First pregnancy with AI-guided sperm recovery method developed at Columbia

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

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Oct. 31, 2025--Researchers at the Columbia University Fertility Center reported the first successful pregnancy using an AI-guided method they developed to recover sperm in men with azoospermia, in which ejaculate contains little or no sperm. 

The case is described in a research letter published in The Lancet. 

Male factors account for approximately 40% of couples with infertility. Of those, about 10-15% of men with infertility have azoospermia.   

“A semen sample can appear totally normal, but when you look under the microscope you discover just a sea of cellular debris, with no sperm visible,” says Zev Williams, senior author of the paper and Director of the Columbia University Fertility Center. “Many couples with male-factor infertility are told they have little chance of having a biological child.” 

Men with azoospermia may undergo a procedure to have sperm surgically extracted from the testes, but the procedure is often unsuccessful and can cause vascular problems, inflammation, or a temporary decrease in testosterone levels.    

A few specialized labs employ technicians to manually inspect semen samples — a lengthy and expensive process — after they have been processed with a centrifuge or other agents that can damage sperm.   

“The field has really been challenged to find a better way to identify and retrieve viable sperm cells in men with exceedingly low sperm counts,” Williams says.   

A STAR is born 

Williams assembled a team of researchers and clinicians to develop a new method that combines a variety of technologies to identify and retrieve rare sperm cells from men with azoospermia. 

“Our team included experts in advanced imaging techniques, microfluidics, and reproductive endocrinology to tackle each individual step required to find and isolate rare sperm,” says Hemant Suryawanshi, an assistant professor of reproductive sciences at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and project leader. 

The STAR (Sperm Tracking and Recovery) method, unveiled earlier this year, employs high-powered imaging technology to scan through a semen sample from men with azoospermia, taking over 8 million images in under an hour. AI is used to identify sperm cells in the sample, and a microfluidic chip with tiny, hair-like channels isolates the portion of the semen sample containing the sperm cell. Within milliseconds, a robot gently removes the sperm cell so that it can be used to create an embryo or frozen and stored for future use.  

First successful pregnancy using STAR 

STAR was tested in a patient that had been trying to start a family for nearly 20 years, including multiple IVF cycles at other centers, several manual sperm searches, and two surgical procedures to extract sperm.  

The patient provided a 3.5 mL semen sample. In about two hours, STAR scanned 2.5 million images, identifying 2 viable sperm cells, which were then used to create two embryos and start a pregnancy.  

The findings, though based on one case, show the feasibility of this technology to overcome long-standing barriers in helping men with azoospermia. 

“You only need one healthy sperm to create an embryo,” Williams says. 

Larger clinical studies are underway to evaluate the efficacy of STAR in broader patient populations.  

Additional information 

The research letter, “First clinical pregnancy following AI-based microfluidic sperm detection and recovery in non-obstructive azoospermia,” was published October 31 online in The Lancet. 

Authors (all from Columbia University): Hemant Suryawanshi, Laura Gemmell, Stephanie Morgan, George Koustas, Robert W. Prosser, Ryan Fu, Eric Forman, and Zev Williams.  

Research letters published in the Correspondence section include research findings and are externally peer-reviewed. Unlike Articles containing original data, research letters are shorter and the research they contain is usually preliminary, exploratory, or reporting on early findings.

 

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Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) is a clinical, research, and educational campus located in New York City. Founded in 1928, CUIMC was one of the first academic medical centers established in the United States of America. CUIMC is home to four professional colleges and schools that provide global leadership in scientific research, health and medical education, and patient care including the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing. For more information, please visit cuimc.columbia.edu. 

 

---

Journal

The Lancet

DOI

10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01623-X 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

First clinical pregnancy following AI-based microfluidic sperm detection and recovery in non-obstructive azoospermia

Article Publication Date

31-Oct-2025

AI giants turn to massive debt to finance tech race

SAME SPECULATION LED TO THE 1929 CRASH


By AFP
October 31, 2025


Meta: — © AFP RONALDO SCHEMIDT
Thomas URBAIN

Meta raised $30 billion in debt on Thursday, as tech giants flush with cash turn to borrowing to finance the expensive race to lead in artificial intelligence.

On a day when Facebook-parent Meta’s share price plunged on the heels of disappointing quarterly earnings, demand for its bonds was reportedly four times greater than supply in a market keen to hold the social networking titan’s debt.

The $30 billion in bonds scheduled to be repaid over the course of decades is intended to provide money to continue a breakneck pace of AI development that has come to define the sector.

“(Mark) Zuckerberg seems like he’s got no limit in terms of his spending,” said CFRA Research senior equity analyst Angelo Zino.

Zino noted that Meta takes in more than $100 billion a year, and that while Wall Street may be concerned with Zuckerberg’s spending it sees little risk debt won’t get repaid.

“(But) they just can’t use up all their excess free cash flow and completely leverage it into AI.”

The analyst wouldn’t be surprised to see Meta AI rivals Google and Microsoft opt for similar debt moves.

