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中国特稿：全球化从“借船出海”到自己“造船” 中国创新药准备破浪远航

2026年9月27日 05:00 / 联合早报

中国创新药品近年加速崛起，从仿制、跟随，然后走向自主创新，并凭借海外授权交易，成为全球新药重要来源。但从“借船出海”到建立自主全球研发和商业化能力，中国药企也面临能力与地缘政治等考验。以中国现阶段的药研能力，究竟距离诞生世界级跨国药企还有多远？

（插图／陈锐勤）

中国创新药研发竞赛有多激烈？近月来，一个另类指标给出了答案：猴子不够用了。

作为临床前安全评估的关键资源，实验猴被业界比作创新药研发的“算力”。随着研发项目增加，实验猴供不应求，单只猴子价格近期飙升至20万元（人民币，约3万8000新元），引起研发周期延宕的担忧。

研创中新药占全球三分一 视为驱动外贸“新新三样”

这场猴子荒，是中国创新药研发迅速扩张的生动缩影。经历近10年的药政审批改革、资本投入和研发积累，中国创新药研发和出海步伐2024年前后迎来拐点：海外授权交易大增，中国由全球药企的重要销售市场，逐步成为全球新药的重要来源。

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早人物：南大材料科学家陈晓东——蚕丝化作人造肤草木心跳细聆听

2026年9月27日 05:00 / 联合早报

抛开冰冷的硅片与刚性电路，他用蚕丝化作人造皮肤，也让植物在屏幕前发出“心声”。从莆田到狮城，作为南洋理工大学杰出大学教授与英国皇家学会院士，这位兼具刻苦与前瞻视野的科学家在多元交融中开拓出别具一格的“软电子”世界。在陈晓东教授看来，科研必须敢于跨界去探索自然界中未被解答的语言。

南大教授陈晓东认为，真正的科学创新不仅需要严谨求实的态度，更需要有一份将冷冰冰的技术转化为关怀人类与自然的温情。 （张俊杰摄）

走进实验室时，迎面而来的不仅仅只有传统实验室里那些冷冰冰的精密仪器，还隐约可以闻到一股温润的植物与泥土混合的清香。

在马克斯普朗克—南大人工感知联合实验室内，靠着墙面大大的架子上，错落有致地摆放着一排排小小的不同的绿植。明晃晃的荧光灯下，一株株嫩绿的菜心苗正吐露生机，旁边还有一盆盆供基础研究用的拟南芥。

科幻片情节变作现实 以柔克刚研发人工皮肤

南大材料科学与工程学院杰出大学讲席教授陈晓东正在讲解一根根轻薄如蝉翼、宛如蜘蛛丝般的柔性电极，在贴合在一株含羞草的叶柄后，是如何可以测出植物的心声。

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中国驻泰使馆提醒在泰中国公民防范洪涝灾害

2026-09-27 07:17 / 联合早报

曼谷连续两天暴雨引发严重洪涝，图为被洪水淹没的街道。 （路透社）

泰国曼谷暴雨成灾，中国驻泰使馆提醒在泰中国公民防范强降雨及洪涝灾害。

据新华社报道，中国驻泰国使馆星期六（9月26日）发布公告，提醒在泰中国公民及近期拟来泰人员提高安全防范意识，密切关注天气和道路情况，妥善做好防洪防涝准备。

公告说，泰国多地持续出现强降雨天气，曼谷及周边地区受影响较为明显。使馆提醒在泰中国公民密切关注天气及当地官方信息；合理安排出行，避免通过内涝区域；做好居家及个人应急准备。

公告说，近期计划来泰或已经在泰的中国游客、短期商务及探亲人员，应密切关注目的地天气和交通状况，合理调整旅游、商务及户外活动安排，避免在暴雨期间前往河流、瀑布等涉水区域以及山区、低洼地区游览；前往机场、火车站等交通枢纽时，应充分预留时间。如遇紧急情况，请及时报警并联系中国驻泰国使领馆寻求领事协助。

泰国首都曼谷连续两天暴雨引发严重洪涝，市政府星期六（9月26日）宣布首都所有50个区为洪水灾区。在伦敦访问的泰国首相阿努廷也提前结束行程，返国处理灾情。

从星期四（24日）至星期六下午，曼谷降雨量已接近300毫米。连绵不断的降雨导致曼谷的运河水位上涨，浑浊的河水涌入周边的民宅、餐馆、商店和巷弄。

Russia accuses Europe of blocking Ukraine peace talks as Trump calls on Zelenskyy to “settle with Putin”

September 26, 2026 / 5:00 PM EDT / CBS/AFP

Russia’s foreign minister used his address at the United Nations General Assembly to accuse Europe of blocking efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up attacks after the deadliest summer since 2022 — the year Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday, Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine, officials said, while Kyiv continued to target Russian oil refineries and industrial sites with long-range drones.

