FACT FOCUS: As cold hits, Trump asks, where’s global warming? Scientists say it’s still here

As much of the United States faces numbing cold, treacherous ice and heavy snow from an enormous winter storm, President Donald Trump used social media to dispute that the world is warming.

In a 25-word post on his Truth Social account, the president Friday questioned how the world can be warming when it is so cold, and called the temperatures nearly unprecedented. He also called advocates and scientists “environmental insurrectionists.”

More than a dozen scientists Friday told The Associated Press the president’s claims were wrong. They point out that even in a warmer world, winter and cold occur, and they never said otherwise. They note that even as it is cold in the eastern United States, more of the world is warmer than average. They also stressed the difference between daily and local weather and long-term, planetwide climate change.

Meteorologists also said that global warming over the past couple of decades may make this cold seem unprecedented and record-smashing. But government records show it has been much colder in the past.

What to know about the deal to keep TikTok in US

TikTok has at last finalized a deal to keep the popular video sharing platform operating in the U.S. after years of uncertainty, but questions remain about whether users' experience will change and whether the changes actually address security concerns around the app.

Here's what to know about the deal, which created a new TikTok U.S. joint venture after social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX.

Why was the deal needed?

After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company. A string of orders continued to extend the deadline until this deal was reached.

Government plans to bring forward online harms bill, AI minister says

OTTAWA - The federal government is working on online harms legislation, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Friday.

Solomon told reporters Culture Minister Marc Miller will bring the bill forward.

The bill would be separate from privacy legislation Solomon is expected to introduce, and from a justice bill the government tabled last year that includes elements criminalizing some deepfakes.

A spokesperson for Miller did not provide additional details about the bill when asked on Friday.

Toyota recalls 162,000 trucks over faulty screens

NEW YORK (AP) — Toyota announced Friday it would recall about 162,000 pickup trucks in the United States after it was discovered that the vehicles' multimedia displays could compromise driver safety.

The recall affects the company's model year 2024-2025 Tundra and Tundra Hybrid line of trucks. Affected customers are currently being notified, according to a statement from Toyota.

The Japanese automaker warns that the screens may “become stuck on a camera view” or go completely dark under certain circumstances, creating situations where drivers aren't able to see their backup camera feed when reversing. Toyota says this malfunction potentially violates federal safety standards.

Meta pauses teen access to AI characters

Meta is halting teens' access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily, the company said in a blog post Friday.

Meta Platforms Inc., which own Instagram and WhatsApp, said that starting in the “coming weeks,” teens will no longer be able to access AI characters “until the updated experience is ready”

This applies to anyone who gave Meta a birthday that makes them a minor, as well as “people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology.”

The move comes the week before Meta — along with TikTok and Google's YouTube — is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles over its apps' harms to children.

What weather apps sometimes miss about dangerous winter storm conditions

Smartphone weather apps that summarize their forecasts with eye-popping numbers and bright icons may be handy during mild weather, but meteorologists say it's better to listen to human expertise during multi-faceted, dangerous winter storms like the one blowing through the U.S.

The multistate storm's combination of heavy snow, treacherous ice and subzero temperatures shows why it's best to seek out forecasters who can explain its nuances via local TV or radio newscasts, online livestreams or detailed websites, said meteorologists interviewed by The Associated Press. The data is changing rapidly before and during the storm, and the distance of a few miles can mean the difference between snow, sleet or dangerous freezing rain.

“Weather apps are really bad at storms that have multiple types of precipitation and it really makes messaging hard,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd, a past president of the American Meteorological Society. “Apps don’t understand the details of why snow, sleet or freezing rain happens.”

University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado and other experts said humans are important in these cases, especially those with local expertise.

To clear ice and snow, there are rock salt alternatives that are safer for your pets and yard

Winter has its fans, but even those who enjoy playing in the snow probably dislike the chore of clearing up after a big storm that dumps several inches or even feet of snow and ice.

It's easy to dash to the closest hardware store to grab a bag of salt, but experts say there are a lot of environmental and other factors to consider when tackling all that ice and snow.

Here's what to know.

What kinds of salt are out there?

TikTok finalizes a deal to form a new American entity

TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years on the platform now used by more than 200 million Americans.

The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app.

President Donald Trump praised the deal in a Truth Social post, thanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping specifically “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” Trump add that he hopes “that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”

Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok's head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.

AI chatbot drags X deeper into gutter

Concern has intensified in recent weeks over the role of social-networking app X in public and political life, as the platform’s artificial intelligence chatbot has created millions of sexual “deepfakes.”

The chatbot, called Grok, has facilitated a raft of disturbing applications: a female world leader is artificially placed in bikini alongside her clothed counterparts; the corpse of the victim of the recent ICE shooting in Minneapolis is grafted into a swimsuit; a “father figure” is placed in a sexually-suggestive position next to a young woman or teen, all part of a wider trend where users have employed Grok to digitally remove the clothing of real women and children.

