Jada Jones/ZDNETView at T-Mobile With incoming tariffs and uncertain economic changes in the US, now may be the best time to grab the newest technology before it rockets in price. And at T-Mobile, if you open a new line of service with their Go5G Plus or Go5G Next plans, you can get the Pixel 9 and Pixel Buds A-Series for free. With this online exclusive offer, you only have to pay for the line and sales tax at purchase to gain $900 of free Pixel tech.  ZD recommends The Google Pixel 9 was released last fall, so it remains a sturdy and reliable option packed with the newest features. Thanks to its value and upgrades, ZDNET ranks the Google Pixel 9 as the best Google Pixel phone for most people. Also: Google Pixel 9 Pro vs Pixel 8 Pro: Which one should you buy?The Pixel 9 has similar upgrades to its counterpart the Pixel 9 Pro, like the same battery performance, screen size, and camera abilities. However, the Pixel 9 comes in at a better price but with fewer bells and whistles. There are many AI features, like Add me, Pixel Studio, Pixel Screenshots, and more to get the latest and greatest of Google's features.With this deal, you also get a pair of Pixel Buds A-Series for free. This model was released in 2021, so it is a bit older. However, that doesn't mean they aren't great equipment. The earbuds are more on the budget side and do not have active noise cancellation. Instead, they offer a great budget solution with good sound quality, solid battery life, and work with all Androids.These earbuds are ideal for use with Google Pixel phones, making this deal a perfect pair. With this deal, you get a reliable smartphone and a pair of earbuds that will last you for years to come. This online exclusive offer for the Pixel Buds A-Series can be applied to several eligible Pixel phones, including the Pixel 8a, Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, or Pixel 9 Pro XL. Here's how to get this offer: Purchase a new Google Pixel 8a, 9, 9 Pro, or 9 Pro XL on a monthly payment plan or full retail price and pay the applicable sales tax on the pre-credit price at the time of purchase.In the same transaction, add the Google Pixel Buds A-Series to your cart along with your Google Pixel phone.Receive $99.99 off Google Pixel Buds A-Series or Google Pixel Buds Pro2 via instant discount.If you're looking to score the Pixel 9 and the Pixel Buds A-Series deal together, you'll need to purchase a Google Pixel 9 on a monthly payment plan and pay the applicable sales tax on the pre-credit price at the time of purchase, add or activate a new voice line on a Go5G Plus or Go5G Next plan, and add the Pixel Buds A-Series to your online cart at the same time. Since the Buds A-Series offer is online only, you need to complete an online transaction to score both deals.  Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.How I rated this dealIf you combine the price of the Pixel 9 and the Pixel Buds A-Series, you get $900 worth of product for free with this deal. This deal may be happening to help lessen their stock of Pixel 9 phones to prepare for future launches. ZDNET's rating system grants this deal a 5/5 editors rating. A bundle of free products in exchange for setting up a new line allows people access to newer technology without breaking the bank.  When will this deal expire? While many sales events feature deals for a specific length of time, deals are on a limited-time basis, making them subject to expire anytime. ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best offers to help you maximize your savings so you can feel as confident in your purchases as we feel in our recommendations. Our ZDNET team of experts constantly monitors the deals we feature to keep our stories up-to-date. If you missed out on this deal, don't worry -- we're always sourcing new savings opportunities at ZDNET.com. Show more What are the terms and conditions of this deal? Get a pair of Google Pixel Buds A-Series on T-Mobile when you purchase an eligible Google Pixel phone."Limited time; subject to change. While supplies last. Tax on pre-credit price due at sale. Participating locations only. Device and earbuds must be purchased in same transaction. Not valid on prior purchases or in combination with other offers/discounts for these accessories. Limit 1 per account." View the full terms at T-Mobile. Get a free Google Pixel 9 with new line on Go5G Plus or Go5G Next plans. "If you cancel entire account before receiving 24 credits, credits stop and balance on required finance agreement is due; contact us. Bill credits end if you pay off device early. Contact us before cancelling