and green energy from climate change.
Its all hands on deck. . . . We cant waste time anymore,” said Mimi Vu of the consultancy Raise Partners.
The export boom cant carry Vietnam forever
Investment has soared, driven partly by U.S.-China trade tensions, and the U.S. is now Vietnam’s biggest export market. Once-quiet suburbs have been replaced with industrial parks where trucks rumble through sprawling logistics hubs that serve global brands.
Vietnam ran a $123.5 billion trade surplus with the U.S. trade in 2024, angering Trump, who threatened a 46% U.S. import tax on Vietnamese goods. The two sides appear to have settled on a 20% levy, and twice that for goods suspected of being transshipped, or routed through Vietnam to avoid U.S. trade restrictions.
During negotiations with the Trump administration, Vietnam’s focus was on its tariffs compared to those of its neighbors and competitors, said Daniel Kritenbrink, a former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. As long as theyre in the same zone, in the same ballpark, I think Vietnam can live with that outcome,” he said. But he added questions remain over how much Chinese content in those exports might be too much and how such goods will be taxed.
Vietnam was preparing to shift its economic policies even before Trump’s tariffs threatened its model of churning out low-cost exports for the world, aware of what economists call the middle-income trap, when economies tend to plateau without major reforms.
To move beyond that, South Korea bet on electronics, Taiwan on semiconductors, and Singapore on finance, said Richard McClellan, founder of the consultancy RMAC Advisory.
But Vietnam’s economy today is more diverse and complex than those countries were at the time and it cant rely on just one winning sector to drive long-term growth and stay competitive as wages rise and cheap labor is no longer its main advantage.
It needs to make multiple big bets, McClellan said.
Vietnam’s game plan
Following China’s lead, Vietnam is counting on high-tech sectors like computer chips, artificial intelligence and renewable energy, providing strategic tax breaks and research support in cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang.
It’s also investing heavily in infrastructure, including civilian nuclear plants and a $67 billion NorthSouth high-speed railway, that will cut travel time from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to eight hours.
Vietnam also aspires to become a global financial center. The government plans two special financial centers, in bustling Ho Chi Minh City and in the seaside resort city of Danang, with simplified rules to attract foreign investors, tax breaks, support for financial tech startups, and easier ways to settle business disputes.
Underpinning all of this is institutional reform. Ministries are being merged, low-level bureaucracies have been eliminated and Vietnam’s 63 provinces will be consolidated into 34 to build regional centers with deeper talent pools.
Private business to take the lead
Vietnam is counting on private businesses to lead its new economic push a seismic shift from the past.
In May, the Communist Party passed Resolution 68. It calls private businesses the most important force in the economy, pledging to break away from domination by state-owned and foreign companies.
So far, large multinationals have powered Vietnam’s exports, using imported materials and parts and low cost local labor. Local companies are stuck at the low-end of supply chains, struggling to access loans and markets that favored the 700-odd state-owned giants, from colonial-era beer factories with arched windows to unfashionable state-run shops that few customers bother to enter.
The private sector remains heavily constrained,” said Nguyen Khac Giang of Singapores ISEASYusof Ishak Institute.
Again emulating China, Vietnam wants national champions to drive innovation and compete globally, not by picking winners, but by letting markets decide. The policy includes easier loans for companies investing in new technology, priority in government contracts for those meeting innovation goals, and help for firms looking to expand overseas. Even mega-projects like the North-South High-Speed Rail, once reserved for state-run giants, are now open to private bidding.
By 2030, Vietnam hopes to elevate at least 20 private firms to a global scale. But Giang warned that there will be pushback from conservatives in the Communist Party and from those who benefit from state-owned firms.
A Closing Window from climate change
Even as political resistance threatens to stall reforms, climate threats require urgent action.
After losing a major investor over flood risks, Bruno Jaspaert knew something had to change. His firm, DEEP C Industrial Zones, houses more than 150 factories across northern Vietnam. So it hired a consultancy to redesign flood resilience plans.
Climate risk is becoming its own kind of market regulation, forcing businesses to plan better, build smarter, and adapt faster. If the whole world will decide its a priority…it can go very fast, said Jaspaert.
