Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced that flags at the state Capitol building in Austin and at all state office buildings will be raised to full-staff next Monday, Jan. 20, to mark President-elect Trump's inauguration.

The move comes despite the official order by President Biden after the Dec. 29 death of former President Jimmy Carter that flags across the country would fly at half-staff for a 30-day mourning period.

Abbott said in his announcement that "on January 20, our great nation will celebrate our democratic tradition of transferring power to a new President by inaugurating the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. As we unite our country and usher in this new era of leadership, I have ordered all flags to be raised to full-staff at the Texas Capitol and all state buildings for the inauguration of President Trump."

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION AND INAUGURATION

"While we honor the service of a former President, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming President and the bright future ahead for the United States of America," added the conservative three-term Texas governor.

CHECK OUT TRUMP'S PICKS FOR TOP CABINET AND ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS

An Abbott adviser told Fox News that flags at the Texas Capitol and at state offices would resume flying at half-staff on Jan. 21.

"Texas continues to mourn with our fellow Americans across the country over the passing of former President Jimmy Carter," Abbott said in his statement. "President Carter’s steadfast leadership left a lasting legacy that will be felt for generations to come, which together as a nation we honor by displaying flags at half-staff for 30 days."

FIRST ON FOX: TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHS MAJOR PUSH TO PROTECT, EXTEND TRUMP TAX CUTS

According to the U.S. flag code, U.S. flags are flown at half-staff for a 30-day period to mark the passing of a current or former president, at federal government buildings, military installations and vessels, and at U.S. embassies and other facilities around the world.

Since the U.S. flag code dictates that no flag should fly higher than the American flag on the same or nearby poles, state flags also are lowered during such mourning periods.

Trump earlier this month claimed on social media that "Democrats are all ‘giddy’" about flags being flown at half-staff during his inauguration.

"Nobody wants to see this," Trump argued. "No American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

The U.S. flag code isn't mandatory, which means that Trump could technically override it once he's inaugurated as president.

Reality star revealed that they put ‘every dollar’ they made from ‘The Hills’ into the album

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Meta is deleting links to Pixelfed, a decentralized Instagram competitor. On Facebook, the company is labeling links to Pixelfed.social as “spam” and deleting them immediately. 

Pixelfed is an open-source, community funded and decentralized image sharing platform that runs on Activity Pub, which is the same technology that supports Mastodon and other federated services. Pixelfed.social is the largest Pixelfed server, which was launched in 2018 but has gained renewed attention over the last week.

Bluesky user AJ Sadauskas originally posted that links to Pixelfed were being deleted by Meta; 404 Media then also tried to post a link to Pixelfed on Facebook. It was immediately deleted. 

Pixelfed is experiencing a surge in user signups in recent days, after Meta announced that it would loosen its rules to allow users to call LGBTQ+ people “mentally ill” amid a host of other changes that shift the company overtly to the right. Meta and Instagram have also leaned heavily into AI-generated content. Pixelfed announced earlier Monday that it is launching an iOS app later this week. 

Pixelfed said Sunday it is “seeing unprecedented levels of traffic to pixelfed.social.”

Over the weekend, Daniel Supernault, the creator of Pixelfed, published a “declaration of fundamental rights and principles for ethical digital platforms, ensuring privacy, dignity, and fairness in online spaces.” The open source charter, which has been adopted by Pixelfed and can be adopted by other platforms, contains sections titled “right to privacy,” “freedom from surveillance,” “safeguards against hate speech,” “strong protections for vulnerable communities,” and “data portability and user agency.” 

“Pixelfed is a lot of things, but one thing it is not, is an opportunity for VC or others to ruin the vibe. I've turned down VC funding and will not inject advertising of any form into the project,” Supernault wrote on Mastodon. “Pixelfed is for the people, period.”

Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

Peppino Fappani, 69, narrowly survived the attack in Egypt

Weather forecasters have only more bad news for firefighters battling the Los Angeles area fires.

Threat level: The National Weather Service's LA forecast office Sunday evening issued a rare "Particularly Dangerous Situation" Red Flag Warning lasting until Wednesday at noon for parts of LA and Ventura counties, warning that high winds could cause "explosive fire growth."

• The weather service advises residents "to have multiple ways to receive evacuation information" and to "not do anything that could spark a fire."
• Areas under this warning don't include the Eaton Fire but cover western Santa Monica, Simi Valley, Porter Ranch, Ventura and other parts of the hard-hit region.