entire account to continue remaining bill credits, or credits stop & balance on required finance agreement is due (e.g., $999.99 – Pixel 9 Pro 256GB). Bill credits end if you pay off device early. Tax on pre-credit price due at sale. Limited-time offer; subject to change. Qualifying credit and service required. If you have cancelled lines in past 90 days, you may need to reactivate them first. $35 device connection charge due at sale. Up to $1,000 via bill credits; line with promo must be active and in good standing to receive credits; allow 2 bill cycles. Max 4 discounted devices/account. May not be combinable with some offers or discounts." Show more How do we rate deals at ZDNET? We aim to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter. ZDNET offers 33 years of experience, 30 hands-on product reviewers, and 10,000 square feet of lab space to ensure we bring you the best of tech. In 2025, we refined our approach to deals, developing a measurable system for sharing savings with readers like you. Our editor's deal rating badges are affixed to most of our deal content, making it easy to interpret our expertise to help you make the best purchase decision.At the core of this approach is a percentage-off-based system to classify savings offered on top-tech products, combined with a sliding-scale system based on our team members' expertise and several factors like frequency, brand or product recognition, and more. The result? Hand-crafted deals chosen specifically for ZDNET readers like you, fully backed by our experts.  Show more ZDNET Recommends

With the AI Continent Action Plan, the EU has unveiled its most aggressive initiative yet to establish itself as a contender in the global AI race.

What just happened? Kioxia has completed the development of its next-gen optical PCIe 5.0 SSDs, which can operate up to 40 meters from the host system without losing throughput. The breakthrough comes from replacing traditional copper connections with optical communication, allowing the SSD to link directly to a server or CPU over long distances. The optical link supports much longer cable lengths and preserves the full multi-gigabyte-per-second speeds of PCIe 5.0. Kioxia has confirmed successful PCIe 5.0 32GT/s x4 lane operation over the optical interface, doubling the bandwidth of its previous prototype and marking a significant milestone for the project. The company developed these prototypes in collaboration with component makers AIOCore and Kyocera as part of a larger initiative to create more energy-efficient "green" data centers. This initiative, backed by Japan's NEDO under the Green Innovation Fund, aims to cut data center energy consumption by 40% or more. The project leverages Kyocera's OPTINITY optical-electrical module and AIOCore's photonics-electronics convergence devices, integrated into Kioxia's prototype PCIe 4.0 SSD platform. The long-distance capabilities of these optical SSDs could be a game-changer for modern data centers packed with hot, power-hungry hardware. An optical SSD cluster allows the drives to be relocated to a separate cool room up to 40 meters from the CPU systems they serve. By optimizing thermal management, this setup also reduces the need for heavy-duty cooling systems near performance-critical CPUs. Optical interfacing offers additional benefits as well. Their slimmer cabling and connector designs in high-performance or data center applications enable denser packaging and more compact layouts. Compared to traditional electrical designs, the smaller connectors also make way for smaller form-factor drives. Furthermore, optical systems produce less heat and generate minimal electromagnetic interference due to the lack of electrical resistance and conductive signaling. As Tom's Hardware suggests, the only catch is getting existing data centers to support optical storage devices. However, Kioxia says it's working with AIOCore and Kyocera to improve compatibility with platforms targeting demanding workloads. Proof-of-concept tests are already underway to help pave the path to future adoption. Kioxia is keeping the launch window for the SSDs under wraps for now. // Related Stories