When Typhoon Yagi hit last year, causing $1.6 billion in damage, knocking 0.15% off Vietnams GDP and battering factories that produce nearly half the countrys economic output, roads in DEEP C industrial parks stayed dry.
Climate risks are no longer theoretical: If Vietnam doesnt take strong action to adapt to and reduce climat change, the country could lose 1214.5% of its GDP each year by 2050, and up to one million people could fall into extreme poverty by 2030, according to the World Bank.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is growing old before it gets rich.
The countrys golden population window when working-age people outnumber dependents will close by 2039 and the labor force is projected to peak just three years later. That could shrink productivity and strain social services, especially since families and women in particular are the default caregivers, said Teerawichitchainan Bussarawan of the Centre for Family and Population Research at the National University of Singapore.
Vietnam is racing to pre-empt the fallout by expanding access to preventive healthcare so older adults remain healthier and more independent. Gradually raising the retirement age and drawing more women into the formal workforce would help offset labor gaps and promote “healthy aging, Bussarawan said.
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Aniruddha Ghosal, Associated Press
How did you react to the August 7 release of GPT-5, OpenAIs latest version of ChatGPT? The company behind the model heralded it as a world-changing development, with weeks of hype and a glitzy livestreamed unveiling of its capabilities. Social media users reactions were more muted, marked by confusion and anger at the removal of many key models people had grown attached to.
In the aftermath, CEO Sam Altman unwittingly revealed why the gulf between OpenAIs expectations for GPT-5s reception and the reality was so wide. It turns out that large numbers of us arent using AI to its fullest extent. In a post on X explaining why OpenAI appeared to be bilking fee-paying Plus users (full disclosure: that includes me)who hand over $20 per month to access the second-highest tier of the modelby drastically reducing their rate limits to the chatbot, Altman revealed that just 1% of nonpaying users queried a reasoning model like o3 before GPT-5s release. Among paying users, only 7% did.
Reasoning models are those that think through problems before answering them (though we should never remove those air quotes: AI models are not human, and do not act as humans do). Not using themas was the case with the overwhelming majority of users, paying and nonpaying alikeis like buying a car, using only first and second gear, and wondering why its not easy to drive, or going on a quiz show and blurting out the first thing that comes to mind for every question.
Many users prioritize speed and convenience over quality in AI chatbot interactions. Thats why so many lamented the loss of GPT-4o, a legacy model that was later restored to paying ChatGPT users after a concerted campaign. But when youre querying a chatbot for answers, you want good ones. Its better to be a little slowerand often it is only a littleand right than quick and completely wrong.
Reasoning models are built to spend more computational effort planning, checking, and iterating before answering. This extra deliberation improves results on tasks where getting the logic right matters. But its slower and costlier, which is why providers tend to offer the non-thinky versions first and require users to opt in via a drop-down box for alternatives. Then theres OpenAIs previously impenetrable habit of naming modelsa problem GPT-5 attempted to fix, not altogether successfully. Users still cant easily tell whether theyre getting the good thinky GPT-5 or the less-capable version. After receiving complaints, the company is now tweaking that.
To me, waiting a minute rather than a second isnt an issue. You set an AI model off and do something else while you wait. But evidently, its a wait too long for some. Even after GPT-5s releasewhere the difference between flagship model GPT-5 and GPT-5 thinking, which offers to get more thorough answers, is more obviousonly one in four paying users are asking for thoroughness.
This quickly tossed-out data answers one big question I had about AI adoption: Why do only a third of Americans who have ever used a chatbot say its extremely or very useful (half the rate among AI experts) and one in five say its not useful at all (twice the rate among experts)? The answer is clearer now: Most folks are using AI wrong. Theyre asking a chatbot to handle tough, multipart questions without pausing for thought or breath. Theyre blurting out What is macaroni cheese on The Price is Right and $42 on Jeopardy!
So if youre going to try a chatbot, take advantage of OpenAIs moves to keep users from canceling their subscriptions by opening up more access to models. Set them thinking while remembering theyre not actually doing thatand see if you stick around. Its the right way to use generative AI.
Every generation blames the one before, and all of their frustrations come beating on your door.