Shareholder worry over Meta spending, on the other hand, is believed to be what drove the tech firm’s share price down more than 11 percent during trading hours on Thursday.

Meta’s debt, however, drew flocks of investors despite rates for corporate bonds being at decade lows, noted Byron Anderson, head of fixed income at Laffer Tengler Investments.

“Is there some worry about the AI trade? Maybe,” Anderson said. “But the revenue and profit coming off that company are massive.”

If not for a one-time charge related to US President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, Meta would have recorded $18.6 billion in its recently ended quarter.

That amount of net income is more than General Motors, Netflix, Walmart and Visa profits for that quarter combined.

– FOMO? –

Anderson doubts that so-called fear of missing out on the AI revolution drove demand for Meta’s bond. “I don’t think this was FOMO,” he said.

“People want good quality names in their portfolios at attractive levels, and this is a high-quality name — just like Oracle.”

Business cloud application and infrastructure stalwart Oracle is reported to have raised $18 billion in a bond offering last month.

According to Bloomberg, the Texas-based tech firm is poised to issue an additional $38 billion in debt, this time through banks rather than bond sales.

Debt taken on by major AI firms is typically secured by physical assets, such as data centers or the coveted graphics processing units (GPUs) vital to the technology.

Given the cash flow and physical assets of tech titans, risk is low for lenders. And the markets have been shaking off the possibility of an AI bubble that might burst.

Meta just days ago announced creation of a joint venture with asset manager Blue Owl Capital to raise some $27 billion for datacenter construction.

Meta and Oracle are also benefiting from recent moves by the US Federal Reserve to reduce the cost of borrowing.

The trend toward debt is new for internet giants long accustomed to having ample cash flow to pay for what they want.

Crucially, debt markets would not be as welcoming to AI startups such as OpenAI, Anthropic or Perplexity which have yet to turn profits.

“I learned in my profession that if a company is not making profits and they issue (debt), that is a risky proposition,” Anderson said.

The analyst reasoned that young AI companies like those will have to raise money through equity stakes — where the financier gets a stake in the company — as they have done so far.

“I don’t know why they would go into the debt market,” Anderson said of such startups.

“It would be too expensive for them,” he added, meaning the lenders would charge them much higher rates than the likes of cash cows like Meta.

AI cannot make cinema, director Linklater says


By AFP
October 31, 2025


US actress Zoey Deutch poses as she attends the premiere of Netflix’s "Nouvelle Vague" during The American French Film Festival (TAFFF) at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theater in Los Angeles - Copyright AFP VALERIE MACON

Andrew MARSZAL

Can great art be made without human genius and all its flaws? It’s a vital question at a time when artificial intelligence threatens to subsume Hollywood.

Through new movies “Nouvelle Vague” and “Blue Moon,” director Richard Linklater offers an answer — delving into the lives of two brilliant, volatile men whose films and plays shaped French New Wave cinema and Broadway.

His conclusion?

“AI is not going to make a film,” the US indie auteur tells AFP.

“Storytelling, narrative, characters? Something that connects to humanity? That’s a whole ‘nother thing,” says the Texan whose notable films include “Boyhood,” the “Before” trilogy, “School of Rock” and “Hit Man.”

Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” streaming on Netflix from November 14, charts how young French director Jean-Luc Godard defied all filmmaking convention to create his 1960 classic “Breathless.”

It captures the swagger, charisma and impulsiveness with which Godard convinced financial backers and Hollywood starlet Jean Seberg to make a debut feature that had neither a script nor a workable filming schedule.

“He’s a little full of shit, but he’s a genius. A revolution is going on, but he’s the only one who knows it,” Linklater says of Godard, an icon of cinema’s French New Wave movement in the late 1950s and 60s.

By contrast “Blue Moon,” in cinemas now, depicts Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart at the end of his career.

With composer Richard Rodgers, Hart wrote classic songs like “The Lady is a Tramp,” “My Funny Valentine” and, of course, “Blue Moon.”

But the film captures a single evening, in which it becomes clear Rodgers has moved on to even greater success with new partner Oscar Hammerstein II, with the debut of their hit musical “Oklahoma!”

Within months, Hart will be dead from alcoholism.

“It’s become very clear that the times are leaving him behind. They’re leaving behind his genius,” says Linklater.

– ‘No algorithm is gonna do that’ –

Which brings us back to the question of human genius and art.

For Linklater, AI is “just one more tool” that artists can use, but it “doesn’t have intuitions or consciousness.”

“I think it’s going to be less revolutionary than everybody thinks in the next few years,” he told AFP in an interview ahead of the Los Angeles premiere of “Nouvelle Vague” at The American French Film Festival (TAFFF).

The French New Wave’s trademark documentary-style realism was made possible in part by technology — the arrival of cheap, light, portable cameras.

But Linklater rejects the claim that the cost savings and flexibility offered by AI could unleash another filmmaking revolution.

“You’re gonna see some cool stuff,” he concedes.

