Across the US this year, farmers have seen costs soar and the price of their produce tumble as Donald Trump’s flagship tariffs sparked a trade war with China.

American farmers, who voted en masse for Trump last year, are now warning of the worst economic crisis since the 1980s, when soaring interest rates and a slump in exports saw the price of crops and the value of farmland collapse. About 300,000 farmers defaulted on their loans and thousands were driven into bankruptcy.

“We spent a hell lot of time in China building relationships, building those markets,” he said. “And then you basically piss it all away, to be blunt.”

https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2Fstory%2Fopenai-chief-communications-officer-hannah-wong-leaves

“Hannah has played a defining role in shaping how people understand OpenAI and the work we do,” said CEO Sam Altman and CEO of applications Fidji Simo in a joint statement. “She has an extraordinary ability to bring clarity to complex ideas, and to do it with care and grace. We’re deeply grateful for her leadership and partnership these last five years, and we wish her the very best.”

Wong joined OpenAI in 2021 when it was a relatively small research lab and has led the company’s communications team as ChatGPT has grown into one of the world’s largest consumer products. She was considered instrumental in leading the company through the PR crisis that was Altman’s brief ouster and rehiring in 2023—a period the company internally calls “the blip.” Wong assumed the chief communications officer role in August 2024 and has expanded the company’s communications team since then.

In a drafted LinkedIn post shared with WIRED, Wong said that OpenAI’s VP of communications, Lindsey Held, will lead the company’s communications team until a new chief communications officer is hired. OpenAI’s chief marketing officer, Kate Rouch, is leading the search for Wong’s replacement. Got a Tip? Are you a current or former AI worker who wants to talk about what's happening? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at mzeff.88.

“These years have been intense and deeply formative,” said Wong in the LinkedIn post. “I’m grateful I got to help tell OpenAI’s story, introduce ChatGPT and other incredible products to the world, and share more about the people forging the path to AGI during an extraordinary moment of growth and momentum.”

Wong says she looks forward to spending more time with her husband and kids as she figures out the next chapter in her career.

Update: 12/15/2025, 7:30 pm EDT: WIRED has clarified Kate Rouch’s title.

On Wednesday, MEPs endorsed a European citizens’ initiative to improve access to abortion care for women in Europe through a voluntary opt-in financial solidarity mechanism.

Epic Games CEO says Fortnite won't return to Japan, though, because the new rules still require high fees.

How much of a resource hog is AI?

Study: https://www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S2666-3899(25)00278-8

Edit: Changed the "H20" to "H₂O" in the title.

I don’t want Copilot for Christmas.

Since returning to the White House on Jan. 20, Donald Trump has imposed one-sided tariffs on the European Union, forced the bloc to commit to buying vast quantities of American natural gas, and effectively threatened annexation of Greenland. The latest indignity for Europe includes a White House National Security Strategy that calls on far-right parties to muster patriotic resistance to European policies. Instead of standing up to this blatant foreign interference, EU leaders have repeatedly tried to appease Trump and avoid any possible escalations of tension — even at the cost of their dignity. Examples include European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen weakening EU environmental and digital regulations in line with American demands, and NATO Secretary General Marc Rutte addressing Trump as "daddy" in front of the world's media. Trump may be the proximate cause of this annus horribilis for the EU. But the reasons for subservience run far deeper, says Dave Keating, a broadcaster and the author of a new book, The Owned Continent. A key factor is US command and control over the NATO military alliance, which Europe has relied on for protection from Russia for nearly eight decades. Trump and Maga are now openly exploiting that military dependency, amid Russia's assault on Ukraine, to block European regulation of tech oligarchs and fossil fuels. "Never before has there been an explicit connection from the US government between the military protectorate and EU policy," says Dave, who says the extortion is "a first" for the Trump administration. Another factor behind the European reluctance to treat the US in a more adversarial fashion, even as Maga amps up its belligerence, is the pervasiveness of American culture through cinema, news media, social media and streaming platforms. "Europeans are inundated by American culture from birth" says Dave. That also makes it "hard to accept that the US is a threat." Freeing Europe from its long vassalage is a strategic priority that starts with creation sovereign EU defense capabilities, says Dave. But that would require acknowledging that France was right to resist reliance on US military systems and hardware. It also would require Europe to make a decisive break with Atlanticism, an ideology that prioritizes NATO and that remains deeply entrenched among EU elites and in Poland and the Baltics. But Atlanticism may be an increasingly hard sell. It relies on increasingly implausible assumptions: that the US will keep large numbers of troops in Europe and uphold its mutual defense commitment under the NATO treaty despite abundant evidence otherwise. "At what point do citizens say, 'enough is enough, we've had it with these centrist European leaders lying to us, gaslighting us'?" Dave asks. "If Europeans keep electing these people, then they are signing their own death warrant as a sovereign continent." 