Zoom in: Winds during this event will be closer to a typical strong Santa Ana, at 50 mph to 70 mph instead of up to 100 mph as seen last week.

• But the east-to-west air flow will likely target areas that didn't have such strong winds last week, particularly in Ventura County.
• "THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION (PDS) FOR PORTIONS OF LOS ANGELES AND VENTURA COUNTIES!" the NWS said in all caps.
• Much of Southern California is under some type of Red Flag Warning, with areas of "Extremely Critical" fire weather risk — the highest category from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), from today through Wednesday.

• According to SPC, which issues fire weather outlooks nationally, about 740,000 people are included in the extremely critical area on Monday.
• About 8.1 million are located in the "critical" fire weather risk classification, which is just below the maximum alert level.

Between the lines: According to the NWS LA office, before this season, the "PDS" classification had only been used twice before. Both were in 2020.

• However, the warning type has only been in existence for about half a decade.
• The product is supposed to indicate rare events, but the extraordinarily dry start to the winter wet season this year has meant that the fire season has stretched much deeper into the winter than usual.
• This means it overlaps with more high wind events, which is something that climate studies show occurring with greater regularity in coming decades.

Yes, but: The Eaton and Palisades Fires aren't included in the particularly dangerous situation portions of the warnings, according to the NWS, but nearby areas are and the heightened concerns relate to new fire starts as well.

The big picture: The region is suffering from hydroclimate whiplash worsened by human-caused climate change.

• Much of Southern California has received virtually no rain in the past eight months.
• And seven-day precipitation forecasts don't show measurable rain during the next week, despite January being well into the typical rainy season.

Go deeper:

L.A. fires could be the U.S.' worst natural disaster, Newsom says

Climate change plays key contributing role in LA fires

• Eating a protein-rich diet can help you reach your weight-loss goals, according to dietitians.
• Salmon and shrimp can bulk up a meal, and black beans are great for plant-based diets. 
• Opt for quinoa or whole-grain loaves over white bread, and try adding low-fat dairy to your diet. 

If you're struggling to lose weight, it may be time to focus on what you're eating instead of just how much is on your plate. 

Most nutrition experts recommend a protein-rich diet, so Business Insider asked dietitians to share their favorite high-protein foods for weight loss.

Here's what they said. 

Peanut butter is full of protein and "healthy" fats.

Peanut butter is low in carbs, and it can be a great source of protein and "healthy" fats. 

"My favorite high-protein food for weight loss is peanut butter," registered dietitian nutritionist Rebecca Stib told BI. "Per a serving, which is typically 2 tablespoons, you'll get about 8 grams of protein."

Start your day with some nutrient-dense eggs.

"Eggs are a great food for weight loss," registered dietitian Jenn Fillenworth told BI.

They're full of vitamins and minerals, and one egg contains about 6 grams of high-quality protein, with all of the essential amino acids.

Incorporate salmon into your diet.

"One of my absolute favorite foods for weight loss is salmon," Fillenworth told BI.

Although salmon is a fatty fish, she explained that eating the right kind of fat doesn't necessarily mean you're going to gain weight.

The fish contains essential omega-3 fatty acids, which you have to get from your diet since the human body can't produce them.

Black beans are a great plant-based protein for weight loss.

"My favorite plant-based protein for weight loss is the black bean," Fillenworth said.

She told BI that in addition to being high in protein, black beans are also high in fiber, so they can help relieve constipation and bloating — which could be attributed to some weight gain.

Opt for low-calorie, lean meats like chicken breasts.

"When looking for the best high-protein foods for weight loss, think low-calorie and high-quality ingredients," registered dietitian Sabrina Russo told BI.

She said the first things that come to mind are lean meat, poultry, and fish. These are all great sources of complete protein with little carbs and fat. 

Try switching from white to whole-grain carbs.

"High-protein seeds and whole-grain products are another great option," Russo told BI.  

Try incorporating whole-grain pasta or high-protein crackers into your diet, as these grains help keep you full without as many calories as processed white carbs.

Eat low-fat dairy products.

"Low-fat dairy products are also examples of high-protein foods that may be beneficial for weight loss," Russo said.

She suggested opting for plain, low- or fat-free milk, yogurt, and cheese. You can also enjoy plain yogurt with fresh berries for some natural sweetness.

Add some cottage cheese to your diet.

"At 23 grams of protein per cup and less than 200 calories, this protein-rich dairy product is a great addition to any meal," registered dietitian Staci Gulbin told BI.

A cup of lower-fat cottage cheese with 1% milk fat can even have around 28 grams of protein.

