AFP USA

In a Los Angeles theater, a trench coat-wearing Neo bends backwards to dodge bullets that spiral over the viewer’s head, as the sound of gunfire erupts from everywhere.This new immersive experience is designed to be a red pill moment that will get film fans off their couches at a time when the movie industry is desperate to bring back audiences. Cosm, which has venues in Los Angeles and Dallas, is launching its dome-style screen and 3D sets in June with a “shared reality” version of “The Matrix,” the cult 1999 film starring Keanu Reeves as a man who suddenly learns his world is a fiction.”We believe the future will be more immersive and more experiential,” said Cosm president Jeb Terry at a recent preview screening.”It’s trying to create an additive, a new experience, ideally non-cannibalistic, so that the industry can continue to thrive across all formats.”Cinema audiences were already dwindling when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, shuttering theaters at a time when streaming was exploding.With ever bigger and better TVs available for the home, the challenge for theater owners is to offer something that movie buffs cannot get in their living room.Prestige projects like Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” or Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer” increasingly opt for the huge screens and superior film quality of IMAX.But Cosm and other projects like it want to go one step further, collaborating with designers who have worked with Cirque du Soleil to create an environment in which the viewer feels like they are inside the film.For filmmakers, it’s all about how you place the cameras and where you capture the sound, said Jay Rinsky, founder of Little Cinema, a creative studio specializing in immersive experiences.”We create sets like the Parisian opera, let the movie be the singer, follow the tone, highlight the emotions… through light, through production design, through 3D environments,” he said.The approach, he said, felt particularly well suited to “The Matrix,” which he called “a masterpiece of cinema, but done as a rectangle.”For the uninitiated: Reeves’s Neo is a computer hacker who starts poking around in a life that doesn’t quite seem to fit.A mysterious Laurence Fishburne offers him a blue pill that will leave him where he is, or a red pill that will show him he is a slave whose body is being farmed by AI machines while his conscious lives in a computer simulation.There follows much gunfire, lots of martial arts and some mysticism, along with a romance between Neo and Trinity, played by the leather-clad Carrie-Anne Moss.”The Matrix” in shared reality kicks off with a choice of cocktails — blue or red, of course — which are consumed as the audience sits surrounded by high-definition screens.Shifting perspectives place the viewer inside Neo’s office cubicle, or seemingly in peril.”They’re sometimes inside the character’s head,” said Rinsky. “The world changes as you look up and down for trucks coming at you.”The result impressed those who were at the preview screening.”It just did feel like an experience,” influencer Vince Rossi told AFP. “It felt like you’re at a theme park for a movie almost.”

For Silicon Valley venture capitalists, the world has split into two camps: those with deep enough pockets to invest in artificial intelligence behemoths, and everyone else waiting to see where the AI revolution leads.The generative AI frenzy unleashed by ChatGPT in 2022 has propelled a handful of venture-backed companies to eye-watering valuations. Leading the pack is OpenAI, which raised $40 billion in its latest funding round at a $300 billion valuation — unprecedented largesse in Silicon Valley’s history.Other AI giants are following suit. Anthropic now commands a $61.5 billion valuation, while Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly in talks to raise $20 billion at a $120 billion price tag.The stakes have grown so high that even major venture capital firms — the same ones that helped birth the internet revolution — can no longer compete. Mostly, only the deepest pockets remain in the game: big tech companies, Japan’s SoftBank, and Middle Eastern investment funds betting big on a post-fossil fuel future.”There’s a really clear split between the haves and the have-nots,” says Emily Zheng, senior analyst at PitchBook, told AFP at the Web Summit in Vancouver. “Even though the top-line figures are very high, it’s not necessarily representative of venture overall, because there’s just a few elite startups and a lot of them happen to be AI.”Given Silicon Valley’s confidence that AI