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Two years ago, countries around the world set a goal of transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner. The plan included tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency gains by 2030important steps for slowing climate change since the energy sector makes up about 75% of the global carbon dioxide emissions that are heating up the planet. The world is making progress: More than 90% of new power capacity added in 2024 came from renewable energy sources, and 2025 saw similar growth. However, fossil fuel production is also still expanding. And the United States, the worlds leading producer of both oil and natural gas, is now aggressively pressuring countries to keep buying and burning fossil fuels. The energy transition was not meant to be a main topic when world leaders and negotiators met at the 2025 United Nations climate summit, COP30, in November in Belém, Brazil. But it took center stage from the start to the very end, bringing attention to the real-world geopolitical energy debate underway and the stakes at hand. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began the conference by calling for the creation of a formal road map, essentially a strategic process in which countries could participate to overcome dependence on fossil fuels. It would take the global decision to transition away from fossil fuels from words to action. More than 80 countries said they supported the idea, ranging from vulnerable small island nations like Vanuatu that are losing land and lives from sea level rise and more intense storms, to countries like Kenya that see business opportunities in clean energy, to Australia, a large fossil-fuel-producing country. Opposition, led by the Arab Groups oil- and gas-producing countries, kept any mention of a road map energy transition plan out of the final agreement from the climate conference, but supporters are pushing ahead. I was in Belém for COP30, and I follow developments closely as a former special climate envoy and head of delegation for Germany and senior fellow at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. The fight over whether there should even be a road map shows how much countries that depend on fossil fuels are working to slow down the transition, and how others are positioning themselves to benefit from the growth of renewables. And it is a key area to watch in 2026. The battle between electro-states and petro-states Brazilian diplomat and COP30 President André Aranha Corra do Lago has committed to lead an effort in 2026 to create two road maps: one on halting and reversing deforestation and another on transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly, and equitable manner. What those road maps will look like is still unclear. They are likely to be centered on a process for countries to discuss and debate how to reverse deforestation and phase out fossil fuels. Over the coming months, Corra plans to convene high-level meetings among global leaders, including fossil fuel producers and consumers, international organizations, industries, workers, scholars and advocacy groups. For the road map to both be accepted and be useful, the process will need to address the global market issues of supply and demand, as well as equity. For example, in some fossil fuel-producing countries, oil, gas or coal revenues are the main source of income. What can the road ahead look like for those countries that will need to diversify their economies? Nigeria is an interesting case study for weighing that question. Oil exports consistently provide the bulk of Nigerias revenue, accounting for around 80% to over 90% of total government revenue and foreign exchange earnings. At the same time, roughly 39% of Nigerias population has no access to electricity, which is the highest proportion of people without electricity of any nation. And Nigeria possesses abundant renewable energy resources across the country, which are largely untapped: solar, hydro, geothermal and wind, providing new opportunities. What a road map might look like In Belém, representatives talked about creating a road map that would be science-based and aligned with the Paris climate agreement, and would include various pathways to achieve a just transition for fossil-fuel-dependent regions. Some inspiration for helping fossil-fuel-producing countries transition to cleaner energy could come from Brazil and Norway. In Brazil, Lula asked his ministries to prepare guidelines for developing a road map for gradually reducing Brazils dependency on fossil fuels and find a way to financially support the changes. His decree specifically mentions creating an energy transition fund, which could be supported by government revenues from oil and gas exploration. While Brazil supports moving away from fossil fuels, it is also still a large oil producer and recently approved new exploratory drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ctvhR/1 Norway, a major oil and gas producer, is establishing a formal transition commission to study and plan its economys shift away from fossil fuels, particularly focusing on how the workforce and the natural resources of Norway an be used more effectively to create new and different jobs. Both countries are just getting started, but their work could help point the way for other countries and inform a global road map process. The European Union has implemented a series of policies and laws aimed at reducing fossil fuel demand. It has a target for 42.5% of its energy to come from renewable sources by 2030. And its EU Emissions Trading System, which steadily reduces the emissions that companies can emit, will soon be expanded to cover housing and transportation. The Emissions Trading System already includes power generation, energy-intensive industry, and civil aviation. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/PeAlZ/1 Fossil fuel and renewable energy growth ahead In the U.S., the Trump administration has made clear through its policymaking and diplomacy that it is pursuing the opposite approach: to keep fossil fuels as the main energy source for decades to come. The International Energy Agency still expects to see renewable energy grow faster than any other major energy source in all scenarios going forward, as renewable energys lower costs make it an attractive option in many countries. Globally, the agency expects investment in renewable energy in 2025 to be twice that of fossil fuels. At the same time, however, fossil fuel investments are also rising with fast-growing energy demand. The IEAs World Energy Outlook described a surge in new funding for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, projects in 2025. It now expects a 50% increase in global LNG supply by 2030, about half of that from the U.S. However, the World Energy Outlook notes that questions still linger about where all the new LNG will go once its produced. What to watch for The Belém road map dialogue and how it balances countries needs will reflect on the worlds ability to handle climate change. Corra plans to report on its progress at the next annual U.N. climate conference, COP31, in late 2026. The conference will be hosted by Turkey, but Australia, which supported the call for a road map, will be leading the negotiations. With more time to discuss and prepare, COP31 may just bring a transition away from fossil fuels back into the global negotiations. Jennifer Morgan is a senior fellow at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy and Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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A new year brings a new tax filing season. With many cash-strapped Americans worried about their finances, many cant wait to file their returns. The sooner you file, the sooner your chances of getting your refund, after all. But just when can you begin submitting your tax return to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? That depends. Heres what you need to know about the 2026 tax filing season. When does the 2026 tax filing season begin? There are actually two start dates to the 2026 tax filing season this year. The 2026 tax filing season refers to the period taxpayers have to file their tax returns for the 2025 calendar year. According to an IRS press release on Thursday, the official day of the 2026 tax filing season begins on Monday, January 26, 2026. From this day, anyone who is required to file a federal tax return can do so. But January 26 isnt the earliest date some people can begin submitting their tax returns to the IRS. As the IRS noted in its Thursday release, the agency will actually begin to accept tax returns from a select group of taxpayers starting today, Friday, January 9, 2026. Who can submit their tax returns beginning on January 9? Not every taxpayer can submit their returns beginning on January 9. According to the IRS, this submission start date is only open to qualified taxpayers. So, who is a qualified taxpayer? The IRS says a person meets that designation if they are in a select group of people who use the IRS Free File program to submit their taxes. Per the IRSs Thursday notice: The IRS Free File program will begin accepting individual tax returns starting Friday, Jan. 9 for qualified taxpayers. Taxpayers comfortable preparing their own taxes can use IRS Free File Fillable Forms starting Jan. 26, regardless of income. What this means is not everyone who uses the IRS Free File program can submit their tax returns starting todayonly select individuals. Those IRS Free File users who can begin submitting their tax returns today are limited to those individuals who need to report $89,000 in adjusted gross income (AGI) or less, according to the IRSs Free File information page. Taxpayers who use Free Files online forms and who make more than $89,000 in adjusted gross income will need to wait until January 26 to submit their tax returns, just like everyone else. Will eligible taxpayers who submit via Free File before January 26 get their tax refunds faster? Thats unknown, as every individuals tax situation is different. In the IRSs notice, it states that the agency will begin accepting tax returns from eligible individuals on January 9. It does not say it will begin “processing” the returns then. What this means is that even if you are eligible to submit your tax return before January 26, it cant be guaranteed that the IRS will actually begin processing your return before January 26. Still, its reasonable to assume that if you want to get your tax refund as soon as possible, you should file your tax return on the earliest date you can. The IRS says individuals have until Wednesday, April 15, 2026, to file their taxes for the 2025 tax year and pay any taxes owed.
