TheChek News Flow

Newly released data from messaging app Telegram reveals a sharp rise in the number of data demands it fulfilled over the past year for users’ data from requesting law enforcement agencies.

The rise in fulfilled user requests comes months after French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in August in part for the company’s longstanding refusal to provide user data in response to a child exploitation investigation. Soon after Durov’s arrest, Telegram appeared to relax its policy on how it handles abuse reports.

Telegram’s latest transparency data — requestable only with a Telegram account and limited to the region where the requesting user is located — shows the messaging app handed over phone numbers and IP addresses to U.S. authorities on 900 occasions during 2024, affecting 2,253 Telegram users.

That’s a spike in the number of fulfilled data requests compared to most of 2024, which saw Telegram respond to 14 requests for user data on a total of 108 users, according to a global crowdsourced map of requests produced by Meduza.

Telegram’s transparency figures for 2024 also show that the messaging app gave over phone numbers and IP addresses to Indian authorities on 14,641 occasions, affecting 23,535 users. For the United Kingdom, Telegram said it gave phone numbers and IP addresses to U.K. authorities a total of 142 times, affecting 293 users, up from single-digits under the previous reporting period.

Research adds to evidence that viral infections contribute to development of dementia

Repeated head injuries suffered by sports players and military personnel — a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease — may induce dementia by reactivating the dormant herpes virus in neural tissues, according to laboratory experiments.

The research at Tufts and Oxford universities, using stem cells turned to organoids or “brains in a dish”, offers more evidence that viruses, particularly those in the herpes family that are present in the majority of adults, play an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s.

The study, published on Tuesday in the journal Science Signalling, could speed up research into antiviral drugs that slow the onset of degenerative diseases.

Different experiments with brain organoids, published last week in Cell Reports by scientists at universities in the US and Israel, found that herpes infection accelerated the formation of tau, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Ruth Itzhaki, professorial fellow at Oxford’s Institute of Population Ageing, who worked with colleagues at Tufts, said recent studies left no doubt that viruses were involved in many cases of dementia. They are believed to harm the brain by inducing an inflammatory immune response rather than directly killing neurons.

“When I published the first evidence about viruses being active in the brain back in 1991, there was a shock-horror reaction from people in the field,” she said. “Since then evidence has appeared in more than 600 published papers but there is still quite a lot of opposition to the idea.”

According to the World Health Organization, more than 55mn people have dementia, with nearly 10mn new cases diagnosed every year. Alzheimer’s disease is the condition’s most common form, accounting for 60-70 per cent of cases.

Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) is present in as many as 80 per cent of adults, either as an active infection or dormant, while 95 per cent harbour the relative varicella zoster virus, which causes shingles.

The Tufts and Oxford project used 6mm-wide models of the brain created from neural stem cells suffused through a spongy support, which grew into a communicating network of mature neurons.

The scientists gave the mini-brains either a single hard blow with a piston to mimic a traumatic head injury or a series of smaller jolts to mimic the effects of periodic milder concussion.

After repeated blows activated the dormant HSV-1 within the organoids, a build-up of amyloid plaque and tangles of tau protein — key markers of Alzheimer’s disease — was detected. This was not observed in uninfected organoids.

“This opens the question as to whether antiviral drugs or anti-inflammatory agents might be useful as early preventive treatments after head trauma to stop HSV-1 activation in its tracks, and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dana Cairns, who led the research at Tufts.

The second study examined the molecular interactions between HSV-1 and tau proteins in brain organoids designed to model the progression of Alzheimer’s.

“Early on, changes in tau may protect brain cells by limiting the virus but, as the disease advances, these same changes could lead to more harm and accelerate neurodegeneration,” said Or Shemesh, project leader at the University of Pittsburgh and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Julia Dudley, head of research strategy at the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, said the two latest studies “offer new insights into how a common herpes virus could contribute to the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease . . . by affecting the brain’s immune system”.

She said the studies “highlight new treatment avenues, such as using medicines that target these viruses or reduce harmful inflammation in the brain”. Alzheimer’s Research UK was not involved in the studies.

According to research published last July, people vaccinated with Shingrix, which stops herpes zoster virus causing shingles, were significantly less likely to develop diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Company dispatched 21 Rafale fighter jets in 2024, above guidance of 20

Dassault Aviation AM 1.08%increase; green up pointing triangle delivered more Rafale fighter jets to customers last year than in 2023 as geopolitical tensions remain elevated, though deliveries of its Falcon business jets came short of company guidance amid supply-chain hurdles.

