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Anna's Daybreak News

_{Just facts, you think for yourself}

Monday, 5:12 AM

January 27, 2025

Good morning news friend! Follow the stories shaping today’s headlines and defining the road ahead. 📰🌟

New Gaza Proposal

President Donald Trump proposed that Egypt and Jordan accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza. He described Gaza as a "demolition site" and mentioned the ongoing war has displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million.

Trump highlighted the need for Arab nations to support resettlement, suggesting it could be a temporary or long-term solution.

However, both Hamas and Jordan’s foreign minister firmly rejected this proposal. Jordan hosts over 2 million Palestinian refugees and fears further displacement could destabilize both their country and the region.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has warned of security risks associated with relocating refugees.

Sources: AP News, Reuters, WallStreetJournal, NYTimes, BBC

Weakest Housing Market in 30 Years

In 2024, the US housing market reached a 30-year low with existing home sales at 4.06 million, a drop of 0.7% from the previous year. This is the weakest performance since 1995.

The median home price climbed to an all-time high of $407,500, up 4.7% from 2023. Although inventory increased by 16.2% year-over-year to 1.15 million homes, it remained below the historical average supply of 1.98 million homes.

December showed a brief recovery, with sales rising 2.2% from November and 9.3% year-over-year. At December’s sales pace, housing supply equated to a 3.3-month inventory, under the standard 4-6 month range.

First-time buyers constituted only 24% of total sales, well below the historical average of 40%.

Sources: AP News, Reuters, USA Today, NPR, WallStreetJournal

CIA and the Lab Leak Theory in COVID-19 Origins

The CIA now believes COVID-19 is "more likely" to have originated from a lab, specifically the Wuhan Institute of Virology, than from natural transmission.

This new assessment was made public shortly after John Ratcliffe became the CIA director. The agency previously stated it lacked enough information to draw conclusions.

The CIA maintains "low confidence" in this assessment, meaning the supporting evidence is inconclusive. However, it concludes that both lab and natural origins remain plausible.

The review, undertaken during the Biden administration, did not rely on new intelligence but rather a reassessment of existing information. The FBI previously voiced moderate confidence in the lab leak theory. China continues to reject these claims.

Sources: Reuters, NYTimes, BBC, Politico, AXIOS, Bloomberg, FinancialTimes 

China’s DeepSeek

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI firm, has gained attention for its chatbot models, R1 and V3. Released in January, R1 matches or surpasses OpenAI's GPT-o1 performance in various benchmarks including math and coding.

This model was developed using only 2,000 Nvidia chips, fewer than the tens of thousands typically employed by US tech giants. However, the models have drawn criticism for censorship, as they avoid sensitive political topics.

DeepSeek trained R1 at a cost of $5.6 million, significantly lower than the $100 million to $1 billion typically spent by frontier labs like OpenAI. DeepSeek’s open-source approach allows users to modify its algorithms for specific applications..

Despite government export restrictions on AI chips to China, DeepSeek's breakthrough highlights unintended benefits of these sanctions, compelling innovation and efficiency.

Sources: WallStreetJournal, VentureBeat, NYTimes, TechReview, LiceScience, TechNode

Khanmigo and Global Learning

Khan Academy introduced Khanmigo, an AI-powered tutor aimed at assisting students worldwide. Khanmigo is designed for personalized learning, helping students master concepts at their pace without providing direct answers.

Khanmigo also aids teachers by generating lesson plans and assessments. In Palm Beach County, all middle and high schools are implementing Khanmigo. Students describe it as a "little tutor" that guides them through problems.

Khan Academy partnered with Microsoft to allow free access to Khanmigo for teachers across 40 countries, with individual subscriptions available for students at $4/month or $44/year.

The initiative has expanded to 260+ school districts in the US, with students showing a 10% improvement in academic performance.

Sources: FreeThink, CBS12, CBS, GeoTV

Alcohol and Sleep

Recent studies reveal that while alcohol may help some fall asleep, it has detrimental effects on overall sleep quality. Consuming 3-6 drinks within three hours of bedtime can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep. However, it disrupts REM sleep.

Even low doses (around 2 drinks) can hinder REM sleep. For every gram of alcohol per kilogram of body weight consumed, REM sleep duration decreases by 40.4 minutes.

This disruption impairs memory consolidation and cognitive function, affecting emotional regulation. Alcohol impacts GABA and adenosine levels, crucial for sleepiness, but these effects are fleeting.

Alcohol also disrupts circadian rhythms, alters melatonin production, and increases bathroom visits due to its diuretic effect.

Sources: ScienceAlert, Scroll, RenalUrologyNews, NCOA

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