But “the hardest thing to do is still to tell a compelling story that people want to see and be engaged with,” he says.

“That’s a lot of points you have to hit — that’s acting, that’s story structure, that’s pace, style.

“No algorithm is gonna do that. No prompt is gonna do that.”

– ‘Authentic’ –

Among Linklater’s future projects is “Merrily We Roll Again,” adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s musical.

Set over two decades, “Merrily” charts the demise of a friendship between three artists, and is told in reverse chronology.

As if to prove his point about technology, Linklater has decided to shoot the film over a 20 year span, allowing the actors to truly age backward on screen.

It is a more complex variation of his Oscar-winning “Boyhood” — which he filmed across 12 years.

Of course, AI has recently been used to “de-age” actors, like in Tom Hanks’ 2024 film “Here.” But Linklater has little interest.

“It’s not a visual trick, you know? I really want an actor of a certain age to be playing a character,” he explains.

Asking a 25-year-old to play a 45-year-old is “not authentic” because young people “don’t know what that even means,” he says.

“I want the actors to be that much older and wiser.”

So, don’t expect to see “Merrily” in theaters any time soon.

“That’s my hanging-on-to-humanity approach!” chuckles Linklater.

Op-Ed: AI music, the hype, the facts, and missing the point entirely for musicians


By Paul Wallis
EDITOR AT LARGE

DIGITAL JOURNAL
November 1, 2025


British singer Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics has joined more than 1,000 musicians who have released a silent album to protest proposed changes to UK copyright law around AI - Copyright AFP/File I-Hwa CHENG

AI music can be pretty blah. The ancient patches, the lack of direction, and the credulous ignorance don’t make a very appealing picture. Also closeted in the background are the efficiencies, the flexibility, and the opportunities for experimentation and exploration.

AI music is basically a mixer.

The content released is still formulaic. The music distribution industry just goes for a market and produces tons of that stuff, whatever genre. The off-key white chick with a guitar of the ’90s has been replaced with the soulful non-existent black girl of the 2020s.

According to Billboard, AI artists are showing up regularly and doing well. A bit of investigation reveals human artists creating AI artists.

The big question is “How many AI artists are black?”

Xania Monet and Unbound Music are good examples of getting a core sound right. If you’re a musician, you can argue, rightly, that the sound still seems a bit shallow, a few tracks. It’s nothing like complex.

Both artists deliver pretty good acoustic mixes and clean sound, also oversighted by the human artists. Unbound Music, in particular, does good, generic guitar rock blues.

What’s being missed? Just about everything.

These are the points being missed:

AI can’t, and doesn’t, do these things itself.

AI doesn’t do much well by itself.

Technology is, in fact, a limitation.

To get outside the chicken coop of the mainstream, creativity is the only way.

Formulaic algorithms don’t do much. The antiquated waveforms are no better. Remember that human artists have also been putting out forgettable slop for generations. Between laziness and cluelessness is a longstanding relationship. That garbage eats up as many recording contracts as anything else.

The mix of timid artists and insipid arrangements isn’t confined to AI. You can say AI has no soul, but neither does pure dreck with an artist’s name.

OK, now we can get technical.

If you’ve ever recorded anything at all, you know what happens next. Second guessing. Tweaking. Much sincere umming and ahhing. Fiddling. Little questions like “What was that supposed to be?” pop up regularly.

These things are grim. They’re also time-consuming, picky, and expensive in a studio. Do you actually need any of that?

How do you develop a musical idea? McCartney famously said to try a few things and take it from there. A song or a symphony can come from anywhere inside your head.

You need to explore your ideas. That can take years, or minutes when it comes to recording. What works? What doesn’t work? What have you mysteriously botched?

What didn’t you think of?

AI isn’t “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination”. It can’t be.

Music is.

What’s needed is that unlikely catalyst, the musicians.

Listen to that Unbound Music link above. What happens if you add some strings, or a female soul choir?

That’s what musicians do. AI can’t do that. It can do things like that a lot quicker, but it can’t think of them. It can’t relate to them.

AI could be the way out of the grind. It could be the most useful option for mixing, arranging, and experimentation.

Don’t shoot the golden goose.

__________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.


Opinion: How AI and the arts are creating an inclusive future where students shape their own stories


ByKay Boamah
October 31, 2025


Ilekun si ęda (Door to Creation) by Nazar Bombata (Image courtesy of Swiirl)

Opinions expressed by contributors are their own.


In the vibrant landscape of South Los Angeles, at Marlton School, LAUSD’s pioneering pre-K through 12 campus for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, a unique creative initiative is taking shape.

It’s a project poised to fuse accessibility, art, and artificial intelligence, challenging our conventional thinking about technology’s role in education.

As the buzz of LA Tech Week fades, this collaboration is a potent reminder that the most meaningful innovation often blossoms not in conference halls, but within the focused energy of our community classrooms.

What if the true potential of AI lies not in automation, but in amplification, helping every student in every community find and share their unique voice?