represents an era-defining shift, venture capitalists face a crucial challenge: finding viable opportunities in an excruciatingly expensive market that is rife with disruption.Simon Wu of Cathay Innovation sees clear customer demand for AI improvements, even if most spending flows to the biggest players. “AI across the board, if you’re selling a product that makes you more efficient, that’s flying off the shelves,” Wu explained. “People will find money to spend on OpenAI” and the big players.The real challenge, according to Andy McLoughlin, managing partner at San Francisco-based Uncork Capital, is determining “where the opportunities are against the mega platforms.” “If you’re OpenAI or Anthropic, the amount that you can do is huge. So where are the places that those companies cannot play?”Finding that answer isn’t easy. In an industry where large language models behind ChatGPT, Claude and Google’s Gemini seem to have limitless potential, everything moves at breakneck speed.AI giants including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are releasing tools and products at a furious pace. ChatGPT and its rivals now handle search, translation, and coding all within one chatbot — raising doubts among investors about what new ideas could possibly survive the competition.Generative AI has also democratized software development, allowing non-professionals to code new applications from simple prompts. This completely disrupts traditional startup organization models.”Every day I think, what am I going to wake up to today in terms of something that has changed or (was) announced geopolitically or within our world as tech investors,” reflected Christine Tsai, founding partner and CEO at 500 Global.- The ‘moat’ problem -In Silicon Valley parlance, companies are struggling to find a “moat” — that unique feature or breakthrough like Microsoft Windows in the 1990s or Google Search in the 2000s that’s so successful it takes competitors years to catch up, if ever.When it comes to business software, AI is “shaking up the topology of what makes sense and what’s investable,” noted Brett Gibson, managing partner at Initialized Capital.The risks seem particularly acute given that generative AI’s economics remain unproven. Even the biggest players see a very uncertain path to profitability given the massive sums involved.The huge valuations for OpenAI and others are causing “a lot of squinting of the eyes, with people wondering ‘is this really going to replace labor costs'” at the levels needed to justify the investments, Wu observed. Despite AI’s importance, “I think everyone’s starting to see how this might fall short of the magical” even if its early days, he added.Still, only the rare contrarians believe generative AI isn’t here to stay.In five years, “we won’t be talking about AI the same way we’re talking about it now, the same way we don’t talk about mobile or cloud,” predicted McLoughlin. “It’ll become a fabric of how everything gets built.”But who will be building remains an open question.

Google said Saturday it will appeal a ruling against it for anti-competitive practices in online search, a day after urging a US judge to reject the suggestion it spin off its Chrome browser.”We will wait for the Court’s opinion. And we still strongly believe the Court’s original decision was wrong, and look forward to our eventual appeal,” the tech giant wrote on X.Google was found guilty in the summer of 2024 of illegal practices to establish and maintain its monopoly in online search by a federal judge in Washington.The Justice Department is now demanding remedies that could transform the digital landscape: Google’s divestiture from its Chrome browser and a ban on entering exclusivity agreements with smartphone manufacturers to install the search engine by default.It is also asking that the California-based company be forced to share the data used to produce search results on Chrome.The department’s proposal “reserves the right for the government to decide who gets Google users’ data. Not the Court,” Google said Saturday.”While we heard a lot about how the remedies would help various well-funded competitors (w/ repeated references to Bing), we heard very little about how all this helps consumers,” Google added, referring to the Microsoft-owned search engine.The firm has proposed much more limited measures, including giving phone manufacturers the possibility to pre-install its Google Play app store but not Chrome or the search engine.The Friday hearing devoted to arguments marked the end of the trial to determine Google’s penalty. The judge’s decision is expected by August. 