SOMO report on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

The Authoritarian Stack project on the threat posed by tech billionaires.

Mp3: https://www.buzzsprout.com/178148/episodes/18370429-ep-123-owned-extorted-and-gaslit.mp3

Mozilla has always believed that technology should serve people — not the other way around. As we enter a moment of rapid change in how people experience the internet and AI, we’re focused on building products that are private, transparent, and put people in control. Today, we’re excited to take an important step forward in that work by welcoming John Solomon as Mozilla’s new Chief Marketing Officer.

Courtesy of comrade @PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml

The critically acclaimed System Shock remake is AVAILABLE NOW on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 with Joy-Con 2 mouse support, gyro aiming, and community feedback-inspired features!

President Lula has indicated he will veto legislation but conservative lawmakers likely to overturn his decision

Brazil’s congress has approved a bill to reduce the prison term of Jair Bolsonaro, the former president who was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for masterminding an attempted coup to overturn the 2022 elections.

Approved last week by the lower house and late on Wednesday by the senate, the bill now goes to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has 15 working days to sign or veto it.

Brazil’s leftist president – who, investigations showed, was the target of an assassination plan as part of the coup plot – has already indicated he is likely to veto the bill, but that decision would probably be overturned afterwards by the largely conservative congress.

Apple announced it will allow alternative app stores in Japan and will permit developers to process payments for digital goods and services outside of its own in-app purchase system in iOS. The iPhone maker is not making these changes because it wants to be more open; it’s being forced — in this case, to comply with the country’s Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA), which is now going into effect.

With this update, Apple’s App Store revenues are being impacted in another major market due to anticompetition laws and regulations. The company already has to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which previously required the tech giant to allow for alternative app stores and other changes.

Lawmakers across Latin America are joining global efforts to rein in ultrafast fashion.

Archived

[...]

Chinese online marketplaces like Shein and Temu [and their] flood of ultracheap clothing has upended Latin American retail.

In response, Argentina has joined the growing global backlash against ultrafast fashion and legislative efforts to contain it. The country’s textile industry is pushing for an “anti-Shein” bill that would impose import controls and apply a flat 30% customs duty levy on e-commerce parcels to shield local manufacturers from cheap Chinese imports — a push that has gained cross-party support. Textile trade groups in Brazil and Mexico are coordinating similar efforts as part of a wider regional response.

“We’re not afraid to compete — but it has to be on equal terms,” said [the owner of a textile family buiness Luciano] Galfione, who is also the president of the ProTejer trade association. “When I sell a T-shirt online from my factory, I pay every tax imaginable. Shein sells the same way and pays none.”

[...]

Countries around the world are pushing back in an effort to protect their own textile industries. In October, the French Senate passed a bill that will sanction Asian fast fashion companies by scoring their environmental impact. Last year, Indonesia lowered the threshold below which goods are exempt from import duties from $100 to $3, while South Africa began taxing small parcels under $27. In August, the U.S. scrapped its $800 duty-free exemption, meaning even the smallest imports now face tariffs.

Governments across Latin America are also moving to shield domestic industries, which are highly labor-intensive and especially vulnerable to foreign competition. Mexico recently raised tariffs on small packages from China to 33.5%, while Chile is moving toward applying a 19% value-added tax on low-cost imports. Ecuador began implementing a $20 fee on small packages in June.

[...]

In Argentina, where textile output has plunged more than 20% in the past year as cheap imports surged, industry leaders are pushing for Shein and Temu imports to undergo inspections verifying that fabrics are non-toxic and environmentally safe. Under the proposed bill, the garments would be subject to standard import duties and taxes. The proposal mirrors France’s new ultrafast fashion law, which adds a progressive “eco tax” and requires labels to disclose key environmental information. Shein, for its part, denies qualifying as fast fashion.

[...]

Until recently, Shein wasn’t even an option in Argentina. The country’s textile and apparel industry — alongside footwear and automobiles — was for decades shielded by tariffs of up to 35% and complex import rules, a policy intended to protect nearly 300,000 local jobs. But these measures also kept prices among the highest in the world, and more than 35% above the Latin American average.

That changed in 2024, when President Javier Milei rolled back restrictions, cut tariffs to 20%, scrapped licenses, and raised the duty-free limit for door-to-door imports to $400 per package, from $50. The move unleashed a flood of online deliveries — dazzling consumers who had long been resigned to exorbitant prices, but enraging local textile makers who say the playing field is now anything but level.

“Opening the economy cannot mean making it precarious,” a press release from Argentina’s Apparel Chamber said.

[...]

There are also other concerns. Studies show that many garments from ultrafast fashion brands like Shein are worn only a handful of times before being discarded. Investigations have revealed grueling labor conditions in supplier factories and risks of significant environmental damage tied to ultracheap production.

[...]

https://www.oglaf.com/1dad/