Although a serving of cottage cheese is fairly high in sodium, you can look for low-sodium or no-added-sodium brands. 

Use quinoa as an alternative to rice or pasta.

"This gluten-free seed is a delicious and healthy alternative to rice or pasta," Gulbin told BI.

A serving contains about 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of gut-friendly fiber.

Nuts are another great plant-based protein option.

"Nuts are a great portable and nutritious addition to any healthy lifestyle plan," Gulbin told BI.

Almonds, pistachios, and peanuts average around 6 grams of protein per 1-ounce serving with about 3 grams of gut-friendly fiber.

Add shrimp to your shopping list.

"Shrimp is an extremely low-calorie filling protein," registered dietitian Summer Yule said.

It's also an excellent source of iodine, which we need to support our thyroid health and manage our metabolism.

This story was originally published in February 2019 and most recently updated on January 13, 2025.

Read More:

• 3 myths about protein that you need to stop believing
• How to tell if you're getting enough protein
• 13 protein-rich snacks and meal swaps that will boost your diet to the next level
• The best high-protein desserts, according to dietitians

• The Atacama Desert in northern Chile holds two ghost towns called Humberstone and Santa Laura.
• Once home to thousands, they were abandoned in the 1960s when the saltpeter industry collapsed.
• Today, the towns are World Heritage Sites that attract visitors to learn more about the region.

Once a thriving community, Humberstone in northern Chile is now a ghost town.

Beginning in the late 1860s, hundreds of people lived and worked in Humberstone and nearby Santa Laura. Located in the Atacama Desert, it was a production hub for saltpeter, a substance used in gunpowder and fertilizer known as "white gold." After World War I, the industry began to crumble and the towns were abandoned in the 1960s.

For decades, it sat empty except for buildings, equipment, and other remnants of its industrial past.

Now it has a second life as a tourist attraction. Photos show how the well-preserved towns — now World Heritage Sites — bring the past to life, though the region's harsh conditions threaten its future.

The region's geology made it perfect for saltpeter or "white gold."

Chile's Tarapacá region sits near the borders with Bolivia and Peru. The region's hyperarid Atacama Desert has been compared to Mars.

The desert soil contains a mix of chemicals carried by groundwater, ocean spray, or fog. A lack of rainfall helped preserve beds of sodium nitrate, or saltpeter.

In the early 19th century, Europeans on the hunt for saltpeter to use in gunpowder turned their attention to the desert.

When Charles Darwin visited the area in 1835, he wasn't impressed with its saltpeter production.

Companies were mining saltpeter in the region by the early 1800s. When Charles Darwin visited during his voyage on the HMS Beagle in 1835, he dismissed the Chilean version of saltpeter.

"This saltpetre does not properly deserve to be so called; for it consists of nitrate of soda, and not of potash, and is therefore of much less value," he wrote.

The desert's sodium nitrate was more prone to dampness and burned at a higher temperature than potassium nitrate, another type of saltpeter commonly used in gunpowder, John Darlington wrote in "Amongst the Ruins: Why Civilizations Collapse and Communities Disappear."

New technological advances in the mid-1800s transformed the saltpeter process.

Extracting nitrate and valuable byproducts like iodine quickly became industrialized. It required a slew of machinery, including hoppers, leaching tanks, and troughs.

As populations grew and scientific development continued, researchers turned to sodium nitrate not as a source of gunpowder but as a useful fertilizer.

By 1870, the Tarapacá region was producing 500,000 tons of saltpeter, the largest source of the substances in the world at the time, the BBC reported.

The saltpeter works at Humberstone and Santa Laura quickly adopted the new technology.

The Peruvian Nitrate Company founded La Palma in 1862, and nearby Santa Laura followed 10 years later. La Palma was later renamed Humberstone, after a British chemical engineer, James Humberstone, who moved to the area in the 1870s.

Many European investors set up operations in the Tarapacá region, trading a share of their profits to acquire the land.

Towns soon sprang up in the arid desert.

One of the driest places on earth, some parts of the Atacama Desert receive only 0.2 inches of rainfall a year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the average temperature is in the high 60s Fahrenheit, it can drop to close to freezing at night in the winter.

Humberstone is arranged in a 10-by-6-block grid. Many buildings were made of Douglas fir with zinc roofs. Verandas and covered walkways provided relief from the sun.

Amenities, including a swimming pool, church, and theater, were added as Humberstone grew.

A general store and hotel were built at the center of Humberstone on the plaza. A tennis court, theater, swimming pool, chapel, hospital, and school all made up the complex.