Don’t have a ton of space on your media shelf for a big, honking integrated amplifier or multi-component stereo system? Rotel might have the answer with its recently announced DX-5, a sleek and compact audiophile performer with versatile connectivity from one of the best audio brands in the business. With its modest footprint, measuring 8.5 x 3 x 9.75 inches and weighing 9 pounds, the DX-5 might not be a powerhouse in the wattage department, but its 33 watts per channel into 4 ohms (25 watts per channel at 8 ohms) output is delivered by clean and confident Class AB amplification. The DX-5 promises “pristine highs, detailed midrange, and deep bass,” Rotel says, from its high-current toroidal transformer that is wound in house, making the DX-5 great for those looking for excellent performance in smaller spaces. Rotel Inside the DX-5 you’ll find the workhorse ESS ES9039Q2M Sabre DAC that Rotel says offers ultra-low noise and a wide soundstage of 10 Hz to 100 kHz for bringing spacious audio to more petite rooms. The ESS DAC supports hi-res listening of files including PCM (up to 32-bit/384kHz) and DSD 256, and features all the connectivity most people will need, including USB-B and Coaxial/Optical (at 24-bit/192kHz) inputs, as well as an RCA AUX input for connecting analog devices like a turntable, and Bluetooth support for AAC and hi-res aptX HD codecs. It’s also Roon certified. Rotel The Rotel MX-5 might also have a leg up on other integrated amplifiers (especially at this compact size), with the addition of an HDMI eARC input for seamless connectivity to your TV, should you want to use it as modest home theater system in lieu of a soundbar or more detailed surround sound system. Additionally, the presence of a subwoofer output allows for further expansion to bring deeper, more impactful bass to the proceedings, depending on the speakers you pair it with. Rotel Physically, the MX-5 is gorgeous. Available in black and silver finishes, the front face of the amplifier features a bright full-color TFT display, glowing power button, 6.35mm headphone jack for private listening, and a large, smooth volume dial. It also comes with a sharp-looking aluminum remote control. Recommended Videos The the Rotel DX-5 is hits the market in North America, Europe, and the U.K. this April, priced at US$1,499. More details can be found at Rotel’s website. Editors’ Recommendations

Trump’s tariffs aim to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. So what—besides magic—would it take to make iPhones here?

Betting against others’ overconfidence is key to beating the market. So is knowing when to tune out the financial pundits.

"Secret mission" Meta secretly helped China advance AI, ex-Facebooker will tell Congress Meta whistleblower can testify to Congress despite gag order on press interviews. Ashley Belanger – Apr 9, 2025 12:07 pm | 12 Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams left the company in 2018 at the height of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Protestors erected cutouts of Mark Zuckerberg branded "fix Facebook" while lawmakers were grilling the CEO. Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams left the company in 2018 at the height of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Protestors erected cutouts of Mark Zuckerberg branded "fix Facebook" while lawmakers were grilling the CEO. Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Later today, a former Facebook employee, Sarah Wynn-Williams, will testify to Congress that Meta executives "repeatedly" sought to "undermine US national security and betray American values" in "secret" efforts to "win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion dollar business in China." In her prepared remarks, which will be delivered at a Senate subcommittee on crime and counterterrorism hearing this afternoon, Wynn-Williams accused Meta of working "hand in glove" with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). That partnership allegedly included efforts to "construct and test custom-built censorship tools that silenced and censored their critics" as well as provide the CCP with "access to Meta user data—including that of Americans." Wynn-Williams worked as Facebook's Director of Global Public Policy from 2011 to 2018. She left at the height of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, as Mark Zuckerberg was being grilled by Congress over misinformation and election interference on its platform. Today, Zuckerberg has attempted to move his company further right in seeming efforts to continue repairing damage from that fallout (with some conservatives still concerned about left-wing bias on social media), and Wynn-Williams' testimony perhaps stands to frustrate Republican lawmakers in control of Congress, just as they may potentially be warming back up to Meta. In her prepared testimony, Wynn-Williams accused Meta executives of lying "about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party to employees, shareholders, Congress, and the American public." As