World Briefing: January 27, 2025

Shares in major US technology firms have plunged after the rapid rise of a low-cost chatbot built by a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm. The DeepSeek app, which was launched last week, has overtaken rivals including OpenAI's ChatGPT to become the most downloaded free app in the US. US tech giants including AI chipmaker Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta all saw their share prices drop on Monday. In a separate development, DeepSeek said on Monday it will temporarily limit registrations because of "large-scale malicious attacks" on its software - BBC

Israel said that a Hamas list showed that at eight of the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire are dead. Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists that Hamas said the other 25 are alive.

South Korea’s authorities investigating last month’s Jeju Air plane crash have submitted a preliminary accident report to the UN aviation agency and to other jurisdictions. The investigation into the deadliest air disaster on the country’s soil remains ongoing, the report made available on Monday said, focused on the role of “bird strike” and involving an analysis of the engines and the “localizer” landing guidance structure.