Thus begins the ’80s hit Living Years by Mike & the Mechanics, but when it comes to the workplace, Gen-Z could fairly say it’s talking about their generation. The newest entrants to the workforce are of an age cohort so different, so angry at their elders, that theyre shunning the 9-to-5 grind and upending traditional workplace norms. A new report explores the generational difference further and brands Gen-Z workers with a surprising new label for a truly digital-first group that lives life online: Theyre the toolbelt generation.
This label came about because of younger workers’ huge swing toward learning highly specialized blue-collar jobs, according to news site University Business. These jobs typically center around unique skill sets, like being able to weld or work with wood, or even computer programming. And to learn these skills, the news outlet notes that Gen-Z workers are shunning more traditional higher education routes, and looking at alternative options: Data shows that interest in going to trade schools has nearly doubled among teens and adults since 2017, mostly driven by Gen-Zers, although older people are also showing similar interest.
The report digs into why Gen-Z is leading this trend, and suggests the top three reasons are reduced confidence in higher education, a desire for financial freedom, and an indication that trades complement Gen-Zs focus on mental health. This tallies with plenty of other data, including a general mistrust of the education system and rising college degree prices. At work, it’s reflected in the unbossing trend that’s seeing many Gen-Z workers’ preference for just turning up at work and shunning promotions or additional responsibilities to better maintain their work-life balance. It also notes that financial freedom, better mental health, and the lack of a 9-to-5 grind may be more compatible with trade work than white-collar office roles.
Add the economic problems foisted upon Gen-Z by Baby Boomers hanging onto their homes for much longer, an increased gap between wages and the cost of living, and Gen-Zs hyperawareness of alternative ways of thinking and fresh points of view thanks to its social media use, and you have a potent recipe for a generational workplace shift.
University Business, reporting from an education point of view, quotes Tracy Lorenz, president of the for-profit Universal Technical Institute, an outfit that operates in 16 campuses across nine states and which offers technical, field-focused courses. In 2025, interest in skilled trades will continue to accelerate among young Gen-Z, who increasingly view these careers as a more practical and rewarding alternative to traditional career paths, Lorenz predicted. She also added another motivator for Gen-Zers, who are used to fast-paced online lives: For a growing number, the skilled trades may offer a faster path to a career that aligns with their interests and goals.
There may be another driver for Gen-Zers interest in pursuing jobs that require they work with their hands: AI. As time passes and this innovative technology improves, offering more potent powers with each new tool on the market, it’s clear that AI is capable of doing the work of many entry-level office workers, which may thwart more traditional bottom-up career planning, starting with internships and learning on the job. Gen-Z, as the age cohort now entering the workplace, is most at risk from AI’s short-term impact on entry-level jobs. Indeed, Gen-Zers are so worried about AI that they’re even pretending to be busy at work, a.k.a. task masking, just so that they don’t get the chop in favor of an AI tool.
Perceptions of the AI threat may swing young peoples interest toward different careers, especially since (at least for now) robotics arent advanced enough that AI can take on some of the kind of detailed physical work that a skilled human tradesperson can carry out. For example, precise robot welding machines have been used in car factories for decades, but a robot wouldnt be able to go to your house and weld an artistic, hand-designed new front gate.
Why should you care about this cultural change?
For one main reason: If youre trying to hire young workers in hopes of benefiting from their fresh thinking, you may find it harder to pique the toolbelt generations interest in coming to work for you, unless you can offer some of the same flexibile duties and freedom of expression that a trade can offer over a more narrowly defined white-collar office role.
