Eruptions of plasma piling atop one another, solar wind streaming out in exquisite detail — the closest-ever images of our Sun are a gold mine for scientists.Captured by the Parker Solar Probe during its closest approach to our star starting on December 24, 2024, the images were recently released by NASA and are expected to deepen our understanding of space weather and help guard against solar threats to Earth.- A historic achievement –”We have been waiting for this moment since the late Fifties,” Nour Rawafi, project scientist for the mission at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, told AFP.Previous spacecraft have studied the Sun, but from much farther away. Parker was launched in 2018 and is named after the late physicist Eugene Parker, who in 1958 theorized the existence of the solar wind — a constant stream of electrically charged particles that fan out through the solar system.The probe recently entered its final orbit where its closest approach takes it to just 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface — a milestone first achieved on Christmas Eve 2024 and repeated twice since on an 88-day cycle.To put the proximity in perspective: if the distance between Earth and the Sun measured one foot, Parker would be hovering just half an inch away.Its heat shield was engineered to withstand up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,370 degrees Celsius) — but to the team’s delight, it has only experienced around 2,000F (1090C) so far, revealing the limits of theoretical modeling. Remarkably, the probe’s instruments, just a yard (meter) behind the shield, remain at little more than room temperature.- Staring at the Sun –The spacecraft carries a single imager, the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR), which captured data as Parker plunged through the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere.Stitched into a seconds-long video, the new images reveal coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — massive bursts of charged particles that drive space weather — in high resolution for the first time.”We had multiple CMEs piling up on top of each other, which is what makes them so special,” Rawafi said. “It’s really amazing to see that dynamic happening there.”Such eruptions triggered the widespread auroras seen across much of the world last May, as the Sun reached the peak of its 11-year cycle.Another striking feature is how the solar wind, flowing from the left of the image, traces a structure called the heliospheric current sheet: an invisible boundary where the Sun’s magnetic field flips from north to south.It extends through the solar system in the shape of a twirling skirt and is critical to study, as it governs how solar eruptions propagate and how strongly they can affect Earth.- Why it matters –Space weather can have serious consequences, such as overwhelming power grids, disrupting communications, and threatening satellites. As thousands more satellites enter orbit in the coming years, tracking them and avoiding collisions will become increasingly difficult — especially during solar disturbances, which can cause spacecraft to drift slightly from their intended orbits.Rawafi is particularly excited about what lies ahead, as the Sun heads toward the minimum of its cycle, expected in five to six years.Historically, some of the most extreme space weather events have occurred during this declining phase — including the infamous Halloween Solar Storms of 2003, which forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to shelter in a more shielded area.”Capturing some of these big, huge eruptions…would be a dream,” he said.Parker still has far more fuel than engineers initially expected and could continue operating for decades — until its solar panels degrade to the point where they can no longer generate enough power to keep the spacecraft properly oriented.When its mission does finally end, the probe will slowly disintegrate — becoming, in Rawafi’s words, “part of the solar wind itself.”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the withdrawal of 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles, roughly halving the contentious deployment in the city, the Pentagon said Tuesday.President Donald Trump ordered thousands of National Guard and hundreds of Marines into Los Angeles last month in response to protests over federal immigration sweeps — a move opposed by city leaders and California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.”Thousands of members are still federalized in Los Angeles for no reason and unable to carry out their critical duties across the state,” Newsom wrote on X, referring to the Guard’s support of firefighting missions across the state. “End this theater and send everyone home,” Newsom said.