For too long, the narrative around technological advancement has celebrated disruption without addressing inclusion. In an age where user data is an invaluable currency, who gets to be seen and heard?

Students in underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities, frequently find themselves on the sidelines, lacking access to the platforms where tomorrow’s stories are being crafted. This creates a dangerous imbalance where corporations and algorithms benefit, while the communities providing the foundational insights are left out of the economic equation.

A different future is possible. The initiative at Marlton School, spearheaded by the non-profit Pulse Arts, exemplifies this. By integrating accessible technology tools with arts education, they are creating a space where students can actively create and share their stories.

For example, a student can use an accessible generative tool to sign a poem in ASL, and the platform helps translate those gestures into a dynamic, shareable piece of visual art.

This is agency.

As one Pulse Arts teaching artist noted, “For the first time, our students aren’t just the subjects of a story. They are the authors.”

This hyper-local project mirrors a broader shift from top-down, extractive models toward partnerships built on shared value. This shift is essential, and it’s the core of my company, Swiirl.

Our work centres on enabling brands to move beyond advertising at communities and into genuine dialogue with them. We’ve built a platform that allows brands, through sophisticated AI agents, to respectfully join permission-based community conversations.

The goal isn’t to sell, but to listen, learn, and build understanding.

Crucially, this process ensures community members are compensated for their insights, transforming the dynamic from extraction to equitable exchange. The authentic understanding gleaned from these conversations then becomes the foundation for co-creating campaigns with the community, ensuring the final message resonates because it originates from within.

This listening-first model is not confined to a single classroom. It’s power unfolds nationally through our partnership with NBA legend Jerome “JYD” Williams on the “Shooting for Peace” 40-city educational tour.

In each city, students first attend financial literacy workshops. Using our platform’s accessible tools like simple voice-to-text video capture, they record their own stories about money and ambition. These authentic narratives are then shared with brand partners, proving the program’s impact and ensuring student voices are central to the campaign.

While the generative AI market is projected to top $1 trillion by 2032, initiatives like these prove that AI, when guided by human-centered values, can strengthen community bonds and democratize opportunity.

Los Angeles, with its vibrant intersection of technology and culture, is the perfect crucible for this work. Pioneering schools like Marlton and programs like Pulse Arts are demonstrating that technology doesn’t have to be a divisive force. It can be a tool driven by the educators and students who put these ideas into practice.

The conclusion is simple: AI must serve humanity, not the other way around.

Technology finds its highest purpose when it empowers individuals to share their unique perspectives and participate fully in the economy. When students who have been historically marginalized use these tools to craft their own stories, technology transforms from a potential threat into an instrument of justice and creativity.

The path forward requires clear action. Brands must invest in these models, educators must be empowered to adopt them, and policymakers must champion the inclusive future we are building together, classroom by classroom.

Written By Kay Boamah

Kay Boamah is a co-founder of Swiirl and a leader dedicated to building ecosystems where profit and purpose converge. Driven by the belief that the most successful businesses are those that create shared value, he co-founded Swiirl to solve a fundamental market failure: the disconnect between brands and the communities they exist to serve. At Swiirl, Kay is the chief architect of the partnership ecosystem that powers this new model.

Italy court stalls Sicily bridge, triggers PM fury


By AFP
October 30, 2025


An artist's impression of a project to build a suspension bridge between Sicily and mainland Italy, made available by Webuild Multimedia Library - Copyright AFP/File RONALDO SCHEMIDT

Italy’s government said Thursday it would address concerns over a new bridge to Sicily, after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned a court ruling against the project as an “intolerable intrusion”.

Meloni’s government in August approved the 13.5-billion-euro ($15.6-billion) project to build what would be the world’s longest suspension bridge connecting the island of Sicily to the mainland.

But in a ruling late Wednesday, the Court of Auditors, which oversees public spending, refused to approve the decision.

It said it would give its reasons within 30 days, but last month it had requested clarification about documentation used on the project, and on costs.

Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, condemned Wednesday’s ruling as “yet another encroachment on the jurisdiction of the government and parliament”.

“The constitutional reform of the justice system and the reform of the Court of Auditors, both under discussion in the Senate and close to approval, represent the most appropriate response to this intolerable intrusion, which will not stop the government’s action,” she said in a statement.

At the same time, Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right League party who as deputy prime minister and transport minister has championed the bridge, said the ruling appeared to be a “political choice”.

Yet on Thursday, after Meloni called an emergency meeting with her ministers, the government adopted a more conciliatory tone.

“We await with extreme calm the Court of Auditors’ findings, to which we are confident we can respond point by point, because we have complied with the requirements,” Salvini told reporters.

In a statement, Meloni’s office confirmed the government would respond to each complaint, adding that “the objective… to proceed with the project remains firm”.

Italian politicians have for decades debated a bridge over the Strait of Messina, a narrow strip of water between the Sicily and the region of Calabria, at the toe of Italy’s boot.