By Kit Eaton
This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
Hours after Paramount and UFC announced a billion-dollar rights deal, Dana White said he had yet to hear from his friend, President Donald Trump, on his thoughts about the fight company’s new streaming home.That was fine with White. The UFC CEO was set to travel to Washington on Aug. 28 to meet with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, to catch up and discuss logistics on the proposed Fourth of July fight card next year at the White House.Trump said last month he wanted to stage a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards of 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence.“It’s absolutely going to happen,” White told The Associated Press. “Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS.”The idea of cage fights at the White House would have seemed improbable when the Fertitta brothers purchased UFC for $2 million in 2001 and put White in charge of the fledging fight promotion.White helped steer the company into a $4 billion sale in 2016 and broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN before landing owner TKO Group’s richest one yet a seven-year deal with Paramount starting in 2026 worth an average of $1.1 billion a year, with all cards on its streaming platform Paramount+ and select numbered events also set to simulcast on CBS.ESPN, Amazon and Netflix and other traditional sports broadcast players seemed more in play for UFC rights White had previously hinted fights could air across different platforms but Paramount was a serious contender from the start of the negotiating window.The Paramount and UFC deal came just days after Skydance and Paramount officially closed their $8 billion merger kicking off the reign of a new entertainment giant after a contentious endeavor to get the transaction over the finish line. White said he was impressed with the vision Skydance CEO David Ellison had for the the global MMA leader early in contract talks and how those plans should blossom now that Ellison is chairman and CEO of Paramount.“When you talk about Paramount, you talk about David Ellison, they’re brilliant businessmen, very aggressive, risk takers,” White said. “They’re right up my alley. These are the kind of guys that I like to be in business with.”The $1.1 billion deals marks a notable jump from the roughly $550 million that ESPN paid each year for UFC coverage today. But UFC’s new home on Paramount will simplify offerings for fans with all content set to be available on Paramount+ (which currently costs between $7.99 and $12.99 a month), rather than various pay-per-view fees.Paramount also said it intends to explore UFC rights outside the U.S. “as they become available in the future.”UFC matchmakers were set to meet this week to shape what White said would be a loaded debut Paramount card. The UFC boss noted it was still too early to discuss a potential main event for the White House fight night.“This is a 1-of-1 event,” White said.There are still some moving parts to UFC broadcasts and other television programming it has its hands in as the company moves into the Paramount era. White said there are still moving parts to the deal and that includes potentially finding new homes for “The Ultimate Fighter,” “Road To UFC,” and “Dana White’s Contender Series.” It’s not necessarily a given the traditional 10 p.m. start time for what were the pay-per-view events would stand, especially on nights cards will also air on CBS.“We haven’t figured that out yet but we will,” White said.And what about the sometimes-contentious issue of fighter pay? Some established fighters have clauses in their contracts that they earn more money the higher the buyrate on their cards. Again, most of those issues are to-be-determined as UFC and Paramount settle in to the new deal with $1.1 billion headed the fight company’s way.“It will affect fighter pay, big time,” White said. “From deal-to-deal, fighter pay has grown, too. Every time we win, everybody wins.”Boxer Jake Paul wrote on social media the dying PPV model which was overpriced for fights as UFC saw a decline in buys because of missing star power in many main events should give the fighters an increased idea of their worth.“Every fighter in the UFC now has a clear picture of what the revenue isno more PPV excuses,” Paul wrote. “Get your worth boys and girls.”White also scoffed at the idea that the traditional PPV model is dead.There are still UFC cards on pay-per-view the rest of the year through the end of the ESPN contract and White and Saudi Arabia have teamed to launch a new boxing venture that starts next year and could use a PPV home. White, though, is part of the promotional team for the Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford fight in September in Las Vegas that airs on Netflix.“It’s definitely not run it’s course,” White said. “There were guys out there who were interested in pay-per-view and there were guys out there that weren’t. Wherever we ended up, that’s what we’re going to roll with.”White said UFC archival footage “kills it” in repeat views and those classic bouts also needed a new home once the ESPN deal expires.Just when it seems there’s little left for UFC to conquer, White says, there’s always more. Why stop at becoming the biggest fight game in the world? Why not rewrite the pecking order in popularity and riches and go for No. 1 in all sports?“You have the NFL, the NBA, the UFC, and soccer globally,” White said. “We’re coming. We’re coming for all of them.”
