World News ----------- *1 dead after jets—including plane owned by Mötley Crüe singer—collide One person died in the Scottsdale Airport crash* *Trump says Gaza ceasefire should be cancelled if Israeli hostages not freed* *Elon Musk-led group makes surprise bid of nearly $100bn for OpenAI* *Trump’s Tariffs Could Hit 20% Of New Car Sales In The US* *Something Is Wrong With the SpaceX Craft Meant to Fly the Next Mission to the Space Station* *UN AIDS chief warns HIV cases could surge without US support* *Almost every nation on Earth misses UN deadline for new climate targets* -------- ©Zoomic Media https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaD22E27YScxhpM8Re26 *1 dead after jets—including plane owned by Mötley Crüe singer—collide One person died in the Scottsdale Airport crash* At least one person died when two planes collided on the runway at Scottsdale Airport in Arizona on Monday afternoon. The crash involved a Learjet 35A, owned by Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil's business, Chromed in Hollywood. The jet skidded off the runway after landing and crashed into a parked Gulfstream 200. Four people were aboard the Learjet, which had flown in from Austin, Texas. Investigation update FAA confirms landing gear failure in Learjet collision The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that the Learjet's primary landing gear failed, resulting in the tragic collision. Two pilots and two unnamed passengers were on board at the time of the incident. Three people were injured in this accident; two were taken to trauma centers, while one is still in stable condition at a hospital. Rescue efforts Emergency crews respond to Scottsdale Airport collision Scottsdale Fire Department Captain Dave Folio said emergency crews are still working on extricating one person trapped in one of the planes. "We are still working on extricating one soul out of one of the airplanes," he said. The runway at Scottsdale Airport has been closed indefinitely following the accident. Airport significance Scottsdale Airport: A key hub for Phoenix area jets Scottsdale Airport is an important hub for jets coming in and out of the Phoenix area. It is especially crowded during major events like the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament. This incident comes amid a spate of recent aviation disasters in the US, including a deadly collision between a commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter near Washington, DC, and other crashes in Philadelphia and Alaska. ----- *Trump says Gaza ceasefire should be cancelled if Israeli hostages not freed* President proposes letting ‘all hell break loose’ if hostages held by Hamas are not returned to Israel at noon on Saturday Donald Trump has warned that if all the Israeli hostages held in Gaza are not returned by Saturday at noon he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and letting “all hell break loose”. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office late on Monday, the US president also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if those countries do not take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. Trump’s comments came after Hamas said it was delaying the release of hostages indefinitely over “violations” of the ceasefire deal, prompting Israel’s defence minister to put the country’s military on alert with orders to prepare for “any scenario in Gaza”. Trump called the statement by Hamas “terrible” and said he would “let that be Israel’s decision” on what should ultimately happen to the ceasefire. “But as far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock – I think it’s an appropriate time – I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” Trump said. The ultimatum could end a three-week-old ceasefire which dictates a strict schedule for the release of the Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails. Trump said the hostages should be released “not in dribs and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two”. “We want them all back. I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it, but for myself, Saturday at 12 o’clock – and if they’re not here, all hell is going to break out,” he said. Trump indicated he had not spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu about the timeline he suggested. Asked about any concrete measures he was threatening to take to enforce his demand, Trump said: “You’ll find out. And they’ll find out too. Hamas will find out what I mean. These are sick people.” He did not directly respond to a question on whether or not that would entail US military action. Hamas, Israeli and Arab officials have already warned that the ceasefire is at a breaking point, and Trump’s radical intervention could stoke fears that Washington does not have any intent to continue with the phased deal. A Hamas spokesperson cited past Israeli violations for halting the exchanges, but the militant group’s threat to suspend hostage releases comes against a backdrop of increasingly hardline US and Israeli positions about the long-term future of the strip. Trump also said that he could “conceivably” withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt – some of the US’s closest allies in the region – unless they agreed to his plan for the US to “take over” Gaza and to relocate millions of Palestinians to the neighbouring states in what would amount to an effective ethnic cleansing. “If they don’t agree, I would conceivably withhold it,” Trump said. That threat came after Egypt rejected earlier Monday “any compromise” that would infringe on Palestinians’ rights, in a statement issued after foreign minister Badr Abdelatty met with his US counterpart in Washington. Egyptian security sources separately told Reuters that mediators fear the ceasefire could collapse and have postponed talks until they receive a clear indication of Washington’s intent to continue with the phased deal. Israel’s security cabinet has moved forward a meeting to discuss negotiations on the second phase, which had been scheduled for Tuesday evening. The army has cancelled all leave for soldiers in the Gaza division, the Kan news outlet reported, in another sign that Israeli authorities are preparing for the resumption of war. Before Trump’s comments, Hamas said the “door remains