Efforts led by the U.S. have failed to produce a permanent ceasefire and peace deal, with President Trump saying on Saturday that he hoped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would “settle” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Europe of actively trying to block talks supported by the U.S. government.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, speaks at a session of the U.N. General Assembly at the United Nations. Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images

“Europe is doing everything it can to thwart peace talks in which the Trump administration is interested,” Lavrov said in a fiery speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

“The aims of the special military operation will be achieved, the threat to Russian security will be eliminated and peaceful life will come back. This will happen no matter the circumstances,” he added, using Moscow’s terminology for the conflict.

Before his speech, Lavrov met with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul – the first meeting between Moscow and Berlin’s foreign ministers since before the war.

The talks took place as tensions between Berlin and Moscow intensified, Germany accusing Russia of orchestrating an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport and each country ordering the closure of the other’s consulate.

European countries, including Germany, have sounded the alarm in recent days over what they say are increased Russian sabotage activities on their soil.

“Russia’s war targets the lives of millions of innocent people, the existence of the Ukrainian state and culture and the European peace order,” Wadephul said in his own address to the assembly Saturday, urging Russia to negotiate toward ending the fighting.

Rescuers work at a site of a Russian drone strike on the central market of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko

Mr. Trump commented on Saturday on his meeting with Zelenskyy at the U.N. General Assembly, saying that he hoped the Ukrainian leader would “settle” with Putin.

He said Saturday that Zelenskyy and Putin were “going along” and that “someday, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, maybe before the heavy winter, they’ll make a deal.”

“You know what I want him to do? Make a deal,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Zelenskyy. “I want him to settle with Putin, and I want Putin to settle with him.”

Zelenskyy, who after the meeting on Tuesday said he trusted the White House could help end Russia’s invasion of his country, said on Saturday that Russia is “escalating every single day.”

“If the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further,” he wrote on social media.

特朗普拒绝和平协议 伊朗坚持通过外交解决冲突

2026年9月27日 07:26 / 联合早报

特朗普星期六（9月26日）在白宫外接受媒体采访时说，他已拒绝了伊朗提出重开霍尔木兹海峡的方案。 （彭博社）

尽管美国总统特朗普拒绝了伊朗关于停火七天以重开霍尔木兹海峡的提议，伊朗仍然坚持认为，只有通过外交途径才能解决和美国与以色列的冲突，使大家走出僵局。

特朗普星期六（9月26日）在白宫外接受媒体采访时说，他已拒绝了伊朗提出重开霍尔木兹海峡的方案，并称伊朗之所以希望达成协议，是因为他们“输得很惨”，已陷入绝境。

特朗普说：“我们正取得巨大的胜利。他们（伊朗）想达成协议，我认为这挺好，我也喜欢达成协议。他们想做的是立即重开霍尔木兹海峡……因为他们没有资金来源，他们的资金都来自霍尔木兹海峡。”

伊朗通过调解方卡塔尔，向美国提出重开霍尔木兹海峡的方案，条件是在包括黎巴嫩在内的各条战线停火七天。这期间，美国须解除对伊朗的港口封锁、解冻资金，并给予石油制裁豁免，伊朗则在停火第七天重开海峡，之后与美国针对核问题等展开谈判。

伊朗外长阿拉格齐星期天（27日）在社交媒体上发文称，伊朗的条件很明确，而任何重开霍尔木兹海峡的举措都取决于这些条件是否得到满足，“只有通过谈判达成解决方案，才能让他们走出这一僵局。”

特朗普拒绝伊朗停火七天建议 恫言11月选举后恢复打伊 联大场边寻求破局 伊朗提议七天内重开霍尔木兹海峡

阿拉格齐也说，尽管特朗普公开表态反对，但负责调解美伊谈判的中间人尚未正式向伊方转达美国拒绝方案的决定。他写道：“我们正在等待调解人向我们传达最终意见，并将在其基础上做出决定。”