The images proliferated quickly, starting en masse in late December. The New York Times reported Thursday that Grok created and shared at least 1.8 million sexualized images of women over just nine days starting Dec. 31.

Earlier this month, Canada’s privacy commissioner launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s xAI, the company behind the chatbot, and expanded its ongoing inquiry of X Corp, to determine if they obtained “valid consent” from individuals to use their personal information to create deepfakes.

Under Armour looking into data breach affecting customers’ email addresses

BALTIMORE (AP) — Clothing retailer Under Armour is investigating a recent data breach that purloined customers' email addresses and other personal information, but so far there are no signs the hackers stole any passwords or financial information.

The breach is believed to have happened late last year, and affected 72 million email addresses, according to information cited by the cybersecurity website Have I Been Pwned. Some of the records taken also included personal information that included names, genders, birthdates and ZIP codes.

In an Under Armour statement acknowledging its investigation into the claims of a data breach, the Baltimore-based company said: “We have no evidence to suggest this issue has affected UA.com or systems used to process payments or store customer passwords. Any implication that sensitive personal information of tens of millions of customers has been compromised is unfounded.”

Have I Been Pwned CEO Troy Hunt said that he agrees with Under Armour's assertion, based on the information that has emerged so far. But he also said he was surprised by the lack of an official disclosure statement from the company.

NASA and families of fallen astronauts mark 40th anniversary of space shuttle Challenger accident

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Families of the astronauts lost in the space shuttle Challenger accident gathered back at the launch site Thursday to mark that tragic day 40 years ago.

All seven on board were killed when Challenger broke apart following liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986.

At the Kennedy Space Center memorial ceremony, Challenger pilot Michael Smith’s daughter, Alison Smith Balch, said through tears that her life forever changed that frigid morning, as did many other lives. “In that sense,” she told the hundreds of mourners, “we are all part of this story.”

“Every day I miss Mike," added his widow, Jane Smith-Holcott, “every day's the same.”

Trump administration halts use of human fetal tissue in NIH-funded research

The Trump administration announced Thursday that human fetal tissue derived from abortions can no longer be used in research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The policy, long urged by anti-abortion groups, expands restrictions issued during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The government has funded research involving fetal tissue for decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The tissue, which otherwise would be thrown away, has been critical for certain research, including ways to fight HIV and cancer. Opponents of fetal tissue use say there are now alternatives, although many scientists say there aren’t always adequate substitutes.

In a statement Thursday, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya acknowledged the agency “has long maintained policies governing the responsible and limited use of human fetal tissue in biomedical research.”

Elizabeth Hurley describes ‘monstrous’ privacy invasion by Daily Mail in British media hacking case

LONDON (AP) — Elizabeth Hurley accused the publisher of the Daily Mail on Thursday of tapping her phones, putting microphones outside her windows and stealing her medical records among “other monstrous, staggering things” during testimony in a celebrity-studded privacy invasion lawsuit.

“The best way I can describe it is like there is someone peeping into your life and into your home,” the model and actor said. It “makes me feel as if my private life had been violated by violent intruders — that there had been sinister thieves in my home all along and that I had been living with them completely unaware.”

Hurley was the second witness to testify in the lawsuit that includes co-claimants Prince Harry and Elton John, and four others who allege that Associated Newspapers Ltd. hired private investigators to unlawfully snoop on them over two decades.

Harry showed up to show his support for Hurley’s testimony the day after he choked up in the witness box as he spoke of the emotional toll his battle against the British media had taken on him and his family.

Rwanda to test AI-powered technology in clinics under a new Gates Foundation project

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwanda will test technology powered by artificial intelligence in more than 50 health clinics as part of a new initiative by the Gates Foundation to support 1,000 clinics across Africa with the aim to improve health care services.

The technology is intended to strengthen rather than replace clinical judgment, while improving efficiency within an already stretched health system, Andrew Muhire, a senior official with Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Rwanda now has one health care worker for 1,000 patients — far from the globally recommended ratio of 4:1,000.

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI on Wednesday launched a new initiative dubbed Horizons1000, with joint funding of $50 million over two years. Bill Gates said the initiative will help close the health inequality gap.

Study shows how earthquake monitors can track space junk through sonic booms

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — As more and more space junk comes crashing down, a new study shows how earthquake monitors can better track incoming objects by tuning into their sonic booms.

Scientists reported Thursday that seismic readings from sonic booms that were generated when a discarded module from a Chinese crew capsule reentered over Southern California in 2024 allowed them to place the object's path nearly 20 miles (30 kilometers) farther south than radar had predicted from orbit.

Using this method to track uncontrolled objects plummeting at supersonic speeds, they said, could help recovery teams reach any surviving pieces more quickly — crucial if the debris is dangerous.

“The problem at the moment is we can track stuff very well in space,” said Johns Hopkins University’s Benjamin Fernando, the lead researcher. “But once it gets to the point that it’s actually breaking up in the atmosphere, it becomes very difficult to track.”