The California Energy Commission (CEC) will spend $2.9 billion to accelerate the state’s zero-emission transportation strategy. In an announcement spotted by Reuters, the agency detailed an investment plan it estimated would result in California building about 90,000 new chargers over the next four years, a move that would more than double the number of chargers available across the state.

About $900 million will go toward chargers designed for light-duty EVs, with another $1.7 billion earmarked for infrastructure that supports medium and heavy-duty zero-emissions vehicles, including those powered by hydrogen fuel cells. When you add in funding from utilities and other programs, the commission says it expects California to hit its goal of deploying 250,000 chargers by 2025.

“This transformative investment will deploy charging and refueling infrastructure swiftly and equitably to make sure drivers of zero-emission cars and trucks feel confident they can refuel wherever they go,” said CEC Lead Commissioner for Transportation Patty Monahan. “The plan will increase access to charging and hydrogen fueling for individuals, businesses and public agencies, while supporting our emerging manufacturing ecosystem and creating jobs.”

Building enough charging infrastructure to support a growing number of EVs will be critical to California’s climate change plan. Earlier this year, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), following an order from Governor Gavin Newsom, said it would require all cars sold in the state by 2035 to be either fully electric or plug-in hybrids. More recently, the agency approved a $2.6 billion investment to incentivize consumers and companies to switch to electric vehicles.

Many new homes built in Tokyo will require solar panels to be installed starting in April 2025, Kyodo News has reported. The local assembly passed new regulations requiring major construction companies to equip homes smaller than 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet) with solar panels or other renewable power sources. The measure is the first of its kind in Japan and aims to cut the city's carbon emissions in half. 

The government estimates that the 980,000 yen ($7,200) price of a 4kW installation can be recouped in about six years based on utility bill savings and an existing 100,000 yen ($728) per kW grant. Leasing costs will also be reduced through other subsidies, according to an information-packed slide deck (PDF). 

The measure applies only to around 50 builders who supply over 20,000 square meters (215,000 square feet) to the market, so it's not clear what percentage of new homes will fall under the new rules. The measure should have a major effect, though, as the Tokyo government estimates that half of existing buildings (70 percent of which are homes) will be replaced with new construction by 2050. 

New construction starts in Japan averaged around 800,000-900,000 per year from 2012 to 2021, and a handful of major contractors called Super Zenecon dominate the construction sector, according to Statista. 

Japan is the world's fifth largest producer of carbon emissions, but has promised to be carbon neutral by 2050. It's not the only country mandating solar installations. In France, lawmakers recently approved a bill requiring parking lots with a minimum of 80 spaces to be covered by solar panels. The French government said the plan, aimed primarily at parking lots off freeways and major routes, could generate up to 11 gigawatts — the equivalent of 10 nuclear reactors.

Georgia has become at least the 11th state to ban TikTok from state government-owned devices. Governor Brian Kemp has also prohibited state agencies from using WeChat and Telegram. Kemp cited concerns that the governments of China and Russia may access users' personal information through the apps and use the data for spying purposes.

“The state of Georgia has a responsibility to prevent any attempt to access and infiltrate its secure data and sensitive information by foreign adversaries such as the [Chinese Communist Party],” Kemp wrote in a memo to state agency heads, as the Associated Press reports. “As such, it is our duty to take action to preserve the safety and security of our state against the CCP, entities it controls and other foreign cyberthreats.”

FBI Director Chris Wray said this month that China could use TikTok to collect data on users. Kemp cited those comments in his directive. A spokesperson for the governor told the AP that there would be exceptions to the rules for law enforcement and prosecutors to use the three apps after obtaining permission. Among those impacted by the ban are state colleges and universities.

Other states that have enacted similar bans include South Dakota, Maryland, Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah. The US military has banned TikTok from devices it owns too. Meanwhile, Indiana sued the app this month over what it claims are security and child safety issues.

On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that seeks to ban TikTok from federal government devices. The legislation still requires House approval before it lands on President Joe Biden's desk to sign it into law. Lawmakers also filed matching bipartisan bills in the House and Senate this week in the latest attempt to completely ban TikTok in the US.

TikTok has tried to assuage American politicians' concerns over Chinese officials gaining access to data it holds on users in the country. As of June, TikTok has been routing all domestic traffic to Oracle's servers so the data remains in the US. TikTok and parent company ByteDance have pledged to delete said information from their own data centers in the US and Singapore. In August, Oracle started reviewing TikTok's algorithms and content moderation systems for signs of manipulation.

In August, the federal government pumped the brakes its "free COVID test kit by mail" service, one of the most popular programs to come out of the pandemic, over fears that the American public would deplete the national stockpile of tests before the onset of winter. On Thursday, the White House announced that it has restarted the program in cooperation with the US Postal Service, though households will only receive half as many tests as before — four individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests per household. We live in the single wealthiest nation in the history of the Earth.