美国目前对伊朗实施经济封锁，以施压德黑兰停止在霍尔木兹海峡袭击船只。尽管特朗普一再声称美国控制着这条关键水道，但袭击已导致通过区域的航运量锐减。

另一方面，沙特阿拉伯外交部长费萨尔星期六也在联合国大会一般性辩论发言中表态称，霍尔木兹海峡必须恢复到2月28日之前的状态，不得收取任何费用或设置限制。

费萨尔强调，海湾安全与地区乃至全球安全密不可分，它的稳定与全球能源安全、国际贸易稳定以及全球供应链的韧性直接相关，并指出维护国际航运安全以及全球供应链的韧性，是一项共同责任，需要开展严肃的国际合作。

费萨尔呼吁，必须确保所有国际水道的航行自由，并强调沙特反对任何一方将这些重要水道作为施压、威胁或损害他国利益的工具。

Trump claims stunning casualty numbers in Russia-Ukraine war

September 26, 2026 2:43pm EDT / Fox News

The president said he spoke recently with Zelenskyy and pushed for a deal before winter

By Robert McGreevy, Fox News

President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday that last month, 25,000 people died in the Ukraine-Russia war and said the month before that 32,000 people died.

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President Donald Trump said Saturday that 25,000 people were killed last month and another 32,000 the month before in the war between Ukraine and Russia

“Last month, 25,000 people died in the Ukraine-Russia war, okay? 25,000,” he told reporters on the White House lawn Saturday.

“The month before that, 32,000 people died … mostly soldiers, 97% soldiers. But whether they’re soldiers or civilians, think of it: 32,000. Two months ago, 33,000 people; this month, 25,000 people died. What a shame,” he added.

PUTIN UNLEASHES NEW FURY ON UKRAINE AS REPORT EXPOSES FEAR HANGING OVER WAR’S END

Russia alone has lost as many as 450,000 soldiers since invading Ukraine in 2022, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House on the South Lawn in Washington, DC, US, September 26, 2026.(Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)

Trump also told reporters he wants to see an end to the war soon, revealing he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently.

KUSHNER, WITKOFF SET FOR KYIV TALKS AFTER PUTIN MEETING IN US PUSH FOR PEACE

“I spoke to him a lot, and he’s going along and Putin’s going along. And someday, hopefully in the not too distant future, maybe before the heavy winter, they’ll make a deal,” he told reporters.

He claimed that he pushed Zelenskyy to try to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

TRUMP NEGOTIATORS WITKOFF, KUSHNER MEET WITH PUTIN IN MOSCOW AS US PUSHES FOR END TO RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

“I agreed with Zelenskyy that we talked about a lot of different subjects, and many of those subjects, very strong agreement. But you know what I want him to do? Make a deal. I want him to settle with Putin, and I want Putin to settle with him.

President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House Aug. 18, 2025 in Washington, D.C.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Zelenskyy announced Friday that Trump had agreed to give approval to Ukraine to license and produce U.S. Patriot missile interceptors.

TRUMP SAYS US WILL LET UKRAINE MAKE PATRIOT MISSILES IN MAJOR POLICY SHIFT

“There are concrete agreements regarding Patriot licenses. At our meeting, President Trump stressed that he had made his final decision: Ukraine will receive licenses to produce Patriot missiles,’” Zelenskyy posted Friday.

“There are concrete agreements regarding Patriot licenses,” Zelenskyy wrote.(Jens Büttner/Getty Images; Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

President Trump had previously hesitated to grant Ukraine the licenses.

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Fox News Digital contacted the White House for comment.

Cruz says winning AI race against China is ‘single most important economic question’ for America

September 26, 2026 1:14pm EDT / Fox News

The senator says foreign influence and ‘effective altruism’ groups are shaping the AI policy debate

By Preston Mizell Fox News

Cruz says China is exploiting AI fears as America races for tech dominance

Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News Digital that the battle over artificial intelligence and data centers is being shaped by propaganda and influence campaigns as the U.S. competes with China for AI leadership.

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America’s AI race against China, which has become a major point of debate as midterms approach, is a race filled with “coordinated” propaganda, warned Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

In recent months, data centers and AI policy have been debated in Congress and at the kitchen tables of American families. But Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, told Fox News Digital that much of the new opposition to data centers is being manipulated by a well-funded and coordinated campaign.

“It’s the same reason we saw Middle Eastern countries paying for anti-fracking movements,” Cruz said. “Because if they can convince America, ‘Don’t develop your oil and gas, just buy it from us,’ well, that’s great for them and terrible for us. The same is true on data centers. If they can convince Americans, ‘You don’t want data centers here, you want to just rely on the Chinese for AI,’ that’s great for China, and it’s terrible for America.”