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Saturday warned that China was “credibly preparing” to use military force to upend the balance of power in Asia — remarks that earned a sharp rebuke from Beijing.The Pentagon chief was speaking at an annual security forum in Singapore, as the administration of US President Donald Trump spars with Beijing on trade, technology, and influence over strategic corners of the globe.China’s foreign ministry blasted the speech, saying it had “lodged solemn representations with the US side” over Hegseth’s comments and taking particular exception to his remarks about Taiwan.Trump has launched a trade war with China since taking office in January, sought to curb its access to key AI technologies and deepened security ties with allies such as the Philippines, which is engaged in escalating territorial disputes with Beijing.”The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, attended by defence officials from around the world.Beijing is “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”, he said.Hegseth warned that the Chinese military was building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and “rehearsing for the real deal”.China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan and held large-scale exercises around the self-governed democratic island that are often described as preparations for a blockade or invasion.The United States was “reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China”, Hegseth said, calling on US allies and partners in Asia to swiftly upgrade their defences in the face of mounting threats.In Beijing, the foreign ministry said: “The US should not try to use the Taiwan issue as a bargaining chip to contain China and must not play with fire.”- ‘Stirring up trouble’ –Hegseth described China’s conduct as a “wake-up call”, accusing Beijing of endangering lives with cyber attacks, harassing its neighbours, and “illegally seizing and militarising lands” in the disputed South China Sea.Beijing claims almost the entire waterway, through which more than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.It has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines in the strategic waters in recent months, with the flashpoint set to dominate discussions at the Singapore forum, according to US officials.As Hegseth spoke in Singapore, China’s military announced that its navy and air force were carrying out routine “combat readiness patrols” around the Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks Beijing disputes with the Philippines.Beijing did not send any top defence ministry officials to the summit, dispatching instead a delegation from the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University led by Rear Admiral Hu Gangfeng.Without referring to Hegseth by name, Hu said of his speech that “these actions are essentially about stirring up trouble, creating division, inciting confrontation, and destabilising the Asia-Pacific”.Hegseth’s comments came after Trump stoked new trade tensions with China, arguing that Beijing had “violated” a deal to de-escalate tariffs as the two sides appeared deadlocked in negotiations.The world’s two biggest economies had agreed to temporarily lower eye-watering tariffs they had imposed on each other, pausing them for 90 days.- ‘Cannot dominate’ -Reassuring US allies on Saturday, Hegseth said the Asia-Pacific region was “America’s priority theatre”, pledging to ensure “China cannot dominate us — or our allies and partners”.He said the United States had stepped up cooperation with allies including the Philippines and Japan, and reiterated Trump’s vow that “China will not invade (Taiwan) on his watch”.However, he called on US partners in the region to ramp up spending on their militaries and “quickly upgrade their own defences”.”Asian allies should look to countries in Europe for a newfound example,” Hegseth said, citing pledges by NATO members including Germany to move towards Trump’s defence spending target of five percent of GDP.”Deterrence doesn’t come on the cheap.”

US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would double steel and aluminum import tariffs to 50 percent from next week drew ire from the European Union Saturday in the latest salvo in his trade wars aimed at protecting domestic industries.The EU warned it was “prepared” to retaliate against the latest tariffs, adding the sudden move “undermines ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution” between the bloc and the United States. “We’re going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America,” Trump said Friday while addressing workers at a US Steel plant in Pennsylvania.”Nobody’s going to get around that,” he added in the speech before blue-collar workers in the battleground state that helped deliver his election victory last year.Shortly after, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that the elevated rate would also apply to aluminum, with the new tariffs “effective Wednesday, June 4th.”Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries alike in moves that have rocked the world trade order and roiled financial markets.The tariffs had seen a brief legal setback earlier this week when a court ruled Trump had overstepped his authority, but an appellate court on Thursday said the tariffs could continue while the litigation moves forward.Trump has also issued sector-specific levies that affect goods such as automobiles.On Friday, he defended his trade policies, arguing that tariffs helped protect US industry. He added that the steel facility he was speaking in would not exist if he had not also imposed duties on metals imports during his first administration.