early as 2014, Wynn-Williams alleged that Meta "began offering products and services in China." And as early as 2015, they "began briefing" the CCP "on critical emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence," with "the explicit goal being to help China outcompete American companies," Wynn-Williams claimed. "There’s a straight line you can draw from these briefings to the recent revelations that China is developing AI models for military use, relying on Meta’s Llama model," Wynn-Williams' remarks said, seemingly referring to a November Reuters report where researchers warned that "top Chinese research institutions linked to the People's Liberation Army have used Meta's publicly available Llama model to develop an AI tool for potential military applications." According to Wynn-Williams, "Meta’s internal documents describe their sales pitch for why China should allow them in the market by 'help[ing] China increase global influence and promote the China Dream.'" Wynn-Williams will tell Congress that "Meta does not dispute these facts. They can’t. I have the documents. As recently as this Monday, they claimed they do not operate services in China. Another lie." Raising its defense, Meta has claimed that Wynn-Williams' book makes "false accusations" and allegations that are "out-of-date and previously reported," NBC News reported. In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg gave a speech admitting that Facebook never reached an agreement with China "on what it would take for us to operate there, and they never let us in," NBC News noted. By that point, Wynn-Williams was no longer with the company, and Meta's spokesperson Andy Stone told NBC News that "Wynn-Williams’ testimony is divorced from reality and riddled with false claims." "While Mark Zuckerberg himself was public about our interest in offering our services in China and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago, the fact is this: We do not operate our services in China today," Stone said. Asked for comment, Meta shared the same statement. Congress must intervene, again, Meta whistleblower says Wynn-Williams said that her testimony comes in defiance of an arbitrator's order to cease promoting her book about her nearly seven years at Facebook and retract claims that were "disparaging, critical, or otherwise detrimental" to Meta, NBC News noted. Meta sought the order to enforce a non-disparagement clause in Wynn-Williams' contract, but it didn't stop her book from becoming a bestseller or block Wynn-Williams from testifying today. Ahead of her testimony, Careless People sits at No. 2 on The New York Times nonfiction bestsellers list. "The American people deserve to know the truth," Wynn-Williams will testify as explanation for her decision to defy Meta's gag order, which, she said, "is so expansive that it prohibits me from speaking with Members of Congress." Stone told NBC News that Meta only "objects" to her giving media interviews and claimed that "the company’s position is that she’s not barred from testifying before Congress, by either her separation agreement or the arbitration award." In her prepared testimony, Wynn-Williams warned that Meta's "secret mission" to build "a physical pipeline connecting the United States and China" (known as "Project Aldrin") was only thwarted when Congress stepped in. This afternoon, Congress will have a chance to question her about details revealed in her book, which a 404 Media review praised as "the book about Facebook" that's been "wanted for a decade," allegedly making it clear that Meta has lied to the public and "just doesn't care." Despite Donald Trump moving to loosen regulations on tech companies, the Senate subcommittee chair, Josh Hawley (R.-Mo.), remains critical of big tech companies like Meta allegedly wielding "monopolistic power" to control the news and "our personal data," NBC News reported. "Meta has been willing to compromise its values, sacrifice the security of its users, and undermine American interests to build its China business," Wynn-Williams will testify. "It’s been happening for years, covered up by lies, and continues to this day. I am here at considerable personal risk because you have the power and the authority to hold them accountable." Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 12 Comments

