Author: OMN AI

Big Tech faces a landmark legal challenge. A major trial over social media addiction has begun and could reshape the technology industry. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before a jury for the first time over claims that social media harms young people. His testimony came more than four years after leaked internal documents suggested the company knew its platforms could cause harm. Internal documents presented in a Los Angeles courtroom appeared to confirm long-standing concerns. Meta knew preteens used its apps. The company aimed to maximize scrolling time. It also ignored expert advice on safety, though Meta said the documents…

China has overtaken the United States as Germany’s top trading partner in 2025.Total trade between Germany and China reached €251bn, according to official data. Germany imported €170.6bn in goods from China and exported €81.3bn in return.Trade with the US fell to €240bn, partly linked to tariff disputes. The figures were released as Chancellor Friedrich Merz prepared for his first official visit to Beijing.He will meet Prime Minister Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping for talks on trade, Ukraine and human rights. Germany’s economy remains closely tied to the Chinese market.Major carmakers such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz depend heavily on…

Budapest Links Sanctions to Energy Security Hungary has made it clear it will not back the European Union’s 20th sanctions package against Russia unless oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline are restored. After a meeting of the Energy Security Council, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said no further financial assistance — including the EU’s planned €90 billion war loan to Ukraine — should move forward while Hungary’s oil supply remains cut off. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed that Budapest will block the new sanctions package, expected to be discussed by EU foreign ministers. He said Hungary’s position will not change until…

The European Union faces criticism after a report revealed massive subsidies for foods that worsen the climate. Experts call on the EU to introduce a Plant-Based Action Plan to promote sustainable diets and help farmers transition from meat and dairy. Red meat and other high-emission foods receive disproportionate EU subsidies, raising concerns over misuse of taxpayer money. Charity Foodrise published a report showing that in 2020, the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) allocated far more funding to animal-based foods than to plant-based options. Animal-sourced foods received roughly 77 percent of total CAP subsidies, totaling €39 billion of the €51 billion…

The US Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he imposed sweeping global tariffs last year.The court decided by six votes to three that Trump could not use a 1977 emergency law to tax imports from nearly every country.The judges said only Congress can create new taxes under the Constitution. The ruling left open whether consumers and companies could receive refunds for the estimated $130bn generated by the tariffs.The court did not address refunds, and further legal disputes are expected.Hours after the decision, Trump signed a proclamation under a different law to impose a new 10%…

OpenAI said it identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar months before a deadly school attack in British Columbia.Its systems flagged the activity in June for the “furtherance of violent activities”. The company reviewed whether to alert the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.It decided the case did not meet its threshold for referral.That threshold requires a credible and imminent risk of serious harm. Van Rootselaar later killed eight people in Tumbler Ridge before taking their own life.Police said the victims included a teaching assistant and several students.The attacker had previous mental-health-related contact with authorities. After the shooting, OpenAI contacted the RCMP…

White House Moves Swiftly After Supreme Court Blow Just a day after the US Supreme Court ruled that his sweeping tariff plan overstepped executive authority, President Donald Trump announced he would raise the baseline global tariff rate from 10% to 15%, effective immediately. In a social media post, Trump said the move followed what he described as a “ridiculous” and “anti-American” decision by the court. The 6–3 ruling struck down tariffs he had imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law traditionally used for sanctions rather than broad import taxes. The court’s majority made clear that…

US researchers say a single nasal spray vaccine could protect against coughs, colds and flu. The vaccine could also prevent bacterial lung infections and may even reduce allergies. Scientists at Stanford University tested the universal vaccine in animals and still need human clinical trials. They describe the approach as a radical break from more than 200 years of vaccine development. Experts called the findings exciting but emphasized that the research remains at an early stage. Current Vaccines Focus on One Disease Current vaccines train the immune system to fight a single infection. A measles vaccine protects against measles, and a…

Amazon’s cloud division suffered outages last year that were reportedly triggered by its own AI systems.One 13-hour disruption in December occurred after an AI agent autonomously deleted and rebuilt part of its environment. AWS underpins large parts of the internet, so even brief failures draw scrutiny.Another outage in October knocked dozens of websites offline and renewed concerns about reliance on a few major providers. Amazon said the incidents were caused by user configuration errors, not by artificial intelligence itself.It added that only one event affected customer-facing services and that extra safeguards are now in place. The report comes as Andy…

Justices Rein In Presidential Power The Supreme Court of the United States has struck down former President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariff plan, ruling that he exceeded his authority by using emergency powers to impose import taxes. In a 6-3 decision, the court found that the Constitution clearly grants Congress — not the president — the power to levy taxes, including tariffs. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that the nation’s founders did not assign any part of that taxing authority to the executive branch. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. Kavanaugh argued that…