Some of the materials for the buildings were shipped in, but workers also used remnants of the saltpeter process for "Pampa cement."

At its height, 3,500 people lived in Humberstone.

The workers came from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. Barracks were constructed of dorm-like rooms for single workers. There were also small houses for families.

Managers lived in larger, nicer homes, while owners usually had homes in coastal cities instead of near the mines.

Workers faced difficult, dangerous conditions.

Workers were lured to Humberstone and other mining towns by companies promising to pay their travel costs. "But what they found was really harsh conditions, very rough work, very dangerous work, and very poor pay," Ángela Vergara, a professor of history at California State University, Los Angeles, told Business Insider.

Administrators would also physically punish the workers.

One reporter who visited in the 1880s described the work as incessant, comparing it to the dirty, dangerous work of coal mines. He called houses "squalid-looking," per the BBC.

The town operated on a token system that made it difficult for workers to leave.

Rather than being paid in money, workers were paid in tokens that were only accepted in the town's general store.

"That was to trap people," Vergara said. "They could not move because they were dependent on the token."

Saltpeter workers in Humberstone and other towns became an important part of the country's labor movement.

A railroad connected Humberstone, and its saltpeter, to the rest of the world.

By the end of the 19th century, nitrate railways connected the region's mines to port cities so saltpeter could be shipped all over the world. At the same time, the miners were dependent on the railroads, too.

"All these nitrate camps and towns, they were located in very isolated parts of the Atacama," Vergara said. They had to bring in food and supplies to survive, she said.

Saltpeter made Chile rich.

Port cities shipped saltpeter to Europe and other parts of the world and imported goods, including textiles and coal.

Between 1880 and 1930, "Chile literally lived off one product: saltpetre," historian Julio Pinto told BBC News in 2015.

It brought in about half of the country's fiscal revenue, he said.

Disputes over saltpeter had long-lasting consequences for the region's borders.

Chile went to war with Bolivia and Peru over nitrate taxes in 1879, eventually annexing nitrate-laden territories from both countries, including Tarapacá.

Bolivia was cut off from the coast, becoming the land-locked country it still is today.

After World War I, Chile's saltpeter industry collapsed.

Germany relied upon Chile's saltpeter for fertilizer until the British blockade during the war. Instead, German scientists found ways to synthesize nitrate from ammonia, bypassing the need for saltpeter.

The loss of the industry combined with the Great Depression had a severe effect on Chile's economy. While it had once produced 80% of the world's nitrate, by 1950 it was only responsible for 15%.

By 1960, the saltpeter works at Humberstone and Santa Clara had closed.

A private company bought the operations and then sold off pieces of them in 1961. Workers left to find other jobs, leaving ghost towns behind.

The saltpeter works became Historic Monuments in 1970, saving them from demolition. In the 1990s, former workers and their families formed the Saltpeter Museum Corporation and won the rights to the sites during a public auction in 2002.

Humberstone and Santa Laura became a World Heritage site in 2005.

The Saltpeter Museum Corporation and former residents gathered 20,000 signatures to have UNESCO recognize the historical significance of the sites.

The pampinos, the area's inhabitants, had a unique culture influenced by the mix of people from all over the world. The towns and the industry represented specialized knowledge that impacted the landscape and deeply affected the country's economy.

Together, the two towns showcase different aspects of the region's former saltpeter industry. Santa Laura's equipment and manufacturing structures are better preserved than Humberstone's, which still has many residential buildings and other remnants of social and cultural life.

Years of neglect took a toll on the towns.

Between the 1960s and early 2000s, there was little maintenance on the towns' buildings. Looters took reusable materials, and the elements damaged the fragile structures, which weren't built for long-term use.

Salty fog had corroded the metal, and wind and earthquakes were threatening the wooden and stucco structures.

The Ministry of Public Works, the Saltpeter Museum Corporation, and the National Council of Monuments started working on securing and conserving the sites in 2005. In 2019, UNESCO removed them from its List of World Heritage in Danger due to their efforts. Some buildings are still fragile, though.

Now the saltpeter works and town are a tourist destination.

Many buildings, including the school and general store, remain. Visitors can wander around Humberstone and Santa Laura, which are only about half a mile from each other.

Mannequins depict what it would have been like to live and work in the towns.

Sources for this story include "Amongst the Ruins: Why Civilizations Collapse and Communities Disappear," UNESCO World Heritage Convention, "Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Age of Globalisation," Applied Geochemistry, Chemical and Engineering News, Astrobiology, The Hispanic American Historical Review, and BBC News.