When the program was initially paused, 600 million at-home tests had already been sent to American households and, given the rate of distribution, the federal government would have needed to go back to Congress for additional funding to purchase more tests. In September, the White House did just that, asking for $22.4 billion in additional funding to fight COVID — amid mild Summer and Fall COVID seasons, Congress did nothing. The White House then pared down its ask to $10 billion in a supplemental funding request in November. Facing strident opposition from Republicans on the issue, Congress continues to dither. 

COVID cases reached their lowest in mid-October with just 261,268 reported nationwide. That number has doubled in the past two months, per the CDC. Amid what is suspected may be the latest wave of the pandemic, the White House has decided that the situation is dire enough to warrant dipping back into the national test stockpile as part of its Winter Preparedness Plan. You can order yours through the US Postal Service page here. Orders will begin shipping free the week of December 19th, 2022.

The No TikTok on Government Devices Act that was introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) has just crossed a major milestone. Members of the US Senate have unanimously voted to approve the bill, which will ban the TikTok app on all government-owned phones and other devices. Its approval emphasizes authorities' concerns that the app's China-based parent company ByteDance could share information gathered from US users with the Chinese government. Just last month, FBI Director Chris Wray warned lawmakers that the Chinese government could use TikTok to launch "influence operations" or to "technically compromise" millions of devices.

While the bill aims to prohibit the installation of TikTok on government devices, it carves out exceptions for "law enforcement activities, national security interests and activities, and security researchers," according to Bloomberg. Hawley called the app a "Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party" and said it has no place on government devices until it completely cuts ties with China. Meanwhile, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter told Bloomberg that Hawley "has moved forward with... a proposal which does nothing to advance US national security interests." Oberwetter added: "We hope that rather than continuing down that road, he will urge the administration to move forward on an agreement that would actually address his concerns."

Just a few days ago, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) filed a separate bill that aims to ban TikTok in the US completely. Unlike Hawley's bill, theirs also targets all social media companies in or influenced by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. Rubio criticized the administration for having "yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok."

Individual states, including Maryland and South Dakota, have already prohibited the installation of TikTok on government devices. As for Hawley's bill, the US House will still have to approve it before it can become a law. 

US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall have introduced a bipartisan bill designed to crack down on illegal uses of cryptocurrency. If passed, The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act would extend aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), a Nixon-era law Congress passed to combat money laundering, to cover crypto entities such as wallet providers and miners. Specifically, the new legislation would apply so-called “Know-Your-Customer” rules to those entities by directing the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to treat them as money service businesses. Another BSA expansion would require US citizens to file a report with the Internal Revenue Service whenever they engage in transactions that involve more than $10,000 in digital assets.

Additionally, the legislation would direct FinCEN to implement a rule the agency proposed at the end of 2020 that would require financial institutions to report transactions involving “unhosted” digital wallets. Per CoinDesk, those are wallets where the user has complete control over the contents — rather than an exchange or other third party. The legislation would also prohibit financial institutions from using or transacting with digital asset mixers, which are frequently used to obscure the origin of funds.

“Rogue nations, oligarchs, drug lords, and human traffickers are using digital assets to launder billions in stolen funds, evade sanctions, and finance terrorism,” said Senator Warren. “The crypto industry should follow common-sense rules like banks, brokers, and Western Union, and this legislation would ensure the same standards apply across similar financial transactions. The bipartisan bill will help close crypto money laundering loopholes and strengthen enforcement to better safeguard US national security.”

The push from Senators Warren and Marshall to crack down on crypto money laundering comes a day after the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced civil and criminal charges against FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Due to time constraints, the likelihood of the bill passing in the current lame-duck session is low. Warren and Marshall will almost certainly need to reintroduce it next year.

American politicians aren't just restricting access to TikTok — they now hope to ban it outright. Members of the House and Senate have introduced matching bills that would block transactions from any social media company in or influenced by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea or Venezuela. The ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act (Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party) is meant to shut down access to TikTok and other apps that could theoretically funnel American user data to oppressive governments, censor news or otherwise manipulate the public.

The rationale echoes what US political leaders have argued for years. While TikTok has taken efforts to distance its international operations from those in China, such as by storing US data domestically, critics have argued that parent company ByteDance is ultimately at the mercy of the Chinese government. TikTok could potentially profile government workers and otherwise surveil Americans, according to the often-repeated claims.

Republican bill co-sponsors Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike Gallagher tried to draw links between some ByteDance leadership and the Chinese Communist Party in an opinion piece in The Washington Post this November. At the time, 23 directors had previously worked for state-backed media, and "at least" 15 employees still did. The bill is also sponsored by House Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi.

In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said it was "troubling" that members of Congress were putting forward legislation to ban the app rather than waiting for a national security review to wind down. The bills will "do nothing to advance" national security, according to the company. The firm added that it would "continue to brief" Congress on plans developed under the watch of security officials. The social network has consistently denied plans to track American users or otherwise deliberately assist Chinese surveillance efforts in the country.