open” for the next hostage-prisoner exchange on Saturday. In a statement, the group said it had “intentionally made this announcement five days before the scheduled prisoner handover, allowing mediators ample time to pressure [Israel] towards fulfilling its obligations”. It added: “The door remains open for the prisoner exchange batch to proceed as planned, once the occupation complies.” Trump’s comments on the ceasefire were his second apparently unscripted intervention in the crisis on Monday. Earlier, he said that his plan to “take over Gaza” would not include a right of return for the more than 2 million Palestinians that he has said have “no alternative” but to leave because of the destruction left by Israel’s military campaign. Asked about Palestinians who refused to leave, Trump said: “They’re all gonna leave.” Arab states have denounced the plan and the UN’s top investigator told Politico that Trump’s plan for the “forcible displacement of an occupied group is an international crime, and amounts to ethnic cleansing”. In the interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, Trump said that he would “own” the Gaza Strip and declared it would be a “real estate development for the future”. Asked if Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, Trump told Baier: “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing. “Could be five, six, could be two,” he said. “But we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. “In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever – it’s not habitable,” he said. Qatar had warned Israeli officials at the weekend that even the first stage of the ceasefire deal was being put in jeopardy by provocative statements from Netanyahu and by his government’s approach to talks on a second stage, Haaretz reported. Qatari diplomats sent angry messages to Israeli counterparts, reminding them that as hosts, key mediators and guarantors of the deal’s implementation, they too have a stake in its survival, an Israeli source said. The next exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees had been scheduled for this Saturday and would have been the sixth under the six-week-long first stage of the ceasefire deal. The skeletal appearance of three hostages released on Saturday shocked many Israelis, and increased pressure on the government to reach a deal to bring home those still trapped. Several recently returned hostages have said they fear those still inside Gaza will struggle to survive much longer. In Tel Aviv, protesters blocked streets on Monday night, demanding the return of all hostages, as some relatives accused their government of sabotaging the deal and endangering their loved ones. “Abu Obeida’s statement is a direct result of Netanyahu’s irresponsible behaviour,” said Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, who is a hostage in Gaza and not listed for release under the first stage of the deal. “[Netanyahu’s] deliberate procrastination and unnecessary provocative statements disrupted the implementation of the agreement.” Hamas is due to release 33 hostages during the first stage of the deal, although eight of them are dead. The list of those who will be released includes women – civilians and soldiers – children, the sick and older men. Israel has agreed to release about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Sixteen Israelis have been released so far, all alive, and Hamas also released five Thai citizens last week. They had not been included in the negotiations. The second stage of the ceasefire deal is intended to bring the return of all living hostages and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, under a framework agreed days before Trump’s inauguration in January. Negotiations on the details of that stage were always expected to be even more challenging than agreeing the initial ceasefire. ---- *Elon Musk-led group makes surprise bid of nearly $100bn for OpenAI* Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for “all assets” of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI’s board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk’s unsolicited offer could complicate the company’s plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. “If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI, Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time,” said Marc Toberoff, the attorney representing the investors. Altman posted his reaction on X shortly after the news broke, saying, “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk famously bought Twitter in 2022 for $44bn and renamed it X. Musk responded to that post, saying, “Swindler.” Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI but left the company in 2019 and started his own AI company called xAI. Over the past several years, he’s tussled with Altman over the direction of the company. He sued OpenAI over the company’s re-structuring plans last year, dropped the suit, then re-filed it. The bid is backed by xAI and several investment firms, including one run by Joe Lonsdale, who co-founded the stealth government contractor Palantir. Ari Emanuel, who’s the CEO of the entertainment company Endeavor, has also joined the group through his investment fund. “At x.AI, we live by the values I was promised OpenAI would follow. We’ve made Grok open source, and we respect the rights of content creators,” Musk said in a statement. “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens.” Toberoff told the Wall Street Journal that Musk’s consortium of investors is ready to match or go higher than any other bids on OpenAI that may arise. OpenAI has maintained that its restructuring is essential to the longevity of the company and being able to access capital. It has said that if it keeps its non-profit structure as is, it won’t be able to keep up in the highly competitive world of AI innovation. OpenAI said it plans for the restructuring to be done by 2026. Although Musk is a close Donald Trump ally, Altman has also met with the president and attended his inauguration. Trump tapped OpenAI to be part of a group of AI companies to work on a $500bn deal called Stargate to invest in the burgeoning technology. Musk’s xAI is not part of this deal. ------ *Trump’s Tariffs Could Hit 20% Of New Car Sales In The US* The pro-tariff policies of the