• Meghan Markle is delaying the release of her series "With Love, Meghan" because of the LA wildfires.
• The Netflix show will now premiere on March 4.
• Meghan and Prince Harry were spotted handing out food to evacuees.

Meghan Markle is postponing the premiere of her Netflix series.

On Sunday, Netflix announced that "With Love, Meghan" will now be released on March 4 instead of January 15.

The streaming service said in a statement that the Duchess of Sussex requested the show's premiere be delayed because of the "ongoing devastation" of the Los Angeles wildfires and that the decision had Netflix's "full support."

"I'm thankful to my partners at Netflix for supporting me in delaying the launch, as we focus on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California," Meghan said of the delay in Netflix's announcement. Representatives for Meghan and Prince Harry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Meghan and Harry were also spotted on Friday supporting victims of the Eaton Fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles.

The couple handed out meals to people at the Pasadena Convention Center, connected with evacuees, and spoke with World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés and Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, ABC News reported. Harry and Meghan largely flew under the radar during their visit, wearing ball caps and masks for much of the day.

Gordo told Fox 11 that Harry and Meghan wanted "to be as helpful as they can be" and that Harry, in particular, "really buoyed the spirits of the first responders" when he spoke to them.

"They're just very caring people who are concerned for their friends and neighbors," Gordo added of the couple.

Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, and she and Harry have lived in Montecito, California — about 90 miles from LA — since 2020.

Meghan's Netflix series was filmed in Montecito, and the streamer described the show as "a heartfelt tribute to the beauty of Southern California."

In the lifestyle series, the Duchess of Sussex will share recipes, gardening tips, and flower-arranging hacks with some of her famous friends, including Mindy Kaling and Roy Choi.

The show is Meghan's latest move to return to her lifestyle roots, as is her mysterious brand, American Riviera Orchard. Until she and Prince Harry announced their engagement, Meghan ran the blog The Tig and her connected Instagram page.

Meghan also returned to Instagram with a new account at the start of the year.

Wildfires continue to burn across Los Angeles, and an increase in gusts of the city's Santa Ana winds could lead to critical fire conditions in the coming days.

• The RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 — almost 113 years ago — after it hit an iceberg.
• The RMS Carpathia was over three hours away and came to rescue the stranded survivors.
• Of the roughly 2,200 people aboard the Titanic, only about 700 people made it into lifeboats.

When the Titanic sank at approximately 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, its survivors didn't know if, or when, rescue would come. 

They sat, waiting, unknowing for an hour and a half in the dark, frigid Atlantic. Meanwhile, hundreds of frozen bodies floated nearby where the ship had slipped under the surface. 

"'My God! My God!' were the heart-rending cries and shrieks of men, which floated to us over the surface of the dark waters continuously for the next hour, but as time went on, growing weaker and weaker until they died out entirely," survivor Archibald Gracie later wrote. 

When the RMS Carpathia came to their rescue around 4:00 a.m., it took an additional 4.5 hours to move everyone from the lifeboats onto the ship. 

These photos show how the Carpathia saved a fraction of the Titanic's passengers from the icy sea.

The Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, with around 2,200 people aboard.

A British passenger liner, the Titanic was operated by White Star Line and was traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City. 

Just before 11:40 p.m. on April 14, Titanic crewmembers spotted an iceberg, but it was too late for the ship to change course.

When the ship was about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, the two lookouts, Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee, spotted the berg.

Fleet and Lee were contending with an unusually calm ocean. With no waves breaking at its base, the iceberg was difficult to spot. Their binoculars were also locked in a cabinet, so they were using their naked eyes to scan the dark water on the moonless night.

While the night was clear, the lookouts later said the berg, between 50 and 100 feet tall, suddenly loomed out of the haze. One weather researcher has suggested a local phenomenon known as sea smoke, steam rising from the water, could have obscured the enormous frozen object.     

First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship's helmsmen to avoid the iceberg, but they couldn't turn in time. As the ship scraped the iceberg, it tore a hole in the side of the ship, rupturing at least five of the watertight compartments.

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By 2:20 a.m., the stern of the Titanic slipped below the water, and the surviving passengers never saw it again.

Thomas Andrews, the Titanic's designer, was on board and quickly realized the extent of the damage and alerted the captain. 

Within an hour, Captain Edward Smith ordered the lifeboats lowered into the water, The BBC reported in 2012. As the ship's bow continued to sink, the stern rose into the sky.