Not all cruise ships are created equal.Instead of vacationers, some accommodate Olympic surfers, refugees, or, as is the case of Mercy Ships' two vessels, folks in need of surgery.Since 1978, Christian nonprofit Mercy Ships has operated a fleet of cruise ships turned floating hospitals, providing complimentary medical services to the countries they visit.Onboard, reminders of the vessels' past life, like pools and hair salons, remain in place. Instead of waterslides and theater shows, the ships now have schools, operating rooms, CT scanners, and ICU beds.https://www.businessinsider.com/amenities-dining-activities-new-carnival-firenze-cruise-ship-2024-7 Mercy Ships has operated 5 vessels in its 47 years. The first was a converted Italian cruise liner. Mercy Ships' two vessels, Global Mercy and Africa Mercy, docked in Dakar, Senegal. Caleb Brumley The decision to use floating resorts was based on a simple fact: 40% of the world's population lives on a coastline. "Coastal, rural cities have high medical deserts because they face extreme isolation and lack of infrastructure," Kerry Peterson, the senior vice president of Mercy Ship's US office, told Business Insider in an email. The nonprofit provides its patients with dental care and seven surgery specialties, such as pediatric and women's health — all for free. Mercy Ships' seven surgery specialties include maxillofacial, reconstructive plastic, and ophthalmic surgeries. Inge Wiersma Food, lodging, anesthesia, post-operation rehabilitation, and transportation are also complimentary, even if more than one operation is required.In addition, the ships also offer specialized postgraduate training to locals through partnered residencies, fellowships, and rotations. Mercy Ships currently has 2 vessels, Africa Mercy and Global Mercy. Mercy Ships has onboard schools for the children of its crew. Tirsa Tapia Zamora According to Peterson, the nonprofit provided 4,746 surgeries and 13,312 dental procedures and trained more than 900 healthcare workers in 2024. Both ships exclusively operate in African nations.Like any typical cruise liner, Africa and Global Mercy have an auditorium, pool, library, café, and store.But instead of operating as vacations at sea, the two ships are more "akin to floating cities," Peterson said, noting there are onboard mechanical and carpentry shops, post office, bank, gym, salon, and laundromat.The nonprofit received a donation in early 2024 to fund the construction of a new vessel. Its first ship, Africa Mercy, was previously a train ferry before finding a second life. The 16,572-gross-ton Africa Mercy has undergone several modernization and sustainability upgrades, most recently in 2023. Caleb Brumley Mercy Ships acquired the Danish vessel, then known as Dronning Ingrid, in 1999. Following a $62 million refurbishment, it was re-deployed as Africa Mercy in 2007.According to the nonprofit, as of June 2024, the floating hospital had performed more than 70,910 surgeries in countries such as Liberia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, and Cameroon. The 12,917-square-foot deck that once accommodated trains now serves as the hospital. Africa Mercy has cabins for couples and families. Tirsa Tapia Zamora The space includes a pharmacy, a radiology lab, five operating rooms, 75 acute care beds, and five ICU beds.In addition to patient beds, Africa Mercy also has 159 cabins for 470 crew, although it sees about 1,000 volunteers — from surgeons to plumbers to housekeepers — throughout the year.Accommodation options include dorm-style cabins and rooms for couples and families. The second ship, Global Mercy, was built for the nonprofit. Global Mercy is 37,856-gross-ton and has administered more than 4,490 surgeries since June 2024. Maria Anne van der Spijk Mercy Ships began construction on its newest addition, Global Mercy, in 2015 — a $200 million investment, including the cost of equipment and the first patients.The nonprofit touts the 571-foot-long vessel, launched in 2022, as the largest civilian hospital vessel in the world.Larger than its predecessor, Global Mercy has 75,347 square feet of hospital space, including 102 acute care and seven ICU beds — in addition to a simulation lab for its training program.It provides surgical care to about 1,500 patients annually, having so far served patients in Senegal, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone. Global Mercy has 277 staterooms that can accommodate 640 crew. Volunteers work with Mercy ships for as short as a few weeks to as long as several years. Tirsa Tapia Zamora Its solo, double, couple, family, guest, and VIP cabins see about 1,500 volunteers annually.Peterson said Mercy Ships encourages its volunteers to explore the countries during their free time, whether grabbing dinner in town or staying overnight onshore — harkening back to the perks of a traditional cruise line.