US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Thursday May 8, 2025. The witnesses include CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman, Chair and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) Lisa Su, Co-founder and chief executive officer of CoreWeave Inc Michael Intrator, and President of Microsoft Corp. Brad Smith.(Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

CHINA EXPERT WARNS BEIJING WANTS AMERICANS — NOT THE CCP — TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE

Direct funding from the Chinese government into the U.S. on data center policies has not been revealed. However, in June, OpenAI announced it had banned ChatGPT accounts believed to have originated in China, and said that the accounts were generating social media comments and images alleging that data centers are raising electricity costs for Americans.

OpenAI said in a statement that it shut down “two clusters of ChatGPT accounts likely originating from China that OpenAI banned after they used our models in support of apparent covert influence operations that promoted narratives in an attempt to manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and wider tech policies.”

Cruz called the effort to craft policy to ensure the U.S. wins the AI race is “the single most important economic question facing America today.”

INSIDE THE FAR-LEFT’S ANTI-DATA CENTER PUSH AND WHAT EXPERTS SAY IS DRIVING IT: ‘PLAYBOOK WE’VE SEEN BEFORE’

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“If China wins, AI will be focused on espionage and propaganda and control and surveillance, because that’s the Chinese Communist Party,” Cruz said. “It will be their values. They will use AI to try to control you. If America wins, I want American values to be reflected in AI. I want free speech and individualism and free enterprise and privacy to be reflected in AI, not control and power.”

Cruz called opposition to AI advancement and data centers the “dominant position on the Democratic side.” The third-term Republican said the Democrats’ position is aligned with that of big industry players including Anthropic that he said want exemption from antitrust laws and to “get in bed with government” to control AI development.

THE HIDDEN LEFT-WING NETWORK POWERING A ‘CONSERVATIVE’ REBELLION AGAINST A MAJOR TRUMP PRIORITY

Cruz associated this position with leftist ideology and the emerging tech philosophy known as “effective altruism.”

“These folks from effective altruism are all hardcore leftists, and they want to use AI to push their leftist ideology,” Cruz said. “Part of what we’re seeing is a money grab, where there’s an old concept in economics called rent seeking, which is big companies typically go to government and say, ‘Give me a benefit, entrench me.’ We’re seeing the giant AI companies going to government saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you put us in charge of government and let’s set the rules so no one could compete with us.’”

Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital last week that effective altruism is associated with what he called the AI doomerism movement.

Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook Inc., speaks at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, Sept. 12, 2011.(Noah Berger/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Facebook co-founder and billionaire Democratic mega-donor Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna have been leading financial backers of organizations associated with the effective altruism movement. Moskovitz left Facebook in 2008.

The couple founded Coefficient Giving, formerly known as Open Philanthropy, and remains its “main funders,” according to the organization. Tuna serves as its president.

Coefficient Giving says its artificial intelligence work has expanded rapidly, with $168 million committed to AI safety, security and field-building in 2024 and $351 million in 2025. The organization says it is on track to commit more than $1 billion to AI policy advocacy in 2026.

In a 2021 grant application description, the organization said it seeks “to fund programs and events in a variety of areas of interest to Coefficient Giving — including effective altruism, global catastrophic risks, biosecurity, AI for epistemics, forecasting, and other areas.”

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In 2015, Coefficient Giving launched “Project Tailwind,” an initiative where the Moskovitz-funded organization issued a “call for founders to launch ambitious AI safety initiatives.”

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news.

Fears of possible serial killer rise in South Africa after body of 10th woman found

2026-09-26 12:36:59 EDT / CBS News

September 26, 2026 / 12:36 PM EDT / AP

South African police said Saturday that another woman’s body had been found near Johannesburg, bringing the number of victims to 10 in a series of killings under investigation.

Police began investigating after the bodies of three women were found in July and August within about 4.3 miles of one another in the Ekurhuleni municipality, east of Johannesburg.

The discovery of six bodies in Ekurhuleni over 10 days earlier this month raised fears that a serial killer or killers were responsible.

Two women were arrested and charged last week with murder in relation to the ninth body, discovered on Sept. 17. The victim had been stabbed and had her throat cut, police said. Police did not link the two women charged to any of the other killings.

Provincial police commissioner Lt. Gen. Tommy Mthombeni told state broadcaster SABC on Saturday that investigators believed the ninth killing was an isolated case but could not rule out the possibility that some of the other cases were linked.

Police had issued a warning for women to use caution while in the area.