Shortly after 2 a.m., the Titanic's lights went out. Soon after, the ship broke into two pieces, and the bow sank beneath the waves. Then the stern followed suit, sending hundreds of crewmembers and passengers into the sea.

Of the 2,200 or so people aboard the Titanic, only around 700 people made it into lifeboats.

There were 20 lifeboats aboard the Titanic, more than the 16 required for a ship that size. However, the boats only had capacity for about half of the passengers and crew, 1,178 people, Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2017.

Women and children were the first passengers to climb into the lifeboats. Many boats were launched below capacity, either because the crew were afraid they would collapse if fully loaded or because they didn't want to spend valuable time coaxing passengers onto the boats, according to "Titanic: A Night Remembered." 

At first, passengers remained relatively calm as the Titanic sank, NPR reported in 2012. The mood changed as more people started arriving on the upper decks where the lifeboats were located, one survivor told The BBC in 1979. 

Most of the lifeboats didn't return to rescue people who had plunged into the water.

As they rowed away, some lifeboat passengers feared the suction created by the sinking ship would drag them under. Others feared desperate swimmers would swamp the boats.

Emily Borie Ryerson's lifeboat returned to pick up survivors, mostly crewmembers, she testified during a senate inquiry into the event.

They "were so chilled and frozen already they could hardly move," she said. The water was 28 degrees Fahrenheit, according to "Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameron," a National Geographic special about the movie.

The SS Californian was near the Titanic when it sank, but its radio was shut off for the night.

When flares from the Titanic woke the captain, he assumed they were "company rockets," or signals passed between ships owned by the same company, not distress signals, the BBC reported.

Between 10 and 19 miles away, the Californian would have reached the Titanic much more quickly than the Carpathia, which was around 58 miles away.

The Californian had also messaged the Titanic earlier, warning of ice. The luxury liner's telegraph operator responded that he was busy, telling the Californian to stop sending messages. 

Instead, the RMS Carpathia responded to the Titanic's distress call and changed course to help.

Harold Cottam, the Carpathia's 21-year-old wireless operator, had planned to go to sleep for the night. First, though, he sent the Titanic a message to let them know he'd picked up transmissions meant for the luxury liner. 

"Come at once. We have struck a berg," Jack Phillips, the Titanic's wireless operator, responded. At 12:35 a.m., Cottam alerted Arthur Rostron, the captain of the transatlantic passenger liner, who threw on a dressing gown and headed his vessel toward the sinking ship, BBC News reported in 2013.   

"All this time, we were hearing the Titanic, sending her wireless out over the sea in a last call for help," Cottam told The New York Times in 1912. 

Another ship, the Olympic, also heard the distress calls but was over 500 miles away, according to The Irish Independent.

Rostron ordered his crew to ready the Carpathia for survivors.

He stationed a doctor in each of the ship's three dining rooms, outfitting them with "restoratives and stimulants," per the US Senate's report on the disaster. The crew stocked the saloons with coffee, tea, soup, and blankets. 

When the survivors came aboard, the chief steward and pursers would record their names so they could start sending them by telegraph.    

Arriving around 4 a.m., the Carpathia came to the rescue of the survivors in the lifeboats.

The first lifeboat reached the Carpathia at 4:10 a.m. It took over four hours for the ship to pick up all of the survivors.

By 8:30 a.m., the final person from the Titanic's lifeboats had boarded the Carpathia.

The Carpathia discovered four bodies in the sea and lifeboats, which crew members buried at sea, according to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. 

Captain Rostron ordered the nearby Californian to search the area for any additional survivors. 

 

 

Those aboard the Carpathia tried to accommodate the survivors, but the life-changing experience left many inconsolable.

"The people on the Carpathia received us with open arms and provided us with hot comforts, and acted as ministering angels," Titanic survivor Archibald Gracie later said. Many voluntarily gave up their beds to the rescued passengers, according to a 2017 article in "Voyage: Journal of the Titanic International Society 101."  

While the doctors treated people for sprains and bruises, one saw women and children crying as the search for other passengers was called off. 

Augusta Ogden offered coffee to two distraught women. "Go away," they said. "We have just seen our husbands drown."

 

Rather than contine along their original course, Carpathia's captain chose to return to New York City.

The closest port was Halifax, Nova Scotia, but getting there required traveling through more ice. 

Rostron decided to return to New York, where the Titanic had been headed. 

People flooded the White Star Line office in New York, wanting confirmation on the fate of the Titanic.

From the start, there were rumors that the company withheld information about the disaster, The Washington Post reported in 1912.