For the past month, President Donald Trump has been stalking the richest universities in the world like a horror movie serial killer picking off a group of frightened teenagers one by one. Why aren’t they using their multibillion-dollar endowments to fight back?The spree started in early March, when the administration announced it was holding $400 million in federal grants to Columbia hostage until the university agreed to a lengthy list of demands. As experts immediately noted, this is plainly against the law. And Columbia has plenty of money to temporarily fill in the gap while hiring legal counsel — its $14.8 billion endowment grew by more than $1 billion just last year. But instead of lawyering up, Columbia gave in to the demands. Emboldened, the administration next threatened to freeze $175 million in grants to the University of Pennsylvania. Penalties for Princeton and Brown followed, and just this week the administration announced it would freeze $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern. Trump is also going after the biggest target of all: Harvard and its $9 billion in federal contracts and grants. An April 3 letter demanded that Harvard effectively put its hiring, admissions, discipline, governance, leadership, and academic oversight under the thumb of the administration. Hundreds of faculty members urged the university to resist. “Harvard has the capacity to withstand the blow,” said a professor who studies authoritarian regimes. Former Harvard president Lawrence Summers confirmed that “ways can be found” to use the university’s $53 billion endowment to cover lost federal funding in an emergency. But current university president Alan Garber offered a conciliatory response, prompting the Harvard Crimson to declare that “Garber Must Change Course — or Resign.” (Columbia’s interim president did resign after agreeing to the Trump administration’s demands.)University administrators will tell you it’s complicated; endowments can’t be immediately repurposed to make up for canceled federal grants. But the real reason is that endowments have become the single biggest signifier of excellence in higher education leadership, and college leaders can’t imagine making them smaller, even in the face of existential threat.Rich universities do have enough money to fight TrumpTo understand how endowments work, let’s take the example of Harvard. The world’s richest university is by no means representative of most institutions. But that’s exactly why Trump is targeting them — if the most prestigious, wealthiest university won’t fight back, how will anyone else? And other endowments are smaller versions of the same basic model. An endowment is not like a checking account that presidents can pull from whenever and however they like. It’s more like a hedge fund. Endowments are made up of private donations, often from alumni, which are then invested in the financial markets. Because most universities are nonprofits, they don’t pay capital gains taxes on the endowment, although Congress did create a 1.4 percent tax on net endowment earnings in 2017.Harvard’s enormous pile is actually 14,000 separate funds pooled together. Most of them are “restricted” — a donor might say, “I’ll give you $20 million, but only if you use it to pay for the ‘My Name Endowed Professorship of Things I Care About,’ and admit my son who I promise is a good kid despite that incident with the BMW and the school crossing guard.” Harvard has 12 different schools — business, law, medical, divinity, and so on — each of which owns a piece of the larger pie. Still, about 20 percent of the Harvard endowment is “unrestricted,” so the money can be used for any purpose. That’s more than $10 billion. Harvard earned almost 10 percent on its total investments last year, which is typical for Ivy League financial managers. And the university only uses about 5 percent of the endowment for operating costs. The rest of the earnings goes back onto the pile. That, and more donations, is why endowments get bigger every year. That means Harvard could spend an extra $500 million from the unrestricted pool to resist Trump this year and end up no worse off financially than it was in 2023. While $500 million isn’t $9 billion, the university absolutely has enough money to avoid giving in to the administration’s demands and mount a lawsuit. It could keep people employed and labs open while its lawyers fight an administration that is becoming politically toxic due to a ruinous trade war, Elon Musk, and other discontents. Some leaders are uniquely vulnerable But that kind of bold action is clearly seen as a last resort. In general, people become university administrators by building consensus and avoiding political controversies, not creating them. At Columbia in particular, some faculty, students, alumni, and members of the university board agree with Trump’s charge that the university failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination during recent campus protests. It’s also not a coincidence that Columbia, Penn, and Harvard are the three universities whose presidents resigned after their disastrous testimonies to Congress in 2023 and 2024. An interim leader at the mercy of a divided board has little leeway to make bold decisions. Christopher Eisgruber, by contrast, has been president of Princeton for almost 12 years. Eisgruber’s recent essay repudiating Trump was a strong, unambiguous defense of academic freedom. As Harvard economist Susan Dynarski recently observed, Princeton is especially well-positioned to resist Trump. Because it doesn’t have schools of education, medicine, or public health, it has fewer federal grants to hold hostage. And the same day the Trump administration suspended some $200 million in grants to Princeton for suspicion of antisemitism, the university said it was considering selling $320 million in bonds. The administration knows that endowments give universities crucial