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Israelis gather in Tel Aviv, awaiting hostage release

admin - Latest News - October 13, 2025
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Before the sun rose over the Middle East on Monday, people began gathering in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, awaiting the release of 48 hostages from Gaza.



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Oct. 12, 2025, 3:42 PM EDTBy Julie Tsirkin, Megan Shannon and Megan LebowitzWASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Saturday reversed some layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after hundreds of scientists received “incorrect notifications” that they were laid off during the government shutdown, according to an official familiar with the matter.“The employees who received incorrect notifications were never separated from the agency and have all been notified that they are not subject to the reduction in force,” the official told NBC News. “This was due to a glitch in the system.”The reversed layoffs, first reported by The New York Times, come just after the administration moved to lay off thousands of federal workers during the government shutdown, prompting backlash from critics who argue the layoffs are illegal.The reduction-in-force moves are being challenged in court and mark the latest fallout from the government shutdown fight, which has stretched into its second week as lawmakers show no signs of moving closer to a deal.We’d like to hear from you about how you’re experiencing the government shutdown, whether you’re a federal employee who can’t work right now or someone who is feeling the effects of shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here.Some 1,100 to 1,200 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services were sent layoff notices on Friday. A Friday court filing indicated that more than 4,000 federal workers were laid off, though it is unclear how that number has changed after the administration moved to reverse certain CDC layoffs.HHS and the Treasury Department originally accounted for more than half of the total layoffs, according to the court filing.Vice President JD Vance addressed the reversed layoffs in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” saying that a “government shutdown inevitably leads to some chaos.”“We are figuring out how to take money from some areas and give it to other areas,” he said, going on to blame Democrats.Vance argued that layoffs were necessary to preserve critical government functions, adding that as that happens, “you’re going to have some chaos.”“You’re going to lay off people, frankly, Margaret, that the White House doesn’t want to lay off,” he continued, addressing moderator Margaret Brennan. “We would like to reopen the government and ensure these essential services stay on, but unfortunately, in an environment where we’re dealing with limited resources where the government is shut down, we’ve got to move some things around. And in that moving things around, there is some chaos, there is some unpredictability.”In a separate interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Vance said that “the longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be.”“To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful,” he added. “This is not a situation that we relish. This is not something that we’re looking forward to, but the Democrats have dealt us a pretty difficult set of cards.”Democrats have continued pressing Republicans to negotiate over Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year, which would lead to higher premiums. Republicans are urging Democratic senators to flip their support to a clean short-term funding bill. Both Republican- and Democratic-led funding proposals have failed in the Senate numerous times.Julie TsirkinJulie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.Megan ShannonMegan Shannon is a White House researcher for NBC NewsMegan LebowitzMegan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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Oct. 10, 2025, 1:45 AM EDTBy Kayla SteinbergThousands of U.S.-bound packages shipped by UPS are trapped at hubs across the country, unable to clear the maze of new customs requirements imposed by the Trump administration.As packages flagged for customs issues pile up in UPS warehouses, the company told NBC News it has begun “disposing of” some shipments.Frustrated UPS customers describe waiting for weeks and trying to make sense of scores of conflicting tracking updates from the world’s largest courier.“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Matthew Wasserbach, brokerage manager of Express Customs Clearance, said of the UPS backlog. “It’s totally unprecedented.”Wasserbach’s New York City-based shipping services firm helps clients move shipments through customs. He said the company has seen a spike in inquiries for help with UPS customs clearance.A Boeing 747 operated by UPS on the tarmac at Louisville International Airport in Kentucky during a winter storm on Feb. 3, 2022.Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileMore than two dozen people who are waiting for their UPS packages explained the circumstances of their shipments to NBC News.They described shipments of tea, telescopes, luxury glassware, musical instruments and more — some worth tens of thousands of dollars — all in limbo or perhaps gone. Others have deep sentimental value: notebooks, diplomas and even engagement rings.The frustration has exploded online, with customers sharing horror stories on Reddit of missing skin care products, art and collectibles.They are confused and angry, and they want answers.Packages destroyed? “It’s almost impossible to get through to anybody to figure out what is happening,” said Ashley Freberg, who said she is missing several boxes she shipped via UPS from England in September. “Are my packages actually being destroyed or not?”Freberg’s boxes of journals, records and books were shipped on Sept. 18, according to tracking documents she shared with NBC News. Over the next two weeks, she received two separate notifications from UPS that her personal mementos had not cleared customs and as a result had been “disposed of” by UPS.Then, on Oct. 1, a UPS tracking update appeared for her packages, saying they were on the way. The tracking updates Freberg showed NBC News for that shipment revealed it was the most recent update she had received. UPS transport jets wait to be loaded with packages at UPS Worldport in Louisville, Ky., on April 27, 2021.Timothy D. Easley / AP fileWhile sentimental value is impossible to measure, other customers fear they will not be able to recover financially if their goods were destroyed.Tea importer Lauren Purvis of Portland, Oregon, said five shipments from Japan, mostly containing matcha green tea and collectively worth more than $127,000, were all sent via UPS over the last few weeks and arrived at UPS’ international package processing hub in Louisville, Kentucky. Purvis has yet to receive any of the shipments, only a flurry of conflicting tracking updates from UPS.A series of notifications for one shipment, which she shared with NBC News, said that the shipment had not cleared customs and that UPS had disposed of it. But a subsequent tracking update said the shipment had cleared customs and was on the way.“We know how to properly document and pay for our packages,” Purvis said. “There should be zero reason that a properly documented and paid-for package would be set to be disposed of.”At least a half-dozen people described an emotional seesaw they were put through by weeks of contradictory UPS tracking updates about their shipments. The updates, they said, compounded the stress of not knowing what had really happened to their possessions.A UPS Boeing 767 aircraft taxis at San Diego International Airport, in San Diego, Calif., August 15, 2025.Kevin Carter / Getty Images fileAJ, a Boston man who asked that NBC News use only his initials to protect his privacy, said he shipped a package from Japan via UPS on Sept. 12 including Japanese language books, a pillow and a backpack. After it sat in Louisville for nearly two weeks, AJ got a tracking update on Sept. 26, one of several that he shared with NBC News. “We’re sorry, your package did not clear customs and has been removed from the UPS network. Per customs guidelines, it has been destroyed. Please contact the sender for more information,” it read.UPS tracking updates for a package shipped from Japan to the United States.Obtained by NBC NewsThree days later, on Sept. 29, he received another, and this one read: “On the Way. Import Scan, Louisville, KY, United States.” For a moment, it appeared as though AJ’s shipment might have been found. But less than 24 hours after his hopes were raised, another tracking update arrived: “We’re sorry,” it began. It was the same notice that his package had “been destroyed” that he had received on the 26th. Two minutes later, he got his final update: “Unable to Deliver. Package cannot clear due to customs delay or missing info. Attempt to contact sender made. Package has been disposed of.” A mess for customs International shipping was thrown into chaos after the long-standing “de minimis” tariff exemption for low-value packages ended on Aug. 29. Packages with values of $800 or less, which were previously allowed to enter the United States duty-free, are now subject to a range of tariffs and fees.They include hundreds of country-specific rates, or President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs, as well as new levies on certain products and materials. President Donald Trump holds a chart as he speaks about reciprocal tariffs at a “Make America Wealthy Again” event at the White House on April 2.Brendan Smialowski / AFP – Getty Images fileThe result is that international shipping to the United States today is far more complex and costly than it was even two months ago. The sweeping changes have caught private individuals and veteran exporters alike in a customs conundrum.It is difficult to know the exact number of the packages that are stuck in UPS customs purgatory. Shipping companies guard their delivery data closely. UPS reported to investors that in 2023, its international service delivered around 3.2 million packages per day.This week, the company told NBC News that it is clearing more than 90% of the packages it handles through customs on the first day. The rest of the packages, or less than 10%, require more time to clear customs and need to be held until they do. That could easily mean that thousands of UPS packages every day are not clearing customs on their first try.No easy fixIn a statement to NBC News, UPS said it is doing its best to get all packages to their destinations while abiding by the new customs requirements.“Because of changes to U.S. import regulations, we are seeing many packages that are unable to clear customs due to missing or incomplete information about the shipment required for customs clearance,” it said. UPS said it makes several attempts to get any missing information and clear delayed shipments, contacting shippers three times.