- ‘Devil in the details’ -On Friday, Trump touted a planned partnership between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel, but offered few new details on a deal that earlier faced bipartisan opposition.He stressed that despite a recently announced planned partnership between the American steelmaker and Nippon Steel, “US Steel will continue to be controlled by the USA.”He added that there would be no layoffs or outsourcing of jobs by the company.Upon returning to Washington late Friday, Trump told reporters he had yet to approve the deal.”I have to approve the final deal with Nippon, and we haven’t seen that final deal yet, but they’ve made a very big commitment,” Trump said.Last week, Trump said that US Steel would remain in America with its headquarters to stay in Pittsburgh, adding that the arrangement with Nippon would create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 billion to the US economy.Trump in Pennsylvania said that as part of its commitment, Nippon would invest $2.2 billion to boost steel production in the Mon Valley Works-Irvin plant where he was speaking.Another $7 billion would go towards modernizing steel mills, expanding ore mining and building facilities in places including Indiana and Minnesota.A proposed $14.9 billion sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel had previously drawn political opposition from both sides of the aisle. Former president Joe Biden blocked the deal on national security grounds shortly before leaving office.There remain lingering concerns over the new partnership.The United Steelworkers union (USW) which represents thousands of hourly workers at US Steel facilities said after Trump’s speech that it had not participated in discussions involving Nippon Steel and the Trump administration, “nor were we consulted.””We cannot speculate about the meaning of the ‘planned partnership,'” said USW International President David McCall in a statement.”Whatever the deal structure, our primary concern remains with the impact that this merger of US Steel into a foreign competitor will have on national security, our members and the communities where we live and work,” McCall said.”The devil is always in the details,” he added.Trump had opposed Nippon Steel’s takeover plan while on the election campaign trail. But since returning to the presidency, he signaled that he would be open to some form of investment after all.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Saturday that China was “credibly preparing” to use military force to upend the balance of power in Asia, vowing the United States was “here to stay” in the Indo-Pacific region.The Pentagon chief made the remarks at an annual security forum in Singapore as the administration of US President Donald Trump spars with Beijing on trade, technology, and influence over strategic corners of the globe.Since taking office in January, Trump has launched a trade war with China, sought to curb its access to key AI technologies and deepened security ties with allies such as the Philippines, which is engaged in escalating territorial disputes with Beijing.”The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue attended by defence officials from around the world.Beijing is “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”, he added.Hegseth warned the Chinese military was building the capabilities to invade Taiwan and “rehearsing for the real deal”.Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan and held multiple large-scale exercises around the island, often described as preparations for a blockade or invasion.The United States was “reorienting toward deterring aggression by communist China”, Hegseth said, calling on US allies and partners in Asia to swiftly upgrade their defences in the face of mounting threats.- ‘Wake-up call’ –Hegseth described China’s conduct as a “wake-up call”, accusing Beijing of endangering lives with cyber attacks, harassing its neighbours, and “illegally seizing and militarising lands” in the South China Sea.Beijing claims almost the entire disputed waterway, through which more than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.It has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines in the strategic waters in recent months, with the flashpoint set to dominate discussions at the Singapore defence forum, according to US officials.As Hegseth spoke in Singapore, China’s military announced that its navy and air force were carrying out routine “combat readiness patrols” around the Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks Beijing disputes with the Philippines.”China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea has only increased in recent years,” Casey Mace, charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Singapore, told journalists ahead of the meeting.”I think that this type of forum is exactly the type of forum where we need to have an exchange on that.”Beijing has not sent any top defence ministry officials to the summit, dispatching a delegation from the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University instead.Hegseth’s hard-hitting address drew a critical reaction from Chinese analysts at the conference.Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University told reporters the speech was “very unfriendly” and “very confrontational”, accusing Washington of double standards in demanding Beijing respect its neighbours while bullying its own — including Canada and Greenland.Former Senior Colonel Zhou Bo, from the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University told AFP that training drills did not mean China would invade Taiwan, saying the government wanted “peaceful reunification”.Hegseth’s comments came after Trump stoked new trade tensions with China, arguing that Beijing had “violated” a deal to de-escalate tariffs as the two sides appeared deadlocked in negotiations.The world’s two biggest economies had agreed to temporarily lower eye-watering tariffs they had imposed on each other, pausing them for 90 days.- ‘Priority theatre’ -Reassuring US allies on Saturday, Hegseth said the Indo-Pacific was “America’s priority theatre”, pledging to ensure “China cannot dominate us — or our allies and partners”.He said the United States had stepped up cooperation with allies including the Philippines and Japan, and reiterated Trump’s vow that “China will not invade (Taiwan) on his watch”.But he called on US partners in the region to ramp up spending on their militaries and “quickly upgrade their own defences”.”Asian allies should look to countries in Europe for a newfound example,” Hegseth said, citing pledges by NATO members including Germany to move toward Trump’s spending target of five percent of GDP.”Deterrence doesn’t come on the cheap.”EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, also in Singapore, said the Trump adminstration’s “tough love” had helped push the continent to beef up its defences.”It’s love nonetheless, so it’s better than no love,” Kallas quipped when asked about Hegseth’s speech.