resources to resist coercion. As a senator, Vice President JD Vance introduced a bill that would have increased the endowment tax from 1.4 percent to 35 percent (for endowments over $10 billion). Other Republican lawmakers have proposed higher taxes on endowments this year. The importance of legacyThe key to understanding university psychology in this moment of crisis is time. University leaders are the ultimate long-term investors. Most of the Ivies are older than the nation itself, and plan to exist “in perpetuity.” They have no shareholders demanding stock buy-backs or dividends. All of their budgeting and long-term planning is based on the assumption that the numbers go up, forever. Every dollar of the annual endowment payout is spoken for, and nobody ever thinks they have enough. If universities start eating into their endowments, long-term earnings and payouts decline, and nobody wants that. Research universities in particular require a lot of money to run, and they’re already reeling from a whole separate batch of illegal Trump efforts to gut university-based science and slash funding for research facilities, supplies, equipment, and support. It’s easy to see the next four years as a blip when you’re about to celebrate your 400th birthday. Spending the endowment goes against everything university presidents have been told about succeeding at their job. Consider the late John Casteen III, president of the University of Virginia from 1990 to 2010. The Washington Post published his obituary on March 21, the same day Columbia capitulated to Trump’s demands. Casteen was a gentleman, a scholar, and a leader of one of the nation’s most prestigious public universities. But the official story of his life is mostly about a single accomplishment: he grew UVA’s financial reserves tenfold. When the phrase “increasing its endowment” shows up in the first line of your obituary, people notice. “Shrank the endowment” is therefore the ultimate failure. This can be an admirably selfless philosophy in normal times. It’s the rare university president who purposefully squanders his or her institution’s future so they can live larger in the present. Most of the people who take those jobs are genuinely committed to leaving legacies for the next generation. But that can make it harder to recognize when the future is now.The Ivies have the financial wherewithal, in both endowments and sterling credit scores that enable borrowing, to fight Trump’s illegal demands — if they so choose. If they don’t, the consequences for American higher education will be severe. The list of fabulously wealthy universities is top-heavy with famous names, but not especially long. The Trump strategy of intimidation is to use violent punishment to make a few high-profile examples and intimidate everyone else into complying in advance. This is already working with Big Law. The handful of institutions at the top of the higher education pyramid have to decide, sooner rather than later, whether to use the fortunes they inherited to stand up on behalf of millions of students, faculty, and workers nationwide, and defend the values of intellectual freedom that have produced the greatest higher education system in the world. It may be risky, and expensive, and not what anyone signed up for. But those are the circumstances that require courage most of all. See More:

Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 is here, arriving with two new characters, a whole bunch of tweaks for the existing roster, and more — here's everything included, and when you can play itTech16:19, 09 Apr 2025Krakoa is the newest map(Image: NetEase Games)Marvel Rivals keeps pulling in players, with the game's first season introducing us to the Fantastic Four to help take the fight to main rival Overwatch which recently kicked off its new Season 15While that season added four new heroes, Season 2 is a tad more restrained – at least for now. The new update focuses on Krakoa, a mutant haven and new map for players to explore, while at the time of writing, there's just the one confirmed character joining the roster.‌Article continues belowWhile we prepare for a clash between Ultron and our favourite mutants, we've got the full rundown of when Season 1 ends, when Season 2 begins, and everything included. Ready?Once again, Marvel Rivals will split its seasons into two parts, and while we don't yet have a release window for the second part, Part 1 drops on 9 AM BST on Friday, April 11 for UK gamers.‌For those in other timezones, that's:1 AM PDT4 AM EDT10 AM CESTIf you're still chipping away at the Season 1 Battle Pass, the deadline is approaching. Expect the servers to go down a couple of hours before for maintenance and the Season 2 update to roll out.‌Emma Frost is a new Vanguard-type Hero(Image: NetEase Games)Naturally, the headliner is Emma Frost. The powerful mutant can use WWE-style chokeslams, change into a diamond form, and unleash an Ultimate Ability that deals damage, stops enemies using Ultimates, and even pulls them toward her.There's also a map rotation, with some maps being removed from Ranked Play for a bit to keep things fresh, with the Hellfire Gala map debuting.‌As with any Marvel Rivals update, you can also expect a series of balance tweaks that touch just about every character to stop any that feel too powerful.We also know that Ultron will mark the next character to be added, although that's likely in Season 2 Part 2 in a few weeks' time.Leaks have suggested the robot will wield an energy beam for his primary attack, while being able to summon drones that also fire the same weapon as his Ultimate.Article continues belowCuriously, it appears he'll be a support character, with the option to heal allies while also taking to the skies.For more on Marvel Rivals, check out what the devs had to say about a potential Switch 2 port of the free-to-play phenomenon.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.‌‌‌