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Two things can be true at once. K-pop is an inextricable force in global pop culture, and it has long been undercelebrated at institutions like the Grammys where K-pop artists have performed but have never taken home a trophy.That could change at next month’s 2026 Grammy Awards ceremony. Songs released by K-pop artists or K-pop-adjacent artists, more on that later have received nominations in the big four categories for the first time. Rosé, perhaps best known as one-fourth of the juggernaut girl group Blackpink, is the first K-pop artist to ever receive a nomination in the record of the year field for “APT.,” her megahit with Grammys’ favorite Bruno Mars.The song of the year category also features K-pop nominees for the first time. “APT.” will go head-to-head with the fictional girl group HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami from the “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack.And the girl group Katseye, the brain child of HYBE the entertainment company behind K-pop sensation BTS and countless other international acts fashioned in the image of the K-pop idol system, has been nominated for best new artist. Is this a historic moment for K-pop? It depends on who you ask.Areum Jeong, assistant professor of Korean Studies at Arizona State University and author of “K-pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today” says the majority of these nominations strike her more as “a de-territorialized, hybrid idea of K-pop,” instead of a recognition of K-pop.While Rosé “was recruited and trained under the K-pop system, and while ‘APT.’ does contain some motifs from the Korean drinking game,” Jeong says, “the song does not feel like a localized K-pop production. Same with Katseye, who was trained and produced under HYBE but marketed more toward Western fans and listeners.”Jeong says that both “APT.” and Katseye’s “Gabriela” both of which will go head-to-head with “Golden” in the pop duo/group performance category “seem less K-pop than other K-pop songs that could have been nominated over the years.”She argues the same is true for the music of “Kpop Demon Hunters.” “It is very similar to ‘APT.’ in that it takes inspiration and motif from Korean culture,” where “K-pop serves as an idea, a jumping-off point, or a motif, creating alternatives or new possibilities.”Mathieu Berbiguier, a visiting assistant professor in Korean Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, points out that these nominations differ from past K-pop Grammy nominations because “Golden,” “APT.” and Katseye all feature “a mainstream popular music factor.”That’s the connection of a massive popular Netflix film (“Kpop Demon Hunters”), a collaboration with Bruno Mars (“APT.”), and Katseye’s international membership and Netflix series (“Pop Star Academy: Katseye”), respectively.“It tells you that K-pop is not considered as something niche anymore,” he says. “Now, when we think about pop music in general, we also think of K-pop as part of it.”Bernie Cho, industry expert and president of the South Korean agency, the DFSB Kollective, agrees that there is an international, mainstream appeal to the nominees.“All the nominees represent a sort of post-idol K-pop, in the sense that Rosé, the three ladies of HUNTR/X and Katseye represent the globalized version of K-pop, where the ‘K’ is very much there, but some people might argue it’s silent. The songs are not necessarily for Korea, by Korea, from Korea, just kind of beyond Korea,” he says. “It’s a celebration and testament to how diverse and dynamic K-pop has become.” Why are these acts being recognized now? “For years, the Recording Academy has snubbed K-pop acts that have set record-breaking standards, such as BTS,Seventeen and Stray Kids,” argues Jeong. “I think one of the main reasons is that the Western world is still so resistant to non-English lyrics.”“It does not surprise me that ‘APT.’ and Katseye’s music, which mainly contain English lyrics and seem less K-pop, were nominated,” she continues.Berbiguier adds that “is a reflection of K-pop nowadays, like, trends: the fact that there’s less and less Korean and more and more English.”There may be an additional factor at play. Tamar Herman, a music journalist and author of the “Notes on K-pop” newsletter, says many critics and industry voices found 2025 to be a lackluster year for new pop music in the U.S. a fact that was all but confirmed in Luminate’s 2025 Mid-Year Report, which found that streams of new music had slowed compared to the year prior, potentially due to a dearth of megahits dominating the charts.“Yes, it’s a big moment for K-pop, but it is so overdue, these recognitions are more of a sign of how poorly the music industry in the U.S. did this year that we’re looking externally,” she says.She argues that acknowledgment of Korean entertainment from U.S. entertainment industries is more symbolic of U.S. cultural dominance slipping than “K-pop being really good, because K-pop has been really good for a really long time,” she says. “This is all recognition of just global storytelling improvement, global taste-making improvement.”“I don’t want to diminish it,” she adds. “These are all universally friendly, accessible, good pop songs.”And if they weren’t, they wouldn’t connect.“It’s very obvious that they’re not just performers. They’re artists. They’re singers. They’re songwriters,” says Cho. Will a K-pop artist win a Grammy for the first time this year? The jury is still out.“I think it’s not even a matter of if or when. It’s going to be who and how many,” says Cho.Others are less committal. “It’s hard to predict,” says Berbiguier. “For me, it’s more possible that ‘Golden’ gets one.”“Yes and no,” offers Herman. For her, it depends on an evolving and fluid definition of K-pop. After all, HUNTR/X is a fictional girl group from an animated film that did not debut through the K-pop music industry system. Would a victory for their song “Golden” mean a victory of K-pop? That’s a matter of opinion. The 68th Grammy Awards will be held Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The show will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+. For more coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/grammy-awards. Maria Sherman, AP Music Writer