Billionaire Elon Musk bade farewell to Donald Trump in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance Friday, sporting a black eye, brushing aside drug abuse claims and vowing to stay a “friend and advisor” to the US president.As the world’s richest person bowed out of his role as Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief, the Republican hailed Musk’s “incredible service” and handed him a golden key to the White House.But Trump insisted that Musk was “really not leaving” after a turbulent four months in which his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies and slashed foreign aid.”He’s going to be back and forth,” said Trump, showering praise on the tech tycoon for what he called the “most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.”South-African born Musk, wearing a black T-shirt with the word “Dogefather” in white lettering and a black DOGE baseball cap, said many of the $1 trillion savings he promised would take time to bear fruit.”I look forward to continuing to be a friend and advisor to the president,” he said.But many people were more interested in the livid black bruise around Musk’s right eye.Speculation about the cause was further fueled by accusations in the New York Times Friday that Musk used so much of the drug ketamine on the 2024 campaign trail that he developed bladder problems.- ‘Punch me’ -The SpaceX and Tesla magnate said that his son was to blame for the injury.”I was just horsing around with lil’ X, and I said, ‘go ahead punch me in the face,'” 53-year-old Musk said. “And he did. Turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face actually is…” he added, before tailing off.Musk, however, dodged a question about the drug allegations. The New York Times said Musk, the biggest donor to Trump’s 2024 election campaign, also took ecstasy and psychoactive mushrooms and traveled with a pill box last year.Musk, who has long railed against the news media and championed his X social media platform as an alternative, took aim at the paper instead.”Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate?” said Musk, referring to claims that Trump’s 2016 election campaign colluded with Moscow. “Let’s move on. Okay. Next question.” Later in the day, when a reporter asked Trump if he was “aware of Elon Musk’s regular drug use,” Trump simply responded: “I wasn’t.” “I think Elon is a fantastic guy,” he added. The White House had earlier played down the report.”The drugs that we’re concerned about are the drugs running across the southern border” from Mexico, said Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whose wife works for Musk. Musk has previously admitted to taking ketamine, saying he was prescribed it to treat a “negative frame of mind” and suggesting his use of drugs benefited his work.- ‘Disappointed’ -The latest in a series of made-for-TV Oval Office events was aimed at putting a positive spin on Musk’s departure. Musk is leaving Trump’s administration under a cloud, after admitting disillusionment with his role and criticizing the Republican president’s spending plans.It was a far cry from his first few weeks as Trump’s chainsaw-brandishing sidekick.At one time Musk was almost inseparable from Trump, glued to his side on Air Force One, Marine One, in the White House and at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.The right-wing magnate’s DOGE led an ideologically-driven rampage through the federal government, with its young “tech bros” slashing tens of thousands of jobs.But DOGE’s achievements fell far short of Musk’s original goal of saving $2 trillion dollars.The White House says DOGE has made $170 billion in savings so far. The independent “Doge Tracker” site has counted just $12 billion while the Atlantic magazine put it far lower, at $2 billion.Musk’s “move fast and break things” mantra was also at odds with some of his cabinet colleagues, and he said earlier this week that he was “disappointed” in Trump’s planned mega tax and spending bill as it undermined DOGE’s cuts.Musk’s companies, meanwhile, have suffered.Tesla shareholders called for him to return to work as sales slumped and protests targeted the electric vehicle maker, while SpaceX had a series of fiery rocket failures.