The French aircraft manufacturer said it dispatched 21 Rafale fighter jets in 2024 compared with 13 a year earlier, above guidance of 20 aircraft. Deliveries of Dassault’s Falcon business jets climbed to 31 last year from 26 the year prior, but missed guidance of 35 deliveries.

The group didn’t elaborate on Falcon deliveries, but said last year that strained supply chains were weighing on production and, consequently, deliveries. Much of the aviation industry has been agonizing for years over supply-chain bottlenecks.

Dassault Aviation in July warned of shortages in its production lines, citing supplier inefficiencies in the aerostructure sector. The group said at the time that it was taking steps to anticipate those inefficiencies and mitigate their impact on production and deliveries.

The company logged 30 Export Rafale orders in 2024 against 60 in 2023. Meanwhile, the group reported 26 Falcon jet orders last year, above the 23 it received a year earlier.

Dassault Aviation’s backlog included 220 Rafale and 79 Falcon jets at the end of the year.

The group will post its 2024 financial results on March 5.

Amazon-backed OpenAI rival was valued at $18 billion last year

Anthropic is in advanced talks to raise $2 billion in a deal that would value it at $60 billion, making it the latest artificial-intelligence startup to seize upon investor euphoria for the technology.

The funding round is being led by the venture firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, people familiar with the matter said. The $60 billion valuation includes the money Anthropic plans to raise in the round.

The deal would make Anthropic the fifth-most valuable U.S. startup after SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe and Databricks, according to data provider CB Insights. It was valued last year at $18 billion in a round led by Menlo Ventures.

There has been a dealmaking frenzy among AI companies since OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in an October round that nearly doubled its value to $157 billion.

Two other startups, Elon Musk’s xAI and Perplexity, subsequently raised money at substantially increased valuations.

Investors are excited about the potential of generative AI to transform how people work and live and largely unconcerned that most AI startups are losing money because of the high costs of the technology and intense competition.

Tech giants including Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google are also investing billions to build their own AI capabilities.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees. Its main product is a chatbot called Claude that is popular among programmers and businesses, but trails ChatGPT among everyday users of the technology.

The company has distinguished itself for taking a public stance in favor of robust safety testing for its technology out of concern AI could be misused or unintentionally cause catastrophic harm to humanity.

Much of Anthropic’s funding to date has come from its close partner Amazon AMZN -2.02%decrease; red down pointing triangle, which committed $4 billion to the startup in November, bringing its total investment since 2023 to $8 billion. Amazon’s November investment was a convertible note, meaning it will translate to equity at the valuation set in the current round.

Anthropic develops and operates its technology in data centers operated by Amazon and Google, which has also invested billions of dollars in the startup.

The startup’s annualized revenue—an extrapolation of the next 12 months’ revenue based on recent sales—recently hit about $875 million, one of the knowledgeable people said. Most of that has come from sales to businesses.

OpenAI told investors when closing its October round that it expected to generate $3.7 billion in revenue last year, in large part from sales of the premium version of ChatGPT to consumers.

Class B bondholders have filed their own restructuring plan for the troubled utility

Thames Water’s junior bondholders have accused the troubled utility’s senior creditors of attaching “predatory” conditions to a £3bn emergency loan, which they claim is an attempt to “sidestep” regulatory oversight.

The claims by a group of Thames Water’s so-called class B bondholders came on Tuesday as it formally filed paperwork to seek court approval for its own rival loan proposal.

Thames Water, which is the UK’s largest water utility serving customers in and around London, is trying to win court approval for the controversial £3bn loan agreed with its top-ranking creditors. Thames Water faces the prospect of running out of cash in March if it cannot raise new financing, which would likely lead to the utility being temporarily renationalised under the government’s special administration regime.

“The company’s proposed plan looks to sidestep Ofwat’s approval, undermining proper regulatory procedures critical for a national utility with 16mn customers,” said the junior bondholders in a summary of their grounds of objection to the proposed loan filed with the court.

Thames Water’s rival classes of bondholders took aim at one another in a London high court hearing last month, during which the class B bondholders indicated that they would challenge proceedings and launch their own parallel restructuring plan for the company.

The class B bondholders announced on Tuesday that they had also formally filed “grounds of objection” to Thames Water’s proposal earlier this month.

Beyond the “excessive” costs of the class A loan, the lower ranking bondholders said they had also objected to “predatory conditions” on the debt that could hamper the company’s ability to raise equity; and the fact that Thames Water’s proposal was based on “flawed evidence”, as it did not incorporate the impact of a five-year price review agreed with water regulator Ofwat last month over how much utilities could raise customer bills by.