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Dan Gelston, AP Sports Writer
U.S. stocks are ticking higher on Wednesday after a rally spurred by hopes for lower U.S. interest rates wrapped around the world.The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 364 points, or 0.8%, as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.3% to its own record set the day before.Stocks got a lift from easing Treasury yields in the bond market, as expectations reach a virtual consensus that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rates for the first time this year at its next meeting in September. Lower rates can boost investment prices and the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, though they risk worsening inflation.Stock indexes jumped in Asia in their first trading after Tuesday’s better-than-expected report on U.S. inflation triggered a jump in bets that a cut to interest rates is coming. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng leaped 2.6%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.3% and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.1%.Indexes also rose in Europe, though the moves were more modest after they already had the chance to trade on the U.S. inflation data the afternoon before. Germany’s DAX returned 0.8%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.7%.On Wall Street, the hopes for lower interest rates are helping to drown out criticism that the U.S. stock market has grown too expensive after its big leap since hitting a low in April.One way companies can make their stock prices look less expensive is to deliver strong growth in profits, and Brinker International added 0.8% after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company behind the Chili’s brand said it’s seeing more customers coming to its restaurants, and it’s also making more profit off each $1 in sales.“Chili’s is officially back, baby back!” said CEO Kevin Hochman.HanesBrands climbed 5.4% after it agreed to sell itself to Gildan Activewear for $2.2 billion in cash and Gildan stock. The deal would combine North Carolinas’ HanesBrands with Canada’s Gildan, and Gildan’s stock that trades in the United States rose 11.6%.On the losing end of Wall Street were grocery stores and delivery companies, which fell after Amazon said it will offer fresh groceries to customers in more than 1,000 cities and towns through same-day delivery. Kroger fell 4.6%, and DoorDash dropped 3.6%, while Amazon rose 0.9%.Cava Group sank 17.2% after the Mediterranean restaurant chain reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit topped forecasts. It also cut its forecast for 2025 growth in sales at restaurants that have been open for more than a year, where guest traffic has been roughly flat recently from year-ago levels.CoreWeave lost 13.7% after the company, whose cloud platform helps customers running artificial-intelligence workloads, reported a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.In the bond market, Treasury yields eased as expectations built for coming cuts to interest rates by the Fed.The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.23% from 4.29% late Tuesday and from 4.50% in mid-July. That’s a notable move for the bond market.President Donald Trump has angrily been calling for cuts to help the economy, often insulting the Fed’s chair personally while doing so.But the Fed has been hesitant so far because of the possibility that Trump’s tariffs could make inflation much worse. Lowering rates would give inflation more fuel, potentially adding oxygen to a growing fire. That’s why Fed officials have said they wanted to see more data come in about inflation before moving.On Thursday, a report will show how bad inflation was at the wholesale level across the United States. Economists expect it to show inflation accelerated a touch to 2.4% in July from 2.3% in June.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
If the Swifties in your office are a little overstimulated and having trouble concentrating, grant them some grace.
It’s been a big week for Taylor Swifts biggest fans, with the masterful announcement of her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, and theres only more to come when the full episode of Travis and Jason Kelces podcast, New Heights, is released on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
Lets get you up to speed so you can be knowledgeable at the water cooler and prepared for new announcements on the pod.
How did Taylor Swift announce her new album?
Textbooks could be written about the brilliant marketing tactics that Swift employs. It all centers around the small details or easter eggs that her fans love to analyze ad nauseam.
On Monday, August 11, the Kelce brothers announced a mysterious guest on this weeks episode. Jasons shirt and Taylors silhouette gave the secret away. Additionally, the episode comes out on today, the 13th of the month. Thirteen has a special meaning for Swifties as it is Swift’s lucky number.
Later that same day, Taylor Nation posted a carousel of 12 images featuring Swift in orange outfits, which has taken on the meaning of her next era.
Swift’s website also got a makeover, becoming an orange glittering countdown to 12:12 a.m. ET on August 12. It was then her new album was officially announced.
What can we expect from Taylor Swifts appearance on New Heights?
The announcement might just be the tip of the iceberg. After her website momentarily crashed, fans were able to preorder The Life of a Showgirl on CD, cassette tape, or vinyl, and were told that the products will ship before October 13 of this year.
There is still no official release date, so that information could be in the episode.
Fans can also look forward to possibly seeing the official cover art. Even though podcasts are primarily an auditory medium, most podcasts these days are also on-camera experiences. The cover art is also locked on Taylor Swift’s website.
Fans will also most likely get a deeper look into Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship. How do the two interact? What is it like falling in love in the spotlight?
How to listen to New Heights
Now that you are up to speed, you have some options about how to consume New Heights featuring Tay.
If you want the full visual experience, head to YouTube. If you prefer just to listen, you can catch it on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, or Wondery.
Until then, shake it off, Swifties, and try to get some work done.