“We have waited a century, and we will wait a century and two months,” Salvini added.

– ‘Respect for magistrates’ –

The approval in August by a government committee, CIPESS, is the furthest the project has ever got.

Advocates say the state-funded project will provide an economic boost for the impoverished south of Italy.

The government also hopes the bridge can be classified as a strategic asset, with its costs counting towards the money Italy has committed to spend on defence as part of the NATO military alliance.

However, critics warn that the project risks turning into a financial black hole.

It has also sparked local protests over the environmental impact, and complaints that the money could be better spent elsewhere.

The Court of Auditors on Thursday said its decision was based on legal aspects of the approval of the bridge, not on the merits of the project.

In a strongly worded decision, it added that any criticism of its decisions “must be conducted in a context of respect for the work of the magistrates”.

In three years in office, Meloni and her ministers have repeatedly taken aim at the judiciary for decisions they assert are political.

Parliament on Thursday approved a reform to separate the training, careers and status of judges and prosecutors, whom right-leaning governments in Italy have long accused of colluding to the detriment of the defence.

The reform must now go to a referendum.

Novo Nordisk launches bidding war with Pfizer for obesity drugmaker Metsera


By AFP
October 30, 2025


Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, made an offer valuing Metsera at $6 billion - Copyright AFP/File RONALDO SCHEMIDT

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, maker of weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, announced Thursday an unsolicited bid to acquire obesity treatment maker Metsera, topping an offer from US rival Pfizer which called the move “reckless”.

Novo Nordisk’s bid valued the US biotech firm at $6 billion.

“Under the terms of the proposal, Novo Nordisk would acquire all outstanding shares of Metsera’s common stock at a price of $56.50 per share in cash,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement.

It added that the bid was “currently subject to review by the Metsera board of directors.”

In September, Pfizer said it would pay $47.50 per share to acquire Metsera, valuing the company at $4.9 billion.

Following the announcement, Metsera said the offer from Novo Nordisk was “superior”, as defined in its merger agreement with Pfizer, and gave Pfizer four business days to submit a new, higher offer.

Pfizer called Novo Nordisk’s offer a “reckless and unprecedented proposal”.

“It is an attempt by a company with a dominant market position to suppress competition in violation of law by taking over an emerging American challenger,” it said.

Pfizer also said the offer was “illusory and cannot qualify as a superior proposal under Pfizer’s agreement with Metsera”.

It said it was “prepared to pursue all legal avenues to enforce its rights under its agreement.”

Novo Nordisk said the acquisition of Metsera would give the Danish company “the opportunity to maximise the potential of Metsera’s complementary portfolio and capabilities”.



– Increased competition –



In addition to the upfront price, Novo Nordisk also committed to paying up to an additional $21.25 per share depending on the achievement of certain milestones for Metsera’s treatments under development. Pfizer was offering an add-on of $22.5 per share.

The American and Danish giants are particularly vying for MET-097i, Metsera’s most advanced treatment, currently in phase 2 clinical trials.

MET-097i is a GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) receptor agonist which could potentially be administered via a single monthly injection.

Similar to Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss treatments, it relies on a hormone secreted by the intestines that stimulates insulin secretion and suppresses appetite by inducing a feeling of satiety.

Shares in Novo Nordisk were down over two percent on the Copenhagen stock exchange following the announcement.

The popularity of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss injections had once made it a darling of investors, boosting its share price and at one point making it Europe’s most valuable company.

But its share price has been tanking since last year as competition grows from rival treatments in its key market, the United States, notably with US giant Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.

Novo Nordisk recently changed its CEO and announced it will lay off 9,000 employees.

Following a disagreement between the board and the majority shareholder over the company’s future governance, it also announced earlier in October that it would replace more than half of its board, including the chair.

An extraordinary shareholders meeting has been scheduled for November 14.

Similarly, Pfizer had a hugely profitable breakthrough as it was one of the first companies to develop a Covid vaccine, but its stock price has fallen since the pandemic ended.

In its statement, Pfizer noted that “the Board of Metsera previously rejected Novo Nordisk’s proposal due to ‘a variety of risks’ in its deal structure”.

Independent Macau media outlet says it will close by December


By AFP
October 30, 2025


Macau, which has its own legal system largely based on Portuguese law, enacted national security legislation in 2009 and widened its powers in 2023 - Copyright AFP/File Eduardo Leal

One of the last independent media outlets in Macau will close operations in December, the platform said on Thursday, citing “increasing pressure and risks”.

The All About Macau Media (AAMacau) news platform, co-founded by late journalist Ng Sio Ngai more than a decade ago, has often been critical of social issues in the Chinese city.

AAMacau, whose Chinese-language name means “discuss as much as possible”, runs digital and print platforms and also has a social media presence.

The outlet said this month’s print edition would be its last, with the rest of its operation to end in December.

It said it had been told by Macau officials that it “no longer meets the statutory requirements to engage in relevant activities” under the Chinese special administrative region’s media law and that its monthly publication registration number has been revoked.