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell on Tuesday confirmed the release “of 2,000 California National Guardsmen (79th IBCT) from the federal protection mission,” adding “the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding.” Mayor Karen Bass credited peaceful protests and legal action for the withdrawal, which she termed a “retreat.””This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong. We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court — all of this led to today’s retreat,” the Democratic mayor said. As a so-called “sanctuary city” with hundreds of thousands of undocumented people, Los Angeles has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration since the Republican returned to office in January.After immigration enforcement raids spurred unrest and protests last month, Trump — who has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of the unrest — dispatched the National Guard and US Marines to quell the disruption.It was the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard against the wishes of a state governor. Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests. In late June, his office reported California National Guard firefighting crews were “operating at just 40% capacity due to Trump’s illegal Guard deployment” as fires were “popping up across the state.”California is fighting the Trump administration in court over the deployment, arguing that the president overstepped his authority, though the troops have been allowed to remain for now.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US Justice Department should release all “credible” information from its probe into notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein as he sought to douse a firestorm of criticism from his supporters over his handling of the case.Trump is facing the most serious split of his political career from his famously loyal right-wing base over suspicions that his administration is covering up lurid details of Epstein’s crimes to protect rich and powerful figures they say are implicated. “The attorney general has handled that very well,” the Republican leader said of Pam Bondi, who leads the Justice Department, when he was asked about the case at the White House.Trump repeated his claim that the Epstein files were “made up” by his Democratic predecessors in the White House — even though he said multiple times during the election campaign that he would “probably” release them.”She’s handled it very well, and it’s going to be up to her,” Trump said. “Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.”Trump’s latest comments mark a softening of his stance — he had voiced frustration in the Oval Office and online about his supporters’ fixation on Epstein and pleaded with them to move on.”I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody,” Trump told reporters Tuesday night, adding: “It’s pretty boring stuff.”The president’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement has long held as an article of faith that “Deep State” elites are protecting Epstein’s most powerful associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.Trump has faced growing outrage since his administration effectively shut down Epstein-related conspiracy theories, which have become MAGA obsessions.The Justice Department and FBI said in a memo made public earlier this month there is no evidence that the disgraced financier kept a “client list” or was blackmailing powerful figures.They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his death by suicide, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe.- ‘Let the people decide’ -It marked the first time Trump’s officials had publicly refuted the stories — pushed for years by numerous right-wing figures, notably including the FBI’s top two officials, before Trump hired them.Beyond angering supporters, the issue has opened a schism within his administration, sparking a fiery blow-up between Bondi and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, who is said to be considering resigning.Trump’s attempts to take the sting out of the controversy have largely failed, with far right influencers continuing to criticize him online.Even his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, a Fox News host, has called for “more transparency” from the administration.Trump’s most powerful ally in the US Congress, House Speaker Mike Johnson, pushed Tuesday for the administration to release more information about the case, and his stance has been echoed by multiple Republicans. “We should put everything out there and let the people decide,” he told MAGA influencer Benny Johnson’s internet show, calling on Bondi to “come forward and explain” apparent discrepancies in her statements about the case.Bondi told Fox News in February a list of Epstein clients was on her desk for review, before backtracking and saying that no such list existed. Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking.Trump — who has denied visiting the US Virgin Islands home where prosecutors say Epstein sex trafficked underage girls — said ahead of his election he would have “no problem” releasing files related to the case.Asked whether Bondi had told him if his name appeared in a file related to Epstein, Trump said “no,” adding that Bondi has “given us just a very quick briefing.”