TikTok already faces some legal action. The states of Maryland and South Dakota have banned TikTok on government devices over security concerns. Indiana, meanwhile, sued TikTok for allegedly deceiving users about China's data access and child safety violations. That lawsuit would fine TikTok and demand changes to the service's info handling and marketing claims.

Whether or not the bills become legislation isn't certain. President Biden revoked former President Trump's orders to ban TikTok downloads, and instead required a fresh national security review. He's not expected to override his own order. And while the bill sponsors characterize the measure as bipartisan, it's not clear the call for a TikTok ban has enough support to clinch the necessary votes and reach Biden's desk. To some degree, the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act is more a signal of intent than a practical attempt to block TikTok.

Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council via email and less than an hour before its members' Zoom meeting with the company's executives, according to The Washington Post and NPR. The council was reportedly supposed to discuss recent developments and changes on the website under Elon Musk, but the email said that the members' help is no longer needed. Its members were apparently informed that Twitter is "reevaluating how best to bring external insights" and that the council is no longer "the best structure to do this."

The company disbanded the group just a few days after three members resigned from their voluntary positions. In their letter, they said the well-being of Twitter's users is on the decline despite Musk's claims and that the executive should not be allowed to define digital safety. In a response to the news of their departure, Musk tweeted: "It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!" After that tweet, NPR said some remaining members sent a letter to Twitter demanding the company to stop misrepresenting the council's role, as attacks against former and current advisors continued to grow worse. 

The Trust and Safety Council members aren't employees handling moderation on the website, and they have no power to make decisions or to review banned accounts and specific tweets. They're a group of external advisors from expert and anti-abuse organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, YAKIN (Youth Adult Survivors & Kin in Need), the Samaritans and GLAAD, volunteering their time to help Twitter figure out how to fight hate and harassment. When Twitter formed the council in 2016, it said the group's purpose is to make the website a less toxic place so that "anyone, anywhere can express themselves safely and confidently." 

More members were on the verge of resigning before the group was dissolved, Larry Magid, chief executive of Silicon Valley nonprofit ConnectSafely, told The Post. He said: "By disbanding [the council], we got fired instead of quit. Elon doesn’t want criticism, and he really doesn’t want the kind of advice he would very likely get from a safety advisory council, which would likely tell him to rehire some of the staff he got rid of, and reinstate some of the rules he got rid of, and turn the company in another direction from where he is turning it."

Musk said in October that he will form a "moderation council" made up of members with "widely diverse viewpoints" before he reinstates banned accounts. But in an interview in November, he admitted that he will still have the final say in making decisions. Twitter has yet to introduce a moderation council, but Musk has already reinstated previously banned accounts', such as Donald Trump's and Andrew Anglin's, the neo-Nazi creator of The Daily Stormer. 

The Biden administration is reportedly drafting an executive order designed to modernize federal space regulations. According to Reuters, White House officials have hosted multiple “listening sessions” since November 14th. The goal of those meetings has been to hear from private space companies and the rules they would like to see introduced.

Reuters reports the White House wants to simplify licensing and approval procedures for more routine space activities, including things like rocket launches and satellite deployments. Among the measures the Biden administration is considering is an order that would task the Department of Commerce with creating an online tool that would guide companies through the licensing requirements from each federal agency. The team drafting the order is also looking for ways to push Congress to give certain federal agencies oversight of space activities that aren’t covered by current laws, including things like asteroid mining and space junk removal. The order could be ready for President Biden to sign by early next year.

The administration’s push to streamline space regulations comes as companies like Blue Origin prepare to spend billions on projects like Orbital Reef, a space station the firm hopes to start assembling in low Earth orbit by the end of the decade. The next decade is also likely to see a new space race between the US and China play out as the rival superpowers look to put humans back on the Moon. Private space firms are likely to be critical in the outcome of that conflict.

The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution today asking countries not to conduct direct-ascent anti-satellite tests (ASAT) that create space junk. The US spearheaded the measure after the International Space Station (ISS) had a close call last year with more than 1,500 pieces of debris from a Russian ASAT.

The measure doesn’t ban the development or testing of ASAT systems, but it discourages conducting them in a way that creates space debris. Although since it came from the UN General Assembly and not the Security Council, it isn’t legally binding.

In addition to creating navigational hazards for astronauts, space junk also reflects sunlight to Earth’s surface, interfering with ground-based telescopes. Moreover, researchers expect orbital debris to increase by magnitudes over the next decade as internet-broadcasting mini-satellites, like SpaceX’s Starlink, grow in popularity.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the White House National Space Council, tweeted praise today for the passage. “Back in April, I announced the United States will not conduct destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile tests, and I called on other nations to join us. Today, 155 countries voted in favor of a UN resolution, helping establish this as an international norm for space.”

Of the four countries that have conducted ASATs — United States, China, India and Russia — only the US voted in favor today. In addition to Russia and China, nations voting no included Belarus, Bolivia, the Central African Republic, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua and Syria. Nine more nations abstained: India, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Pakistan, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Togo and Zimbabwe.