“Facing resource constraints, mounting external pressures, and the need for our reporters to navigate judicial proceedings, the team found it increasingly difficult to maintain reporting standards,” AAMacau said.

It said it “had no choice but to make this difficult decision”.

In April, two AAMacau reporters were detained by police while covering an event in the city’s legislature, which it said was the first case of its kind in Macau.

It said on Thursday that three of its journalists could face criminal charges over the incident.

The city’s Government Information Bureau has not yet responded to an AFP request for comment.



– ‘Swift deterioration’ –



Macau, which has its own legal system largely based on Portuguese law, enacted national security legislation in 2009 and widened its powers in 2023.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said the closure of AAMacau is “a blow to press freedom and a highly troubling development”.

It “marks a swift deterioration” in Macau’s media environment, the advocacy group told AFP.

Began as a weekly feature in a local newspaper in 2010, AAMacau established its website about two years later, followed by the first monthly magazine printed in May 2013.

In recent years, the outlet has transitioned into a subscription and donation-based funding model.

AAMacau said its decision came about a year after it started facing restrictions in accessing government events.

Political scientist and veteran journalist Eric Sautede called the outlet’s closure an “absolute loss”.

He said AAMacau had “helped foster a measure of accountability among those in power — both in government and in the private sector”.

High price of gold inspires new rush in California


By AFP
November 1, 2025


YouTuber Matt James -- who runs the Mountaineer Matt channel -- displays gold he has found in California's El Dorado County, north of Sacramento - Copyright AFP Frederic J. BROWN

Paula RAMON

Matt James has collected gold nuggets for years from the hills and riverbeds of California, but as the precious metal’s price soars, he has found an unexpected El Dorado: on social media.

Though the value has fluctuated, it has effectively doubled in the last two years, reaching an all-time high of more than $4,380 an ounce in October.

“My social media channels are definitely seeing an uptick in traffic right now,” James told AFP during one of his expeditions in northern California, where the Gold Rush first erupted in the mid-1800s.

The rise in clicks on his posts — and the related increase in commissions he makes on sales of products he uses in his prospecting — has generated a new income source for James.

“I’m not getting rich by it, from it, by any means. But I’m certainly paying for myself to maintain my hobby and my passion and pay for the equipment,” he said.

The 34-year-old project manager is the host of the Mountaineer Matt channel on YouTube. His videos typically earn tens of thousands of views.

“The question everybody always asks is ‘Where (does one) find gold?’ Unfortunately, that’s the question that nobody wants to answer,” James explained.

“Gold is very, very hard to find, and everyone wants to kind of keep it to themselves.”

“Mountaineer Matt” has never lost hope of discovering “The Big Nugget” — the one that will make him rich.

But he is well aware that today’s finds bear little resemblance to those in the early days of the Gold Rush in 1849, when men came to mine the Mother Lode in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

James nevertheless says there is gold to be had — you just need very specialized equipment to find it.



– ‘Tremendous growth’ –



Cody Blanchard is hoping his Heritage Gold Rush can serve the niche market — and help him turn a hobby into a thriving business.

The store offers everything from basic tools to pan for gold in the river, such as pickaxes and scoops, to pinpointers and high-tech metal detectors that can cost thousands of dollars.

The 35-year-old sanitation worker — who organizes paid gold-digging tours — says he had tripled his yearly average find from one ounce a year to three using the gadgets.

“As a business, I’ve seen tremendous growth in a very short amount of time,” he said, referring to sales of top-priced items.

For Blanchard, if people find more gold using his products, it is the best kind of advertising.



– ‘Great hobby’ –



The Gold Rush transformed California, known as the Golden State, and many towns in the Sierra Nevada are working to keep that moment in history alive.

Columbia State Historic Park is a preserved Gold Rush settlement that allows local and foreign tourists to try and strike it rich at the Matelot Gulch Mining Company.

Nikaila DeLorenzi, whose family has operated the attraction within the park for more than 60 years, says there has been an uptick in both visitors and equipment sales in recent weeks.

“There’s a lot of burn scar areas from our local fires and surrounding areas which are good for erosion. There’s a lot of sediment that is falling down,” DeLorenzi explained.

“So, all good opportunities to pan for gold — and now that gold’s at $4,000 an ounce, people are thinking this is a great hobby” that might pay off, she added.

Charlene Hernandez, who was panning for gold with her family, says she hopes California is on the cusp of a modern-day Gold Rush.

“With all the money changing and the currency changing, it seems like the gold is really something you can count on that’s been kind of solid,” Hernandez said.

“When people are more educated and understand the importance and the security in gold, it could be a different kind of Gold Rush than what we actually read about in history, right?”

Panama wins canal expansion arbitration against Spanish company


By AFP
October 31, 2025


Panama has won an arbitration with Spanish company Sacyr over the expansion of its famed canal - Copyright AFP/File Martin BERNETTI

Juan José Rodríguez

Panama’s government won a lawsuit against Spanish company Sacyr, officials said Friday, after the firm claimed it was owed around $2.3 billion for its work expanding the Panama Canal.

