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The governor of Niigata on Tuesday formally gave local consent to put two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in the north-central prefecture back online, clearing a last hurdle toward restarting the plant idled for more than a decade following the 2011 meltdowns at another plant managed by the same utility. Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi, in his meeting with Economy and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa, conveyed the prefecture’s “endorsement” to restart the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, accepting the government’s pledge to ensure safety, emergency response and understanding of the residents. Restart preparations for No. 6 reactor have moved ahead and utility company TEPCO is expected to apply for a final safety inspection by the Nuclear Safety Authority later this week ahead of a possible resumption in January. Work at the other reactor is expected to take a few more years. The move comes one day after the Niigata prefectural assembly adopted a budget bill that included funding necessary for a restart, supporting the governor’s earlier consent. “It was a heavy and difficult decision,” Hanazumi told reporters. Hanazumi also met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who also supports nuclear energy, and asked her to visit to observe the safety at the plant. Japan once planned to phase out atomic power following the disaster at the Fukushima plant caused by an earthquake and tsunami. But in the face of global fuel shortages, rising prices and pressure to reduce carbon emissions, the government has reversed its policy and is now seeking to increase nuclear energy use by accelerating reactor restarts, extending their operational lifespan and considering building new ones. Of the 57 commercial reactors, 13 are currently in operation, 20 are offline and 24 others are being decommissioned, according to the nuclear authorities. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which comprises seven reactors, is the world’s biggest. The plant has been offline since 2012 as part of nationwide reactor shutdowns in response to the March 2011 triple meltdowns at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi plant. Reactors No. 6 and 7 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa had cleared safety tests in 2017, but their restart preparations were suspended after a series of safeguarding problems were found in 2021. The Nuclear Regulation Authority lifted an operational ban at the plant in 2023. Its resumption again faced uncertainty following the Jan. 1, 2024, earthquake in the nearby Noto region that rekindled safety concerns among local residents about the plant and evacuation in case of a major disaster. The industry ministry sought an early resumption approval from Niigata two months later. In Japan, a reactor restart is subject to the local community’s consent. TEPCO, heavily burdened with the growing cost of decades-long decommissioning and compensation for residents affected by the Fukushima disaster, has been anxious to resume its only workable nuclear plant to improve its business. TEPCO has been struggling to regain public trust in safely running a nuclear power plant. Aside from plant safety, experts say acceleration of reactor restarts also raises concern in a country without full nuclear fuel reprocessing or plans for radioactive waste management. Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The U.S. economy grew at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, the most rapid expansion in two years, as government and consumer spending, as well as exports, all increased.U.S. gross domestic product from July through September the economy’s total output of goods and services rose from its 3.8% growth rate in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department said Tuesday in a report delayed by the government shutdown. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast growth of 3% in the period.However, inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve would like. The Fed’s favored inflation gauge called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE climbed to a 2.8% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.1% in the second quarter.Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation was 2.9%, up from 2.6% in the April-June quarter.Economists say that persistent and potentially worsening inflation could make a January interest rate cut from the Fed less likely, even as central bank official remain concerned about a slowing labor market.“If the economy keeps producing at this level, then there isn’t as much need to worry about a slowing economy,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, adding that inflation could return as the greatest concern about the economy.In a slow holiday trading week, U.S. markets on Wall Street turned lower following the GDP report, likely due to growing doubts that another Fed rate cut is coming next month.Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, rose to a 3.5% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.5% in the April-June period.Consumption and investment by the government grew by 2.2% in the quarter after contracting 0.1% in the second quarter. The third quarter figure was boosted by increased expenditures at the state and local levels and federal government defense spending.Private business investment fell 0.3%, led by declines in investment in housing and in nonresidential buildings such as offices and warehouses. However, that decline was much less than the 13.8% slide in the second quarter.Within the GDP data, a category that measures the economy’s underlying strength grew at a 3% annual rate from July through September, up slightly from 2.9% in the second quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment, but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.Exports grew at an 8.8% rate, while imports, which subtract from GDP, fell another 4.7%.Tuesday’s report is the first of three estimates the government will make of GDP growth for the third quarter of the year.Outside of the first quarter, when the economy shrank for the first time in three years as companies rushed to import goods ahead of President Donald Trump’s tariff rollout, the U.S. economy has continued to expand at a healthy rate. That’s despite much higher borrowing rates the Fed imposed in 2022 and 2023 in its drive to curb the inflation that surged as the United States bounced back with unexpected strength from the brief but devastating COVID-19 recession of 2020.Though inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, the central bank cut its benchmark lending rate three times in a row to close out 2025, mostly out of concern for a job market that has steadily lost momentum since spring.Last week, the government reported that the U.S. economy gained a healthy 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October. Notably, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6% last month, the highest since 2021.The country’s labor market has been stuck in a “low hire, low fire” state, economists say, as businesses stand pat due to uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of elevated interest rates. Since March, job creation has fallen to an average 35,000 a month, compared to 71,000 in the year ended in March. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said that he suspects those numbers will be revised even lower. Matt Ott, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Santa keeps delivering for quantum computing investors this year. On Monday, shares of well-known quantum computing firms shot up by double digits, with D-Wave Quantum stock up almost 15% and Quantum Computing Inc. up 11%. Shares of IonQ Inc. and Rigetti Computing were likewise up roughly 10%. The exact catalyst spurring those increases is unclear. It may have initially been sparked in part by D-Waves Monday announcement that it would be attending the CES 2026 trade show next month. The Palo Alto-based company plans to showcase its award-winning annealing quantum computing technology, hybrid quantum-classical solvers, and real-world customer use cases that are demonstrating measurable performance benefits, often beyond classical computing alone. Quantum computing stocks have seen strong growth in 2025 Aside from that announcement, there may simply be ongoing excitement about the quantum space in general. Publicly traded quantum computing firms have captivated investors over the past year or more, despite the speculative nature of the underlying technology that some say will transform the computer industry. A June report published by McKinsey & Company dug into the appeal, saying that surging investment and faster-than-expected innovation could propel the quantum market to $100 billion in a decade. It added that as quantum computing startups have received more funding from both public and private sources, the technology itself has started seeing more commercial deployment, and companies are also making progress in patenting the technology theyre developing. Year-to-date growth for these stocks has been mostly impressive and in some cases eye-popping. As of Tuesday morning, D-Wave shares are up 235% since January 1. IonQ shares are up 25%, and Rigetti shares are up 34%. The outlier is Quantum Computing Inc., which has seen its stock price fall 35% year-to-date. Will the end-of-year quantum rally last? It’s unclear how long the holiday rally is going to last, but some profit-taking already seems to be underway. As of early trading on Tuesday morning, D-Wave shares had fallen roughly 3%, while Rigetti was down around 1.58%. Shares in Quantum Computing Inc. IonQ were roughly flat.
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Across the country, a growing sentiment suggests the university degree is an artifact of a bygone era, a depreciating asset in an economy obsessed with speed. A recent Gallup poll confirms this shift, revealing that Americans confidence in the value of a college education has plummeted to a 15-year low. Nowhere is this skepticism louder than in my own backyard. In Silicon Valley, the “skip college” mantra has evolved from a “hot take” to accepted wisdom. Fueled by the rise of generative AI, the logic is seductive: If artificial intelligence can code, write copy, and analyze data faster than a junior employee, why spend four years and a small fortune on skills a bot will master before you graduate? It is a compelling argument. It is also fundamentally wrong. As the CEO of an AI company, I witness the trajectory of automation daily. I see exactly what our models can do, and I recognize the massive disruption coming for knowledge work. Yet, my conclusion is the exact opposite of the current narrative. As AI automates technical execution, the core purpose of the university sharpens. Far from making college obsolete, the AI revolution is making the benefits of higher education like wisdom, maturity, and the forging of mental models, the most critical economic differentiator a human can possess. THE COMMODITY OF “HOW,” THE VALUE OF “WHY” For the last two decades, higher education has been sold largely as vocational training. You go to school to learn a hard skill like computer science, accounting, or law, that you then trade for a salary. Under this transactional model, the skeptics are right. If college is just a place to download technical syntax into your brain, it is inefficient. AI is rapidly demonetizing the ability to simply do things. However, the universitys true value was never entirely the how but it was always the why. In an AI-native world, the technical barrier to entry is collapsing. Soon, natural language will be the only programming language required. When anyone can build an app, draft a legal brief, or design a product with a few prompts, execution becomes a commodity. The premium shifts to the ability to discern what to build, why it matters, and how it impacts the human ecosystem. This requires a type of thinking that is rarely self-taught. It requires the kind of broad, interdisciplinary exposure that a university curriculum provides. We don’t need more people who can optimize a sorting algorithm; we need people who can debate the ethics of that algorithm, understand the sociological impact of its deployment, and navigate the geopolitical landscape it operates within. COLLEGE AS SCAFFOLDING FOR THE MIND Beyond the curriculum, the “skip college” contingent ignores the universitys profound developmental role. They view the four-year degree as a delay of adulthood. I view it as the necessary scaffolding for it. The years between 18 and 22 are a neurological and psychological crucible. The brain is finalizing its development; identities are solidifying. The university environment provides a unique sandbox where young adults can collide with diverse philosophies, navigate complex social hierarchies, and fail in a relatively low-stakes environment. When I hire for leadership roles, I rarely seek the fastest coder in the room. I seek resilience. I seek the ability to collaborate with dissenting voices and the maturity to navigate ambiguity. These are traits honed in lecture halls, seminar debates, and student organizations just as much as they are in internships. THE SHELF-LIFE OF SKILLS VERSUS MINDSET Critics often weigh the cost of tuition against the starting salary of a graduate’s first job. But in a world of accelerating technological velocity, the specific skills learned at 20 are often obsolete by 25. To skip college for a specific trade or tech stack is to bet one’s career on a snapshot in time. A university education, particularly one grounded in the liberal arts and fundamental sciences, plays a longer game. It teaches you how to learn. It builds a mental operating system capable of updating itself. Consider the “hallucination” problem in large language models. To effectively use these tools, a human must possess critical thinking skills robust enough to audit the machine. They need a foundational knowledge of history, logic, and science to discern when the AI is fabricating reality. The worker who skips college risks becoming a passive consumer of AI output while the college graduate becomes its orchestrator. That is a difference in career trajectory that may not appear in year-one earnings, but compounds exponentially over a lifetime. A CALL FOR A HUMAN RENAISSANCE Silicon Valley loves efficiency. We love to optimize. And yes, the modern university is often inefficient, expensive, and bureaucratic. It is ripe for disruption and reform. But lets not confuse the need for reform with the need for abolition. The “skip college” narrative is an oversimplification. It assumes that because machines are becoming more intelligent, humans can afford to be less educated. The opposite is true. As we hand over more cognitive labor to AI, we free humans to operate at the peak of their intelligence. We are entering an era where philosophy, ethics, creative synthesis, and interpersonal leadership will be the most high-value skills in the global economy. We should not encourage the next generation to skip the one institution dedicated to developing those traits. We should encourage them to go, but with a new purpose. Do not go to college just to get a job. Go to college to build the kind of complex, adaptable, and nuanced mind that no AI can replicate. The future isn’t about competing with machines. It is about becoming more human. That is an education worth the investment. Bhavin Shah is CEO and cofounder of Moveworks.
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E-Commerce
We used to argue whether design was about aesthetics or about functionality. But in 2025, those conversations seemed downright quaint. Simpler debates for a simpler time. Now were wondering if craft can survive the age of AI, and if well ever escape the politicization of every brand and object again. For the December episode of our podcast By Design, I discussed these trends and more with Fast Company senior editor Liz Stinson. We were joined by some of our brightest friends in the industry who shared their biggest own moments in design for the year, including Paola Antonelli (senior curator at MoMA), Cliff Kuang (FC Designs first editor and senior staff designer at Google), Forest Young (Global Design & AI Resident at Wolff Olins), and Elizabeth Goodspeed (editor-at-large at Its Nice That). Just try to guess who called out vibe coding, and who highlighted Sabrina Carpenters latest tour. Tune in through Apple or Spotify, and please give us a few stars if you like it. See you in 2026!
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