The latest crime thriller gripping New York is the alleged kidnapping of a wealthy Italian man whose captors attempted to torture the crypto millionaire into giving up his bitcoin password.It began amid the backdrop of wild parties, immortalized in pop culture through films like “The Wolf of Wall Street,” in a posh Manhattan nightclub where the nouveau riche and flashy Wall Street bros congregate.It ended on the morning of May 23, when a man ran to a police officer near Mulberry and Prince streets in the Soho district of Manhattan.The barefoot man claimed he had just escaped a luxurious apartment where he was held captive for 17 days after entering the United States.  Police arrived at the scene and arrested John Woeltz, 37, dubbed “the crypto king of Kentucky” by tabloids, who is facing charges of kidnapping, criminal possession of weapons, assault and unlawful imprisonment. Woeltz’s 24-year-old assistant was also detained but does not face the same charges.A second man, William Duplessie, 33, who is the founder of the startup Pangea Blockchain International, turned himself in on Tuesday and was charged similarly to Woeltz. Duplessie, who originally hails from Miami, appeared in court Friday wearing a jail uniform. – Philosophy degree -According to details reported by local media, the presumed victim is Italian cryptocurrency entrepreneur Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, who visited John Woeltz’s rented home — which goes for $30,000 a month — upon arriving from Italy on May 6.Once there, Woeltz and Duplessie confiscated his electronic devices and passport, and demanded the access code to his bitcoin assets, police said.After his refusal, the two men allegedly tortured Carturan, striking him with a rifle, pointing the weapon in his face and taking him to the building’s fifth floor, where they threatened to throw him out the window, local media reported.”He’s a 37-year-old man with no prior criminal record. He’s a college graduate with a degree in philosophy. He has been very successful in the technology world,” Woeltz’s lawyer Wayne Ervin Gosnell said during a court hearing Thursday. The defense requested Woeltz’s conditional release in the state of New York in exchange for a $2 million bond.Gosnell also noted that it has been said Woeltz “owns a private jet,  he owns a helicopter. That is not true.”- Lavish lifestyle -Though Woeltz has neither a jet nor a helicopter, he leads an exceedingly lavish lifestyle, according to the New York Post and TMZ, which published racy images of the suspects partying at The Box, a New York nightclub. The Post also mentioned frequent parties at the Soho apartment that is the scene of the alleged kidnapping.In recent months, cases of kidnappings or attempted abductions in the cryptocurrency world have multiplied globally as bitcoin, the most capitalized cryptocurrency, has grown to historical peaks.For Adam Healy, CEO of Station70, a firm specializing in crypto protection, these crimes are not new — he worked on a case years ago when an American traveling to Egypt was kidnapped for his crypto assets.”I think that the frequency and the ruthlessness is increasing,” Healy said. In the last six to eight months, he has seen “a significant uptick in those that are known to hold crypto or executives at crypto firms, things along those lines, getting targeted by a wide range of different criminals.”Healy attributed part of the uptick in crime to the rising price of bitcoin. “It’s a bigger target,” he said, and they are boosted by the ease with which massive payloads can be transferred with no oversight — as long as the crypto user can log in. “Historically, if you wanted to kidnap something that was high net worth and they had, I don’t know, ten million dollars in their JP Morgan account, it was kind of hard to get to,” Healy said. “You couldn’t just go to the bank and get a million dollars out.”

A truck crash that set 250 million bees free has sparked warnings in the western US, with police telling people to avoid swarms of the stinging insects.The accident happened in Washington state in the far northwest of the country, when a semi trailer carrying a load of hives overturned.”250 million bees are now loose,” wrote Whatcom County Sheriff on its social media page.”AVOID THE AREA due to the potential of bee escaping and swarming”.Roads in the region, which nestles the border with Canada and is just 30 miles from Vancouver, have been closed as bee experts help with the clean-up.While some beekeepers aim only to produce honey, many others rent out their hives to farmers who need the insects to pollinate their crops.