Sacyr sued Panama in 2018, alleging the Central American country violated a free trade agreement with Spain.

“The Republic of Panama won the international investment arbitration claim filed by Sacyr S.A. under the Arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law” and the tribunal rejected all claims submitted by Sacyr, Panamanian officials said in a release.

Sacyr has been ordered to pay $6 million in arbitration costs, officials said.

Panama’s president Jose Raul Mulino hailed the decision on X, calling it “a great achievement.”

Along with Italy’s Impregilo, Belgium’s Jan De Nul and Panama’s Constructora Urbana, Sacyr was part of the consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal that carried out the Panama Canal’s expansion between 2009 and 2016.

The project was initially budgeted for $5.25 billion but overran costs and faced delays due to disputes between Sacyr and canal authorities.

As a result, Sacyr filed various claims but a tribunal in Washington said that if it had not dismissed the claims for lack of merit, it would have concluded they were “inadmissible, as they were based on the contract for the execution of the job and not on the trade agreement between Panama and Spain,” the Panamanian goverment said.

Panama faces a similar case filed by Italian company WeBuild, formerly Impregilo, for an undisclosed sum.

The Panama Canal’s main users are the United States and China.

Latin America weathered Trump tariffs better than feared: regional bank chief


By AFP
November 1, 2025


Well-established trade networks helped Latin America mitigate the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariffs, CAF president Sergio Diaz-Granados says - Copyright AFP/File Nelson ALMEIDA

Juan José Rodríguez

The impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump “has been less than expected” in Latin America, the head of the region’s development bank told AFP in an interview.

Dozens of economies worldwide were hit by US customs duties as part of Trump’s push for reciprocal tariffs against what he considers unfair trade practices.

Some economists have warned the measures could slow global trade due to the increased export costs to the world’s largest economy.

But “when you look at the year from January to date, the impact has been less than expected,” said Sergio Diaz-Granados, president of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), in an interview on Friday.

“Obviously, it caused a lot of turbulence at the beginning, but the outlook is becoming increasingly clearer.”

He attributed the lower-than-anticipated impact to “well-established trade networks” between the United States and Latin America, which he said helped the region adapt quickly to the new tariffs.

“Latin America has certain comparative advantages over the American market: its proximity and a series of deep ties ranging from the presence of Hispanics and Latinos within the United States to the connection of American companies as investors” in the region, Diaz-Granados said.

Several Latin American countries also negotiated directly with Washington after the tariff hikes, helping to soften the blow, he added.

“The outlook is clearer now with these new trade arrangements where there will certainly be some tariffs, but at the same time, there will be some compensation in the (supply) chains, and this will allow for a readjustment,” he said.

Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to grow at an average of “around 3.2 percent” in 2026, 0.3 percentage points below the global economic growth rate, according to Diaz-Granados.

“Mexico will once again recover its investment and export pace, which is good news because, at the end of the day, Mexico connects and pulls a large part of the trade networks of Central America and northern South America,” he said.

However, he lamented that low investment flows, weak productivity and insecurity have kept Latin America’s growth below the global average for the past decade.

“The region needs to grow above four percent to begin to structurally close the gaps in poverty and inequality,” he warned.

Fury as Trump holds 'tone deaf' Gilded Age Halloween party as millions lose food aid

GREAT GATSBY THEME

Alexander Willis
November 1, 2025 

RAW STORY

U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz


As 42 million Americans missed their first food assistance payment Saturday amid the ongoing government shutdown, President Trump attended a Great Gatsby–themed Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago resort — sparking outrage from critics who described the event as ‘tone deaf.”

“Trump and Rubio at the Mar-a-Lago Halloween Party, on day 31 of the shutdown,” wrote Danny Kemp, the White House correspondent for AFP, in a social media post on X Friday night. “Official theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody,’ we’re told.”

Critics couldn’t help but point out the irony of the theming of the party, based on the 1925 novel that offers a sharp critique of social and economic inequality seen during the Gilded Age in the late 19th century, which was fraught with corporate and government corruption.

“This is truly perfect, they were cosplaying the Great Gatsby, while we're in a shutdown and people are losing their SNAP benefits and health benefits,” wrote X user “MFT Guy Has Thoughts,” a vocal supporter of the Democratic Party who’s amassed more than 4,300 followers. “I don't think you could script it better.”

“Peak level tone deaf,” wrote another X user, “AJL,” who says they’re a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts. “And no GOP Fox viewer will even know.”

Trump has frequently been criticized for either throwing lavish parties or making remarks critics have labeled as “tone deaf” given current events, with the most recent instance being less than 24 hours before his Halloween party, where he boasted online about an expensive refurbishing of a White House bathroom, just hours before 42 millions Americans would lose federal food assistance.