new Trump administration are expected to have far-reaching impacts on the local car industry, with new data revealing they could hit almost 20% of all new cars sold across the US. Some car manufacturers will be hit harder than others, including Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Nissan. Of the 16.1 million light vehicles sold in the United States last year, 9.86 million of these, or 61%, were produced in the United States and will avoid the new 10% tariffs and the proposed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which were recently paused for 30 days. Approximately 2.19 million light vehicles built in Mexico were exported to the US last year, accounting for 13.6% of the market. Cars built south of the border are increasingly common. Volumes from Mexico have increased 13% year on year, compared to just a 1.7% growth in US-made cars. Then there’s Canada. Approximately 717,000 of the 16.1 million cars sold locally came from the Great White North, or 4.5%. Roughly 57,000 vehicles produced in China were sold in the US in 2024, or 0.4% of the total market. The Volkswagen Group could be hit the hardest by tariffs levied against Mexico. Of the cars it sells in the US, 44% come from Mexico. According to JATO Dynamics Global Analyst Felipe Munoz, four of VW’s five best-selling models in the US are built in Mexico. If these vehicles are hit with 25% tariffs, the brand will inevitably have to increase prices, and shift production to the US, or to another market not hit with new tariffs. The tariffs could also hit Stellantis hard. More than 40% of its cars sold in the US come from Mexico and Canada. Nissan also imports more than 30% of its cars from Mexico, while over 25% of Toyota models are built in Canada or Mexico. JATO suspects that vehicles made in the European Union may be also hit with tariffs in the future. Last year, 821,000 vehicles sold domestically were imported from the EU, with most coming from the VW Group, BMW Group, and Mercedes-Benz. “While difficult to predict what the Trump administration will do next from a trade perspective, the measures taken so far in the administration’s first month in office are a sign of things to come. Importing cars into the US will become more difficult across the board, and the European Union should be prepared for future restrictions on trade,” Munoz said. ...... *Something Is Wrong With the SpaceX Craft Meant to Fly the Next Mission to the Space Station* Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who traveled to the International Space Station on board Boeing's ill-fated Starliner last summer, are still stuck there, patiently awaiting their ride back home. And while SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently blamed the Biden administration for the more-than-eight-month delay, it sounds like his space company has encountered a serious issue on the complex quest to return them home. As Ars Technica's Eric Berger reports, engineers ran into battery problems plaguing the fifth-and-final generation Crew Dragon spacecraft, dubbed C213, which was supposed to carry a crew of new astronauts to the station sometime next month, finally allowing Wilmore and Williams to return. Instead, it now sounds like SpaceX's current-generation "Endurance" spacecraft, which returned from the space station in March, will be used for that journey instead. If the trip is successful, Wilmore and Williams will come home as early as March 19 — roughly two weeks earlier than expected, so it's not making a particularly immense difference at this point. In other words, Musk and president Donald Trump have both politicized the issue — despite SpaceX and NASA's ongoing struggles to develop the C213 Crew Dragon spacecraft being the messiest part of the return mission at this point. Scoring Points To be clear, none of this has much to do with the Trump administration swooping in to heroically rescue Wilmore and Williams. As Berger points out, the pair's return journey was already ratified in August, over five months ago. Even the contingency plan to use a different vehicle in case C213 wasn't ready was set in motion before Trump took office. According to Berger, time could soon be running out. The station could eventually approach "redlines" on vital supplies, including food and water, if a crew rotation mission doesn't happen soon. It remains to be seen how Trump and Musk will attempt to spin the development. Will Musk admit that SpaceX's next-gen vehicle isn't ready yet? Or will the pair trumpet the two-week advance as a triumph? Either way, given the way Trump has already attempted to obfuscate reality by furthering racist ideologies and conspiracy theories, it wouldn't be surprising to hear him declare a victory. Meanwhile, instead of prioritizing the advancement of space exploration and cutting-edge research, NASA has been relegated to scrapping key terms from its websites related to accessibility, women, and Indigenous people. Updated to correct details about the logistics of Wilmore and Williams' return. ----- *UN AIDS chief warns HIV cases could surge without US support* UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima cautioned that millions of people could die, and more resistant strains of the disease could emerge. In an interview with The Associated Press, Byanyima highlighted that HIV infections have been on the decline, with 1.3 million new cases recorded in 2023—a 60% drop from the peak in 1995. However, President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze all foreign assistance for 90 days has raised alarm within the global health community. Projected impact of US withdrawal According to UNAIDS estimates, by 2029, there could be 8.7 million new HIV infections, a tenfold increase in AIDS-related deaths to 6.3 million, and an additional 3.4 million children left orphaned. “We will see a surge in this disease,” Byanyima said from Uganda. “This will cost lives if the American government doesn’t change its mind and maintain its leadership.” While refraining from direct criticism of US policy, she urged the administration to reconsider its stance. The effects of the funding freeze are already evident. In one Kenyan county, 550 HIV workers were laid off, while thousands lost their jobs in Ethiopia, crippling efforts to track the epidemic. Many