Philip Franklin, who was in charge of White Star Line at the time, denied knowing about the Titanic striking an iceberg shortly after it happened, Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2015. 

 

 

Bad weather delayed the Carpathia's arrival in New York.

During the next few days aboard the Carpathia, survivors including Margaret Brown, who became known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown" following the voyage, started a committee to help their fellow Titanic passengers. 

The self-described survivors' committee raised thousands of dollars to thank the Carpathia's crew. Brown, Emma Bucknell, and Martha Stone created lists of basic necessities for the other survivors. 

They camped in a dining room for hours, listening to other passengers as they "poured out their grief and story of distress," Brown later wrote. 

As the Carpathia approached New York, reporters hired tugboats to sail alongside the ship to talk to survivors.

Carlos Hurd, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was aboard the Carpathia when it raced to help the Titanic. He and his wife, Katherine, interviewed survivors and wrote down their stories. 

Rostron wouldn't allow him to use the telegraph during the trip back to New York, so he tossed his notes to his colleague aboard one of the boats, The Missoulian reported in 2012. 

Other journalists shouted at passengers through megaphones, offering $50 or $100 for interviews, WNYC reported in 2012.

The Carpathia eventually docked at Pier 54 on April 18 at around 9:15 a.m.

The ship had left from the same dock only seven days earlier, The New York Times reported in 2012. 

 

Thousands of people were waiting to welcome the survivors.

Families of passengers arrived hoping to be reunited with loved ones. Ambulances lined the streets waiting to tend to the survivors, The New York Times reported in 2010. 

The Carpathia had rescued over 700 people from the freezing Atlantic. 

Of the roughly 1,500 people who died aboard the Titanic, nearly 1,200 were crewmembers or third-class passengers. 

The Carpathia's crew returned 13 of Titanic's lifeboats to the White Star Line.

Before docking to let the passengers off, the ship stopped to drop off the lifeboats at the White Star Line's Pier 59, according to the Hudson River Maritime Museum. 

Practically overnight, passenger liners needed to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board, The New York Times reported in 2012. 

Halifax later became the main port for ships retrieving bodies from the wreckage.

Three ships dispatched from Halifax were able to retrieve over 300 bodies from the wreckage, or one in five victims, according to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. 

The first vessel sent to retrieve bodies, the Mackay-Bennett, ran out of embalming supplies — the ship didn't expect to find so many bodies in the water — forcing crew members to bury more people at sea than intended.

About half of the recovered bodies are buried in Halifax. Relatives claimed 59 bodies and returned them home. Most of the dead were crew members and third-class passengers who were trapped on lower decks, ABC News reported in 2020.

For his rescue efforts, Rostron received a Congressional Gold Medal.

Rostron was reluctant to speak publicly about his role in the Titanic rescue, though he did write an autobiography, "Home from the Sea," detailing his account of that fateful night.

This article was originally published in April 2020 and updated on January 13, 2025.

• Biden's Commerce Department is issuing new semiconductor export rules affecting Nvidia.
• The rules categorize countries for GPU export controls, impacting Nvidia's market.
• Critics argue the rules may stifle AI innovation. Supporters say they will keep the US on top.

The Biden administration's Commerce Department released 168-pages of fresh regulations for the US semiconductor industry Monday that could drastically change Nvidia's year.

The new rules target exports of graphics processing units, the types of highly powerful chips made by Nvidia, and challenger AMD. Global data centers are filling up with GPUs and Nvidia has so far claimed an estimated 90% of that market share.

Highly complex chips like GPUs are largely manufactured in Taiwan, but most of the companies that design them are based in the US and so their products are within the Department of Commerce's jurisdiction.

"To enhance U.S. national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world's AI runs on American rails," the White House's announcement reads, adding that advanced computing in the wrong hands can lead to "development of weapons of mass destruction, supporting powerful offensive cyber operations, and aiding human rights abuses, such as mass surveillance."

In response to previous export restrictions, Nvidia created a less powerful chip model just for the Chinese market to keep doing business there after the Biden administration changed the rules in 2022.

The new regulations go further — grouping countries into three categories and placing different export controls on each.

The first is a group of 18 allies to which GPUs can ship freely. These are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

The second group is listed as "countries of concern" where exports of the most advanced GPUs will be banned entirely. These are China, Hong Kong and Macau, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Syria.

All other countries would be subject to a cap of 100,000 GPUs. The rules lay out a verification process for larger orders, in which the businesses looking to set up larger clusters in these countries would need US government approval to do so.