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Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is preventing most users from generating or editing any images after a global backlash that erupted after it started spewing sexualized deepfakes of people.The chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has in the past few weeks been granting a wave of what researchers say are malicious user requests to modify images, including putting women in bikinis or in sexually explicit positions.Researchers have warned that in a few cases, some images appeared to depict children. Governments around the world have condemned the platform and opened investigations into the platform.On Friday, Grok was responding to image altering requests with the message: “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.”While subscriber numbers for Grok aren’t publicly available, there was a noticeable decline in the number of explicit deepfakes that Grok is now generating compared with days earlier.The European Union has slammed Grok for “illegal” and “appalling” behavior, while officials in France, India, Malaysia and a Brazilian lawmaker have called for investigations.On Thursday, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer threatened unspecified action against X.“This is disgraceful. It’s disgusting. And it’s not to be tolerated,” Starmer said on Greatest Hits radio. “X has got to get a grip of this.”He said media regulator Ofcom “has our full support to take action” and that “all options” are on the table.“It’s disgusting. X need to get their act together and get this material down. We will take action on this because it’s simply not tolerable.”Ofcom and Britain’s privacy regulator both said this week they’ve contacted X and Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI for information on measures they’ve taken to comply with British regulations.Grok is free to use for X users, who can ask it questions on the social media platform. They can either tag it in posts they’ve directly created or in replies to posts from other users.Grok launched in 2023. Last summer the company added an image generator feature, Grok Imagine, that included a so-called “spicy mode” that can generate adult content.The problem is amplified both because Musk pitches his chatbot as an edgier alternative to rivals with more safeguards, and because Grok’s images are publicly visible, and can therefore be easily spread. Kelvin Chan, AP Business Writer
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Groks digital undressing scandal is horrifying. In recent days, countless women, including the mother of one of Elon Musks children, have found AI-generated and nonconsensual sexual images of themselves propagating across the web. According to one analysis, Grok was, at least as of early January, generating thousands of sexually suggestive, or undressed, images of people per hour. (Elon Musk now says that image generation will only be available to paid users.)Investigators from several countries have launched inquiries to investigate whether xAI had run afoul of the law, including rules about pornographic deepfakes and child sexual abuse material. Of course, none of these governments are as entangled with xAI, or Elon Musk, as the U.S. right now. The Defense Department offered the company a $200 million contract for Grok last year. Now, a Pentagon official tells Fast Company that the agency’s policy on the use of artificial intelligence fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations, adding that personnel are mandated to uphold these standards, and any unlawful activity will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.” The Trump administration has also signed a range of deals with xAI to offer its Grok chatbot to federal workers for office use. The White House didnt respond to a request for comment. Nor did Carahsoft, a federal government contractor that has signed on to facilitate sales of xAI’s Grok for Government product suite. The General Services Administration, a wonky but critical federal agency thats organized several major government deals for AI companies, including xAI, appears to be punting the issue. The agency tells Fast Company that Grok was still undergoing its own internal safety testing in advance of its integration into USAi, a massive AI platform for the U.S. government that already includes technology from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. But its unclear how involved, or active, these tests actually are. Its been months since these evaluations were first discussed, and the agency hasnt released any update on how Grok has performed. Fast Company has filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for any publicly available records pertaining to the results of those evaluations but has not received a response. Grok for Government and xAI are currently undergoing GSAs required internal safety assessments prior to potential integration into USAi.gov, Marianne Copenhaver, a spokesperson for the agency, tells Fast Company. Any federal agency that decides to buy Grok through the larger xAI government deal it already helped negotiate for the company is responsible for evaluating the models they choose to use, she adds. Copenhaver did not address whether the agency was studying Grok’s new penchant for producing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Liability In the U.S., its possible that xAI could face legal problems. Using AI to undress minors, for instance, may already fall under existing criminal statutes. In addition, the Take It Down Act, a bipartisan bill crafted by Sens. Ted Cruz and Amy Klobuchar and signed by Donald Trump last year, requires platforms to remove nonconsensual AI sexual imagery within two days of being notified. Deploying Grok within the U.S. federal government could be a major liability, several experts tell Fast Company. If agencies are using xAI, officials will eventually have to demand extra guardrails to make Grok usable with the government, which would be difficult to do with xAI ultimately retaining some data about government systems, one former White House official says.In Groks current form, federal workers could, in theory, create CSAMan alarming possibility, says David Nesting, a former AI adviser to the federal chief information officer. If agencies are not monitoring and filtering uses of generative AI in the workplace, this seems like a gap. Mike Horton, the former chief AI officer of the Transportation Department, says Groks CSAM issue is the inevitable result of a Wild West culture in Silicon Valley and the federal government to move fast and break things. Guardrails are necessary, he says, to avoid situations like this from occurring in the first place. Unbridled AI acceleration with no guardrails is like driving a Maserati at 120 mph with no brakes. You can reliably and safely drive that fast because of the brakes, not in spite of them, he says.
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E-Commerce
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