📌 Superbugs, Meta Bans Russian Media, More

Superbugs will kill more than 39 million people by 2050, with older people particularly at risk, according to a global analysis.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – in which bacteria evolve so that the drugs fighting them no longer work – is forecast to kill 1.91 million people annually by 2050, up from 1.14 million in 2021.

While deaths linked to drug resistance are declining among young children, driven by improvements in vaccination and hygiene, the study found the opposite trend for their grandparents.

The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance used data from 204 countries and territories to produce estimates of deaths from 1990 to 2021 and forecasts through 2050.

It also found that millions of deaths worldwide could be averted through better infection prevention, improved access to healthcare, and the creation of new antibiotics.

Global leaders will meet in New York at the UN General Assembly this month to discuss AMR. They are expected to reaffirm a political declaration on stepping up action, which campaigners hope will include a target to reduce AMR deaths by 10% by 2030.

Meta is set to ban Russian state media networks from Facebook for “deceptive tactics” to influence operations and evade detection.

“We expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” Facebook owner Meta said. The bans are expected to come into effect in the next few days.

The move escalates the world's biggest social media firm's stance towards Russian state media companies. Along with Facebook, Meta owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

Russian state media outlets have come under increased scrutiny over claims they have tried to influence politics in Western countries.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions against RT last week, accusing it of being a “de facto arm of Russia's intelligence apparatus.”

Blinken added the Russian government has “embedded within RT a unit with cyber-operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence.” RT live-streamed Blinken's remarks on X and declared it the “US's latest conspiracy theory.”

The Murdoch family went before a probate commissioner about the control of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire after his death.

The Nevada hearing is scheduled to resume today and continue into next week after Murdoch, 93, moved last year to change the terms of his irrevocable family trust.

The New York Times reported, based on a sealed Washoe County court document, that it was part of a bid to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan, remains in charge of his cadre of newspapers and television networks, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News Channel.

According to the Times, the trust was originally set up to give his four oldest children equal control over Rupert Murdoch’s businesses upon his death.

Rupert Murdoch’s bid to change the trust has pitted him against his other three children named as beneficiaries: James, Elisabeth and Prudence. The Times reported they united to stop their father from revising the trust.

Thanks to a ground-breaking innovation, a new battery design could reduce weight and the time between charges.

Researchers detailed the advance of “massless energy storage” and a structural battery that could cut the weight of a laptop by 50%, make mobile phones as thin as a credit card, or increase the driving range of an EV by up to 70% on a single charge.

Structural batteries are materials that carry loads and store energy. Stiff, strong carbon fibers store electrical energy chemically so that the battery material can become part of the product’s construction material.

When cars, planes, ships, or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden calculated electric cars could drive for up to 70% longer.

The researchers said there is still much engineering work to be done before the battery cells can be produced on a large scale rather than in a lab.

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, asked a federal appeals court to overturn a decision to ban the app by Jan. 19.

Justice Department lawyer Daniel Tenny pressed the US government's stance Monday that TikTok, under Chinese ownership, poses a security threat because of its access to vast amounts of personal data on Americans, asserting that China can covertly manipulate information that Americans consume.

Andrew Pincus, the lawyer arguing for ByteDance, said the US government had not demonstrated TikTok poses national security risks. Pincus argued the law violates the US Constitution on several grounds, including the First Amendment protections against government abridgment of speech.

Judge Neomi Rao said many of TikTok's arguments want the court to treat Congress as an executive branch agency rather than a legislature that passed a law. "It's a very strange framework" for thinking about Congress, the judge added.

Judge Douglas Ginsburg asked how this differs from another US law that precludes foreign ownership of a broadcast license. TikTok and the Justice Department have asked for a ruling by Dec. 6, which could allow the Supreme Court to consider any appeal before a ban takes effect. It is estimated that 170 million Americans use the short video app.

Among the last words heard from the Titan submersible crew headed for the Titanic's wreck were: “All good here.”

The optimism was expressed in a visual recreation of the Titan's journey before it imploded, killing all five on board. The Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.

The lead engineer testified Monday that he felt pressured to get it ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier.

The US Coast Guard presented an animation on the first day of what is expected to be a two-week hearing on the causes of the implosion. According to the presentation, the crew aboard the Titan communicated via text messages with staff aboard the support ship Polar Prince.

The crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the submersible's depth and weight as it descended. One of Titan's final responses was, "All good here.”

Coast Guard representatives said in their initial remarks that the Titan was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022–2023. They said the hull was never reviewed by third parties, as is standard procedure.

Officials said Utah firefighters rescued a dog from an apartment blaze in Midvale that seems to have been caused by cooking.

The only resident inside the apartment at the time was a dog, who had been in a kennel and was not responding when firefighters arrived.

First responders took the dog outside and started CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), which brought him back to life.

“Not all heroes wear capes," Unified Fire Authority officials wrote on social media. “Sometimes they carry leashes. Moments like these remind us how lucky we are to protect not only our community but also our furry family members. Grateful for the chance to save lives, human and animal alike.”