The administration said the regulations had provision that would keep small orders of chips flowing to research institutions and universities.

Nvidia has opposed the regulation along with The Semiconductor Industry Association.

"While cloaked in the guise of an "anti-China" measure, these rules would do nothing to enhance U.S. security," Ned Finkle, Nvidia's VP of government affairs wrote in a statement on the company's website.

Impact on Nvidia

Any restriction on the sale of GPUs anywhere is bound to hit Nvidia's sales.

"The Biden Administration now seeks to restrict access to mainstream computing applications with its unprecedented and misguided "AI Diffusion" rule, which threatens to derail innovation and economic growth worldwide," Finkle wrote.

But will the regulations dampen sales or shift them?

Chris Miller, the author of "Chip War" and a leading expert on the semiconductor industry told Business Insider he was uncertain if the overall volume of GPUs sold would be substantially impacted since demand for Nvidia's products is so high.

"I suspect that these rules will generally have the impact of shifting data center construction toward US firms," Miller said.

If demand does goes down, "it would change due to a reduction of GPU demand from countries or companies that are unwilling to rely on US cloud providers," Miller said.

The drafted rules had been circulating ahead of the Monday announcement and reactions from tech leaders have been fierce.

Oracle VP Ken Glueck blogged about them for the first time in mid December and again in early January.

Both Finkle and Glueck zeroed in on the country caps as the most consequential element introduced.

"The extreme 'country cap' policy will affect mainstream computers in countries around the world, doing nothing to promote national security but rather pushing the world to alternative technologies," Finkle said in an emailed statement Friday.

It is particularly notable that Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, UAE, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and India, are not in the unrestricted tier of countries, Glueck noted.

The exclusion of several Middle East countries could seriously change the course of the global AI infrastructure buildout, Miller said.

"The primary impact of these controls is that they make it much more likely that the most advanced AI systems are trained in the US as opposed to the Middle East," Miller said.

"Without these controls, wealthy Middle Eastern governments would have succeeded to some degree in convincing U.S. firms to train high-end AI systems in the Middle East by offering subsidized data centers. Now this won't be possible, so US firms will train their systems in the US," Miller said.

Glueck wrote that country quotas were the worst concept within the draft regulations, which will be formally published Wednesday, according to the Federal Register.

"Controlling GPUs makes no sense when you can achieve parity by simply adding more, if less-powerful, GPUs to solve the problem," Oracle's Glueck wrote in December. "The problem with this proposal is it assumes there are no other non-U.S. suppliers from which to procure GPU technology," he continued.

Republican support

The fate of the Biden's unprecedented export control rules is uncertain given their timing.

The Monday statement from Nvidia's Finkle referenced the Trump administration, stating that in his first term, Trump, "laid the foundation for America's current strength and success in AI."

The new rules are subject to a 120-day comment period before they are enforceable. President Biden will have left office when they are set to take effect.

Though they stemmed from an outgoing Democratic administration, the rules do have some support on the President-elect's side of the aisle.

Republican Congressman John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi, chair and ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, are in favor of the framework.

"GPUs, or any country that hosts Huawei cloud computing infrastructure should be restricted from accessing the model weights of closed-weight dual-use AI models," the two legislators published in a written statement.

Matt Pottinger, who served on the National Security Council in Trump's first term and current chairman of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies along with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 6. They suggest that the existing export restricitions have been successful, but still allow room for China to set up data centers in friendly third-party countries, so more restrictions are needed.

"Skeptics of these restrictions argue that the countries and companies to which the rules apply will simply switch to Chinese AI chips. This argument overlooks that U.S. chips are superior, giving countries an incentive to follow U.S. rules," Pottinger and Amodei wrote.

"Countries that want to reap the massive economic benefits will have an incentive to follow the U.S. model rather than use China's inferior chips," they continued.

Miller confirmed that the fact that China is still purchasing Nvidia's "defeatured" GPUs is sign enough that locally-designed chips are not competitive, yet.

"So long as China's importing US GPUs, it won't be able to export, in which case these controls will be effective because there is no alternative source of high end GPUs," Miller said.

But Huawei is catching up, said Alvin Nguyen, senior analyst at Forrester. Additional US export controls could speed that work up in his view.

"They've caught up to one generation behind Nvidia," said Nguyen.

Another concern is that restricting the flow of advanced chips could segment the economic opportunity of AI spreading equally around the globe.

"If you're not working with the best infrastructure, the best models, you may not be able to leverage the data that you do have — creating the haves and have nots," Nguyen said.