More than 12% of the U.S. population receives food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, including 16 million children. The Trump administration has also refused to tap into a pool of around $6 billion in emergency funds specifically earmarked for programs like SNAP to ensure Americans receive food assistance, a decision that frustrated a federal judge.

With Food Aid Suspended for Millions of Families, Trump Brags of ‘Statuary Marble’ Bathroom Makeover

“He’s a psychopath, humanly incapable of caring about anyone or anything but himself,” one critic said of Trump.


The bathroom adjacent to the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom is seen after being remodeled by President Donald Trump.
(Image via Truth Social)



Brad Reed
Oct 31, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

As millions of families across the US are about to lose their access to food aid over the weekend, President Donald Trump on Friday decided to show off photos of a White House bathroom that he boasted had been refurbished in “highly polished, statuary marble.”

Trump posted photos of the bathroom on his Truth Social platform, and he explained that he decided to remodel it because he was dissatisfied with the “art deco green tile style” that had been implemented during a previous renovation, which he described as “totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era.”

States in Emergency Mode as Trump GOP Refuses to Fund Food Aid for Poor Americans



Millions of US Families Could Soon Go Hungry Thanks to Trump-GOP Government Shutdown

“I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble,” Trump continued. “This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!”

Trump’s critics were quick to pan the remodeled bathroom, especially since it came at a time when Americans are suffering from numerous policies the president and the Republican Party are enacting, including tariffs that are raising the cost of food and clothing; expiring subsidies for Americans who buy health insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges; and cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) programs in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“Sure, you might not be able to eat or go to the doctor, but check out how nice Trump’s new marble shitter is,” remarked independent journalist Aaron Rupar on Bluesky.

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who has become a critic of Trump, ripped the president for displaying such tone deafness in the middle of a federal government shutdown.

“Government still shutdown, Americans not getting paid, food assistance for low-income families and children about to be cut off, and this is what he cares about,” he wrote on X. “He’s a psychopath, humanly incapable of caring about anyone or anything but himself.”

Don Moynihan, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, expressed extreme skepticism that the White House bathroom during Abraham Lincoln’s tenure was decked out in marble and gold.

“Fact check based on no research but with a high degree of confidence: This is not the marble that was originally in the Lincoln Bedroom,” he wrote. “It is more likely to the be retrieved from a Trump casino before it was demolished.”

Fashion critic Derek Guy, meanwhile, mostly left politics out of his criticisms of the remodeled bathroom, instead simply observing that “White House renovations are currently being spearheaded by someone with famously bad interior design taste.”

Earlier this month, Trump sparked outrage when he demolished the entire East Wing of the White House to make way for a massive White House ballroom financed by donations from some of America’s wealthiest corporations—including several with government contracts and interests in deregulation—such as Apple, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Palantir.

Trump says his mega MAGA ballroom won't cost voters a dime. Here's why that's a lie

Dean Baker,

 Common Dreams
October 31, 2025


A demolition crew takes apart the East Wing of the White House. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Donald Trump and his Republican sycophants have been busy telling us that we shouldn’t be bothered by Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing and his plans for a now $350 million ballroom. (The price tag keeps rising, it had been $200 million.)

While many of us were upset about Trump’s destruction of a historic landmark with zero consultation from anyone, the consolation is supposed to be that taxpayers are not footing the bill. Trump says he is raising the money from his friends and corporate sponsors.

Apparently, we are supposed to be relieved that people seeking favors from Trump are paying for the ballroom rather than taxpayer dollars. As David Dayen pointed out in a piece in The American Prospect, these contributions are likely to prove very costly to the American people.

Dayen goes through the public list of donors (some are anonymous) and found off the bat the big tech companies, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. These companies have all sorts of occasion to seek government contracts and regulatory favors from a Trump administration that has openly said it favors its friends in such matters.

The list includes many other companies looking for favors, such as Hewlett Packard and Union Pacific, both looking for regulatory approval on major mergers. And then there are crypto folks who always want more love from Trump as they expand their scams.

This naked corruption is the biggest cost to the public from Trump’s big ballroom, but it is not the only one. If we’re only concerned about the budgetary impact, it’s important to remember that taxpayers pay a price for the “generosity” of rich people. They deduct their contributions from their taxable income.

The current top tax rate is roughly 40 percent. (This includes the Medicare tax, which applies to all income of rich people.) If the full $350 million were coming from individuals, this means that we would be getting $140 million less in taxes from them because of their contributions to Trump’s mega ballroom.

From a straight budgetary perspective, the public would be better off if Trump built something more tasteful in the $100-$140 million range, using taxpayer dollars, than the mega MAGA monstrosity he is actually attaching to the White House. (What will this cost to demolish?)

In fairness, many of Trump’s contributions come from corporations who are only taxed at a 21 percent rate. Also, it’s likely that some of Trump’s contributors cheat, and don’t pay any taxes anyhow, so the deduction doesn’t mean anything to them. But none of us should think that just because the ballroom is paid for by contributions, it doesn’t cost the government anything.