“In cases where we cannot obtain the necessary information to clear the package, there are two options,” it said. “First, the package can be returned to the original shipper at their expense. Second, if the customer does not respond and the package cannot be cleared for delivery, disposing of the shipment is in compliance with U.S. customs regulations. We continue to work to bridge the gap of understanding tied to the new requirements and, as always, remain committed to serving our customers.”A conveyor belt carries envelopes and small packages past UPS workers to their destinations at Worldport on Nov. 20, 2015.Patrick Semansky / AP, fileNBC News asked UPS precisely what it does with packages when it tells customers their shipments have been unable to clear customs and have been “disposed of.” It would not say. On Sept. 27, a shipper in Stockholm received a formal notification from UPS that two packages her glassware company sent to the United States — which failed to clear customs — would be destroyed.“We are sorry, but due to these circumstances and the perishable nature of the contents, we are now required to proceed with destruction of the shipment in accordance with regulatory guidelines,” UPS told Anni Cernea in an email she shared with NBC News.The email continued, “There is no need to contact our call center for further information or to attempt to clear this shipment.”Cernea said, “It’s just outrageous that they can dispose of products like this without approval from either the sender or recipient.”From now on, Cernea said, she plans to ship her products via UPS rival FedEx.Trouble aheadCernea’s decision to switch carriers hints at the worst-case scenario for UPS, which is that people could abandon the company. It is a potential crisis for the roughly $70 billion company. The company’s stock price is already down more than 30% this year, which analysts attribute to a mix of tariffs, competition and shifting shopping habits.As she awaits her missing journals and diplomas from England, Freberg is looking ahead to the biggest shipping months of the year.“I can’t even imagine how bad the holidays are going to be, because that’s a time where loads of people are shipping stuff overseas,” she said.“If it doesn’t get solved soon, I can only see it becoming an even bigger issue.”Kayla SteinbergKayla Steinberg is a producer at NBC News covering business and the economy.
October 12, 2025
Oct. 12, 2025, 6:30 AM EDTBy Jared PerloOpenAI’s new text-to-video app, Sora, was supposed to be a social AI playground, allowing users to create imaginative AI videos of themselves, friends and celebrities while building off of others’ ideas.The social structure of the app, which allows users to adjust the availability of their likeness in others’ videos, seemed to address the most pressing questions of consent around AI-generated video when it was launched last week. But as Sora sits atop the iOS App Store with over 1 million downloads, experts worry about its potential to deluge the internet with historical misinformation and deepfakes of deceased historical figures who cannot consent to or opt out of Sora’s AI models.In less than a minute, the app can generate short videos of deceased celebrities in situations they were never in: Aretha Franklin making soy candles, Carrie Fisher trying to balance on a slackline, Nat King Cole ice skating in Havana and Marilyn Monroe teaching Vietnamese to schoolchildren, for instance.That’s a nightmare for people like Adam Streisand, an attorney who has represented several celebrity estates, including Monroe’s at one point.“The challenge with AI is not the law,” Streisand said in an email, pointing out that California’s courts have long protected celebrities “from AI-like reproductions of their images or voices.”“The question is whether a non-AI judicial process that depends on human beings will ever be able to play an almost 5th dimensional game of whack-a-mole.”Videos on Sora range from the absurd to the delightful to the confusing. Aside from celebrities, many videos on Sora show convincing deepfakes of manipulated historical moments. For example, NBC News was able to generate realistic videos of President Dwight Eisenhower confessing to accepting millions of dollars in bribes, U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arguing that the “so-called D-Day landings” were overblown, and President John F. Kennedy announcing that the moon landing was “not a triumph of science but a fabrication.”The ability to generate such deepfakes of nonconsenting deceased individuals has already caused complaints from family members.In an Instagram story posted Monday about Sora videos featuring Robin Williams, who died in 2014, Williams’ daughter Zelda wrote: “If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It’s dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want.”Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, wrote on X: “I concur concerning my father. Please stop.” King’s famous “I have a dream” speech has been continuously manipulated and remixed on the app. George Carlin’s daughter said in a BlueSky post that his family was “doing our best to combat” deepfakes of the late comedian.Sora-generated videos depicting “horrific violence” involving renowned physicist Stephen Hawking have also surged in popularity this week, with many examples circulating on X.A spokesperson for OpenAI told NBC News: “While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, we believe that public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used. For public figures who are recently deceased, authorized representatives or owners of their estate can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”In a blog post from last Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote that the company would soon “give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters,” referring to wider types of content. “We are hearing from a lot of rightsholders who are very excited for this new kind of ‘interactive fan fiction’ and think this new kind of engagement will accrue a lot of value to them, but want the ability to specify how their characters can be used (including not at all).”OpenAI’s quickly evolving policies for Sora have led some commentators to argue the company’s move fast and break things approach was purposeful, showing users and intellectual-property holders the app’s power and reach.Liam Mayes, a lecturer at Rice University’s program in media studies, thinks increasingly realistic deepfakes could have two key societal effects. First, he said, “we’ll find trusting people falling victim to all kinds of scams, big, powerful companies exerting coercive pressures and nefarious actors undermining democratic processes,” Mayes said.At the same time, being unable to discern deepfakes from real video might reduce trust in genuine media. “We might see trust in all sorts of media establishments and institutions erode,” Mayes said.As founder and chairman of CMG Worldwide, Mark Roesler has managed the intellectual property and licensing rights for over 3,000 deceased entertainment, sports, historical and music personalities like James Dean, Neil Armstrong and Albert Einstein. Roesler said that Sora is just the latest technology to raise concerns about protecting figures’ legacies.“There is and will be abuse as there has always been with celebrities and their valuable intellectual property,” he wrote in an email. “When we began representing deceased personalities in 1981, the internet was not even in existence.”“New technology and innovation help keep the legacies of many historical, iconic personalities alive, who shaped and influenced our history,” Roesler added, saying that CMG will continue to represent its clients’ interests within AI applications like Sora.To differentiate between a real and Sora-generated video, OpenAI implemented several tools to help users and digital platforms identify Sora-created content.Each video includes invisible signals, a visible watermark and metadata — behind-the-scenes technical information that describes the content as AI-generated.Yet several of these layers are easily removable, said Sid Srinivasan, a computer scientist at Harvard University. “Visible watermarks and metadata will deter casual misuse through some friction, but they are easy enough to remove and won’t stop more determined actors.”Srinivasan said an invisible watermark and an associated detection tool would likely be the most reliable approach. “Ultimately, video-hosting platforms will likely need access to detection tools like this, and there’s no clear timeline for wider access to such internal tools.”Wenting Zheng, an assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, echoed that view, saying: “To automatically detect AI-generated materials on social media posts, it would be beneficial for OpenAI to share their tool for tracing images, audio and videos with the platforms to assist people in identifying AI-generated content.”When asked for specifics about whether OpenAI had shared these detection tools with other platforms like Meta or X, a spokesperson from OpenAI referred NBC News to a general technical report. The report does not provide such detailed information.To better identify genuine footage, some companies are resorting to AI to detect AI outputs, according to Ben Colman, CEO and co-founder of Reality Defender, a deepfake-detecting startup.“Human beings — even those trained on the problem, as some of our competitors are — are faulty and wrong, missing the unseeable or unhearable,” Colman said.At Reality Defender, “AI is used to detect AI,” Colman told NBC News. AI-generated “videos may get more realistic to you and I, but AI can see and hear things that we cannot.”Similarly, McAfee’s Scam Detector software “listens to a video’s audio for AI fingerprints and analyzes it to determine whether the content is authentic or AI-generated,” according to Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at McAfee.However, Grobman added, “new tools are making fake video and audio look more real all the time, and 1 in 5 people told us they or someone they know has already fallen victim to a deepfake scam.”The quality of deepfakes also differs among languages, as current AI tools in commonly used languages like English, Spanish or Mandarin are vastly more capable than tools in less commonly used languages.“We are regularly evolving the technology as new AI tools come out, and expanding beyond English so more languages and contexts are covered,” Grobman said.Concerns about deepfakes have made headlines before. Less than a year ago, many observers predicted that the 2024 elections would be overrun with deepfakes. This largely turned out not to be true.Until this year, however, AI-generated media, like images, audio and video, has largely been distinguishable from real content. Many commentators have found models released in 2025 to be particularly lifelike, threatening the public’s ability to discern real, human-created information from AI-generated content.Google’s Veo 3 video-generation model, released in May, was called “terrifyingly accurate” and “dangerously lifelike” at the time, inspiring one reviewer to ask, “Are we doomed?”Jared PerloJared Perlo is a writer and reporter at NBC News covering AI. He is currently supported by the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism.
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