“We strongly oppose the attempts by Thames Water’s management to rely on outdated evidence to push through the courts an overly costly new loan that would unfairly grant creditors control over a critical utility and circumvent regulatory oversight, in particular without having run any competitive process to obtain better terms which are clearly available to it,” said a spokesperson for the class B creditors.

Thames Water and Ofwat did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The class A bondholder group declined to comment. A barrister representing the class A creditors said in court last month that the class B lenders’ arguments that their loan would have a chilling effect on Thames Water’s ability to raise equity seemed “implausible”.

The high-tech TGL is finally set to tee off with superstar players—and a bet that fans will tune into the latest bold attempt to spruce up the sport

On Tuesday night, a collection of the best golfers in the world will assemble for a brand new, high-stakes competition. But they won’t be pulling up to the first tee box at one of the sport’s most prestigious courses.

In fact, they won’t even be outdoors.

Instead, this group of major champions and top-10 players are betting that fans are ready to take a chance on golf like they have never seen it before—played against a giant computer screen.

The launch of TGL, a new golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in partnership with the PGA Tour, marks a foray into uncharted territory for professional golf. It’s a team competition that combines simulator golf, where players hit balls into an enormous screen, with live action as players finish every hole by playing around a real green complex.

If that sounds like a concept goofy enough that the roof could cave in at any moment, well, that already happened. TGL’s debut was pushed back by a year after damage to the roof at the indoor venue in Palm Beach, Fla.

Its belated arrival comes at a time of rapid upheaval in the sport, and when alternative versions of the game have become increasingly appealing and accessible to everyday players. These days, more Americans than ever are playing on simulators—and that’s particularly true for young people and women. In fact, there were more off-course golf participants (32.9 million) than on-course ones (26.6 million) in 2023, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Which is why everyone from billionaire investors to the game’s best golfers sense an opportunity to experiment with a new format that seeks to attract both fanatics and people who are less inclined to play—or this in case watch—the traditional version of the sport that can take all day.

“We’re trying to bring a new demographic to this game of golf,” Woods said recently. “It’s going to be unbelievable on TV. I hope that we can invigorate the game because it definitely needs it right now.”

That’s the plan, at least. What the coming weeks will determine is whether that enthusiasm is shared by fans who actually tune in.

How Does TGL Work?

The league features six teams of four players apiece competing inside the 250,000- square-foot SoFi Center, a custom-built venue with a playing area almost the size of a football field. Players hit their shots into a screen that’s the size of a medium building at 64-feet tall and 53-feet wide—or roughly 24 times the size of a simulator—on holes that were designed for TGL.

Then there’s an element of real-life golf, too. Once a ball reaches within 50 yards or so of the hole, the ball is spotted from its virtual location to the venue’s short-game complex, which includes a green.

That means chipping and putting are actually performed in person. What it doesn’t mean, though, is that the green stays the same—motors and turntables can transform the contours and shape on every hole.

What’s the Competition Format?

Each session is match play between two teams playing 15 holes, with three players per team participating in each. The debut is between New York Golf Club’s Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick, who will square off against Ludvig Aberg, Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark of The Bay Golf Club. Woods, meanwhile, is on Jupiter Links Golf Club, while McIlroy is a member of Boston Common Golf.

The match starts with nine holes of triples, where three players alternate shots, before six holes of singles, where each player plays two full holes. The team that takes the most holes wins, and the clubs that perform the best over the course of the season advance to the playoffs.

There’s also a 40-second shot clock, and part of the idea is that it should take only two hours—much quicker than a standard round of golf.

“To me, it’s exciting to take golf that really hasn’t innovated all that much and do something different,” said hedge fund titan and Mets owner Steve Cohen, who owns New York Golf Club.

Why Does This Exist?

TGL was first unveiled in 2022, back when the PGA Tour was battling the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit, which was poaching many of the game’s best players. While the Tour increased the prize money at its events to fend off its new rival, TGL represented another way to line the pockets of popular players who remained loyal.

More broadly, it was also a counter to LIV’s stated goal of growing the sport through new formats, which followed plenty of criticism that the pro game needed more innovation to engage modern audiences.

In the time since, though, it has become clear that LIV may also serve as a cautionary tale. Its backers have poured billions into a product that has garnered low viewership numbers and scant signs of commercial success.

When TGL tees off, it’s hoping for an entirely different outcome.