US President Donald Trump went to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to announce $92 billion in energy and infrastructure deals intended to meet big tech’s soaring demand for electricity to fuel the AI boom.Trump made the announcement at the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University, with much of the talk about beating China in the global AI race.”Today’s commitments are ensuring that the future is going to be designed, built and made right here in Pennsylvania and right here in Pittsburgh, and I have to say, right here in the United States of America,” Trump said at the event.The tech world has fully embraced generative AI as the next wave of technology, but fears are growing that its massive electricity needs cannot be met by current infrastructure, particularly in the United States.Generative AI requires enormous computing power, mainly to run the energy-hungry processors from Nvidia, the California-based company that has become the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization.Officials expect that by 2028, tech companies will need as much as five gigawatts of power for AI — enough electricity to power roughly five million homes.Top executives from Palantir, Anthropic, Exxon and Chevron attended the event.The funding will cover new data centers, power generation, grid infrastructure, AI training, and apprenticeship programs.- Race to beat China -Among investments, Google committed $25 billion to build AI-ready data centers in Pennsylvania and surrounding regions.”We support President Trump’s clear and urgent direction that our nation invest in AI… so that America can continue to lead in AI,” said Ruth Porat, Google’s president and chief investment officer.The search engine giant also announced a partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to modernize two hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania, representing 670 MW of capacity on the regional grid.Investment group Blackstone pledged more than $25 billion to fund new data centers and energy infrastructure.US Senator David McCormick, from Pennsylvania, said the investments “are of enormous consequence to Pennsylvania, but they are also crucial to the future of the nation.”His comments reflect the growing sentiment in Washington that the United States must not lose ground to China in the race to develop AI.”We are way ahead of China and the plants are starting up, the construction is starting up,” Trump said.The US president launched the “Stargate” project in January, aimed at investing up to $500 billion in US AI infrastructure — primarily in response to growing competition with China.Japanese tech investor SoftBank, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, and Oracle are investing $100 billion in the initial phase.Trump has also reversed many policies adopted by the previous Biden administration that imposed checks on developing powerful AI algorithms and limits on exports of advanced technology to certain allied countries.He is expected to outline his own blueprint for AI advancement later this month.

Large US banks reported results that topped estimates Tuesday as executives pointed to American economic resilience and said businesses were adapting to tariff uncertainty.Executives from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup described US consumers as still fundamentally in good shape despite continued risks to the outlook. Both banks now see a lower risk of recession compared with April, when they last reported results.Top officials with the banks also characterized clients as less frazzled by President Donald Trump constantly changing trade policy compared with April, when financial markets were in turmoil.In the last week alone, Trump has threatened deep tariffs on some two dozen countries and spoken of new levies on copper and pharmaceuticals — announcements that many market watchers remain skeptical will be enacted in light of previous tariff pivots by the US president.”The corporate community … has sort of accepted that they just need to navigate through this and are kind of getting on with it,” JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum told reporters on a conference call.Later on a call with Wall Street analysts, Barnum described US consumer spending as still fairly robust. “We continue to struggle to see signs of weakness,” Barnum said. “The consumer basically seems to be fine.”Citigroup CFO Mark Mason said businesses had acquired more “comfort with the uncertainty” compared to earlier in the year.”The general sentiment has improved a bit if you look at things like the prospect of a recession, that has fallen significantly from what it was earlier in the second quarter,” Mason told reporters on a conference call.- Soft landing eyed -At JPMorgan, second-quarter profits came in at $15 billion, down 17 percent from the year-ago period when results were boosted by a one-time equity item.But that translated into $4.96 per share, compared with $4.49 projected by analysts behind higher profits in operating divisions.Revenues were $44.9 billion, down 11 percent from the year-ago period.In the most recent quarter, JPMorgan benefited from higher asset management fees, as well as increased trading revenues amid financial market volatility during stretches of the quarter. These aspects helped offset higher technology expenses.JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said investment banking activity had started slowly in the quarter, “but gained momentum as market sentiment improved,” resulting in a seven percent gain.Dimon described the tax cut extensions Trump recently signed into law as “positive” for the economic outlook, along with “potential deregulation,” according to a statement.”However, significant risks persist –- including from tariffs and trade uncertainty, worsening geopolitical conditions, high fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices,” Dimon said. “As always, we hope for the best but prepare the firm for a wide range of scenarios.”During a conference call with reporters, Dimon said the cautious comments related to possible outcomes and were not a prediction.”The world is kind of pricing in a soft landing,” he said. “We’ve been in that soft landing and it may very well continue.”At Citi, profits came in at $4.0 billion, up 25 percent from the year-ago level, while revenues rose eight percent to $21.7 billion. Profits were boosted by higher markets revenue and investment banking fees, among other areas.Mason described the macroeconomic outlook as improved from April, which points to the “underlying strength” of the US private sector and capital markets.”We do anticipate further consumer cooling the second half (of 2025) as tariff effects play through,” Mason said, while adding that “the global economic performance has been quite resilient.”Shares of JPMorgan were decline 0.8 percent, while Citigroup rose 3.6 percent.