African nations rely heavily on US funding, with external contributions covering about 90% of their HIV programs. Nearly $400 million goes to countries like Byanyima acknowledged that Washington has the right to reassess its contributions but emphasized the need for a transition plan. “We can work with (the Americans) on how to decrease their contribution if they wish to decrease it,” she said. She likened the funding freeze to the delayed access to lifesaving antiretrovirals in poorer nations, calling it the second biggest crisis in the fight against HIV. A critical moment in HIV prevention The funding cuts come just as a promising new prevention tool, lenacapavir, has emerged. The twice-yearly shot, developed by US-based Gilead Sciences and sold as Sunlenca, has shown complete protection against HIV in women and is highly effective in men. International aid, Byanyima pointed out, played a crucial role in fostering this innovation. “It helped an American company to innovate, to come up with something that will pay them millions and millions, but at the same time prevent new infections in the rest of the world,” she said, arguing that halting funding contradicts economic logic. Global appeal for support With no other donors stepping in to fill the void, Byanyima is set to visit European capitals to rally support. “People are going to die because lifesaving tools have been taken away from them,” she said. While European nations have shown concern, no commitments have been made to offset the potential funding shortfall. Byanyima urged the US to reconsider, noting that foreign assistance accounts for less than 1% of the total US budget. “Why would you need to be so disruptive for that 1%?” she asked. As the global health community watches anxiously, the fate of millions hinges on whether the US remains committed to fighting the AIDS epidemic. ---- *Almost every nation on Earth misses UN deadline for new climate targets* Nearly every nation on the planet missed a UN deadline Monday to submit new targets for reducing their carbon emissions. Global emissions need to almost halve by the end of the decade to limit rising global temperatures to the levels agreed under the Paris Agreement. Nearly all nations missed a UN deadline Monday to submit new targets for slashing carbon emissions, including major economies under pressure to show leadership following the US retreat on climate change. Just 10 of nearly 200 countries required under the Paris Agreement to deliver fresh climate plans by February 10 did so on time, according to a UN database tracking the submissions. Under the climate accord, each country is supposed to provide a steeper headline figure for cutting heat-trapping emissions by 2035, and a detailed blueprint for how to achieve this. Global emissions have been rising but need to almost halve by the end of the decade to limit global warming to safer levels agreed under the Paris deal. UN climate chief Simon Stiell has called this latest round of national pledges "the most important policy documents of this century". Yet just a handful of major polluters handed in upgraded targets on time, with China, India and the European Union the biggest names on a lengthy absentee list. Most G20 economies were missing in action with the United States, Britain and Brazil – which is hosting this year's UN climate summit – the only exceptions. The US pledge is largely symbolic, made before President Donald Trump ordered Washington out of the Paris deal. Accountability There is no penalty for submitting late targets, formally titled nationally determined contributions (NDCs). They are not legally binding but act as an accountability measure to ensure countries are taking climate change seriously and doing their fair share toward achieving the Paris goals. The sluggish response will not ease fears of a possible backslide on climate action as leaders juggle Trump's return and other competing priorities from budget and security crises to electoral pressure. Ebony Holland from the International Institute for Environment and Development said the US retreat was "clearly a setback" but there were many reasons for the tepid turnout. "It's clear there are some broad geopolitical shifts underway that are proving to be a challenge when it comes to international cooperation, especially on big issues like climate change," said Holland, a policy lead at the London-based think tank. The EU, historically a leader on climate policy, has been delayed by elections and internal processes and is bracing for fresh polls in Germany and Poland. An EU spokeswoman said a collective target for the 27-nation bloc would be unveiled "well ahead" of the UN COP30 climate conference in November. "We will continue to be a leading voice for international climate action," she said. Analysts say China – both the world's biggest polluter and its largest renewable energy investor – was also expected to release its much-anticipated NDC in the second half of 2025. The United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Saint Lucia, New Zealand, Andorra, Switzerland and Uruguay rounded out the list of countries that made Monday's cut-off. Missing in action Evans Njewa, a Malawian diplomat and chair of the Least Developed Countries group, said many poorer nations lacked the financial resources and technical expertise to compile such complex, economy-wide policies. "Big emitters, whose historical and ongoing pollution has driven the climate crisis, must take responsibility and lead by example," he told AFP. Countries have been consistently late in filing periodic updates to their NDCs since the Paris accord was signed in 2015. Last week, Stiell asked that countries turn in "first-rate" submissions by September so they could be properly assessed before the UN climate summit in Belem. "The worsening climate crisis will not wait or pause its disastrous impact as nations delay their action plans," said Tracy Carty from Greenpeace International. Linda Kalcher, executive director of the Strategic Perspectives think tank, said in some cases it was better that countries work on fine tuning quality proposals, rather than rushing out something weaker. "The concern is that if too many countries delay, you could give the perception that they're not willing to act," she told AFP. ......