The Headlines - Trump’s Freezing Spree, and an ‘Invisible Threat’ in L.A.

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Plus, DeepSeek’s shock to the top.   On Today’s Episode:White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants, by Chris CameronTrump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries, by Apoorva MandavilliWhat to Know About DeepSeek and How It Is Upending A.I., by Cade MetzAirborne Lead and Chlorine Levels Soared as L.A. Wildfires Raged, by Hiroko Tabuchi and Mira RojanasakulCrafting a Haggis for American Tastes (and Import Restrictions), by Remy Tumin Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, January 28th. Here's what we're covering. So we signed numerous executive orders today, as you know, and very successful. I think we'll give you a little rundown with... President Trump continues to aggressively reshape the federal government. From the cabin of Air Force One yesterday, he added to the dozens of executive orders

he's already signed. He directed the Pentagon to end diversity programs, moved to push openly transgender people out of the military, and ordered plans for a new missile defense system for the U.S. Pretty good recap, wouldn't you say? And in D.C., Trump's acting attorney general made good on the president's vows for retribution. He fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the criminal investigations into Trump. The Justice Department said in a statement that those who were fired could not be trusted to, quote, faithfully implement the president's agenda.

And in another sweeping move, the White House budget office issued a memo pausing all grants, loans, and federal financial assistance as of today. Exactly what that includes is unclear. The Trump administration says it won't affect Medicare or Social Security benefits. But it potentially freezes hundreds of billions of dollars intended for state and local governments,

disaster relief aid, education funding, small business loans. The budget office indicated the pause will last until at least mid-February and that it's necessary in order to ensure that federal programs are aligned with Trump's policy priorities. It's not clear whether Trump's administration has the authority to do this, to unilaterally halt funding that's already been allocated by Congress. Under the Constitution, Congress passes the spending bills. The president is supposed to execute them as written. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also targeted foreign aid, pausing nearly all aid

payments to other countries. That includes support for a high-profile American health initiative, PEPFAR, the president's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The program, which was started by George W. Bush, is estimated to have saved as many as 25 million lives in 54 countries. Last night, the Trump administration went beyond just pausing the program's funding. It shut down access to all its data and reports

and directed clinics to stop distributing HIV medications that were paid for with US money, even if the medications were already sitting in the clinics ready to be used. China. Let's talk about DeepSeek because it is mind-blowing and it is shaking this entire industry to its core. Last week, DeepSeek was a relatively obscure Chinese startup working on AI, but on Monday it shook the global economy, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in tech stocks. The company has investors reeling because it undercuts some of the major assumptions about what it takes to develop AI. US companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta have said the key to success is computer chips.

The more chips you have, the more powerful your AI product. That's led to billion-dollar investments in chipmakers like Nvidia, which has become one of the most valuable companies on Earth in the last few years. But DeepSeek says its new AI model, which rivals competitors like ChatGPT, was made with just a fraction of the chips that US makers rely on. That has Wall Street rethinking whether the biggest players in the field were overhyped and overvalued. It's also raised questions about America's dominance in AI and whether China might now cut into that.

Mark Andreessen, one of Silicon Valley's biggest tech investors, compared the emergence of DeepSeek to the space race of the 20th century, calling its launch, quote, AI's Sputnik moment. For more on DeepSeek, listen to the newest episode of Hard Fork with Time's tech columnist Kevin Roos. It is not unusual for people in the AI world to start freaking out about some new development or breakthrough or some new model that was released, but I believe that this is the real deal. I think this

is a big moment in the history of AI development. In Los Angeles, scientists and city officials are warning about the potential health impacts from this month's fires. Unlike wildfires in remote areas that mostly burn through brush and trees, these fires tore through entire neighborhoods, melting plastics, chemicals, and asbestos. They also released lead from paint and old pipes. The Times got detailed air quality measurements from the worst days of the fires. They showed that concentrations of lead and chlorine in the air briefly surged to dangerous levels. Some toxins may also linger in homes near the burned out areas. One woman in Alta Dena said her mattress, couch, and rugs smelled like a chemical campfire.

Other residents who've been returning say they feel like they're facing an invisible threat. Overall, it could take years for the full health impact of the fires to become clear, and the toxins could eventually drive up the death toll. And finally, smugglers have tried to drive it across the border, sneak it through the airports, send it in the mail. U.S. customs officials have had to seize it. It's haggis.

The traditional and slightly divisive Scottish dish of sheep innards, oatmeal, and spices, all stuffed into a sheep's stomach, has been banned in the U.S. since the 1970s because of food safety concerns. The Department of Agriculture forbids producing or importing any foods with one of haggis' key ingredients, sheep lungs, which are ground up in the filling. Now, after years of trying and failing to get the ban overturned, one company in Scotland has decided to compromise on their recipe to break into the American market. McSween has developed a new haggis that replaces sheep lung with lamb heart, which you can import into the US. It'll hit stores next year. One butcher told

the Times, do I think that there's something to be said for textural difference that the lung adds to it? Yes. Do I think the average consumer is going to notice? Probably not. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.