Police have identified similarities in some of the killings but said they had not found conclusive evidence that the same person or people were responsible.

All nine of the bodies discovered before Saturday were those of women in their 20s or 30s, according to police. Several were naked or partially clothed and left in open areas near main roads. Officers from the Investigative Psychology Unit, which specializes in complex or serial violent crimes, are part of the investigation.

Police released limited details about the 10th body, which was found early Saturday, and did not immediately identify the victim.

“We can only confirm the discovery of the body,” the South African Police Service said in a statement. “Crime scene management and all the necessary role players are currently on the scene.”

South Africa has high rates of violent crime and violence against women. Three women were killed every day by an intimate partner from 2020-2021, a recent study found.

The country has one of the highest global murder rates, with more than 60 a day on average.

The killings in Ekurhuleni have sparked a national outcry over women’s safety.

Trump admin cancels funding for refugees, immigrants and others in move lawmakers argue is illegal

2026-09-26T18:29:13.628Z / CNN

The Trump administration is moving to cancel $810 million of funding that has been appropriated by Congress for refugees, immigrants and other services it argues are unnecessary, according to a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget.

In what is called a pocket rescission, the package of proposed cuts, sent from Trump to House Speaker Mike Johnson in a notification letter, includes proposed rescissions at the Departments of Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department. Several cuts were for international assistance programs.

The White House argues that President Donald Trump is targeting “the most harmful government spending,” though some lawmakers are criticizing the move as an illegal “line item veto” that bypasses Congressional authority. Once the rescissions are submitted by the White House, the funds are paused while Congress has 45 days to act. But given the fiscal year ends on September 30, it sets the funds up to essentially be canceled.

One of the proposed rescissions seeks to cancel $10 million of the $50 million for Minority Business Development Agency programs, which the Trump administration claims are funds appropriated for “unconstitutional race-based purposes.”

“The MBDA grant programs direct grants to businesses based on race. Divisive and discriminatory programs are at the core mission of MBDA, which is why the FY 2027 Budget request proposed to eliminate the agency,” the notification letter said.

Another rescission cancels $567 million for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance account, which funds Office of Refugee Resettlement programs under HHS.

The White House argued that the office is “overfunded,” given that Trump’s border policies have curbed border crossings. Refugees typically enter the US after extensive background checks through a network of non-government organizations working with the State Department.

Some of the rescissions pull back funds for DHS, including the $15 million for the Alternatives to Detention-Case Management Pilot Program that provides case management services for people under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision but are not detained. The administration argued that the move would “eliminate unnecessary and wasteful spending.” Another $10 million would be cut from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Citizenship and Integration grant program meant to help lawful permanent residents learn English and about US history on their way to becoming US citizens. The Trump administration said DHS “has already paused” the program and “cancelled previously awarded grants from prior years.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said in an X post that the pocket rescission “shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law.”

“Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” Collins wrote. “I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.”

Calling pocket rescissions “an illegal line item veto,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley urged his Republican colleagues to consider how they would feel about a Democratic president doing the same.

“He is canceling the lines of spending he doesn’t like. This violates the core separation of powers embedded in our constitution in which it is the Congress, not the president, who decides what programs are designed and at what level they are funded,” Merkley said.

But this is not the first time the White House has canceled funds that Congress had already approved.

The White House lauded Trump’s use of “long-neglected Presidential authorities,” also through the Impoundment Control Act to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid through a pocket rescission last year. Jimmy Carter was the last president to do so in 1977.

The White House defended its effort to claw back the appropriated funds.

“Last year, President Trump took the historic step of utilizing long-neglected Presidential authorities provided to him under the Impoundment Control Act to deploy the first ‘pocket rescission’ in 50 years. This year, he is continuing his commitment to the American taxpayer by utilizing a pocket rescission for another nearly $1 billion of the most harmful government spending,” the White House said in a release.

Arlette Saenz and Phil Mattingly contributed to this story.

Trump’s home county hits pause on data centers over environment and electric bill concerns

September 26, 2026 1:58pm EDT / Fox News

The unanimous 6-0 vote pauses new projects while commissioners review environmental and utility impacts near the Everglades

By Elaine Mallon, Fox News

Ohio AI data center boom sparks outrage over rising utility bills

Resident Artie Carpenter raises concerns over the impact of Ohio’s AI data center boom. Reporter Madison Alworth details how surging electricity bills and constant noise are disrupting local communities.

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Palm Beach County — home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago — passed a one-year moratoriam on the planning and construction of data centers as commissioners seek to conduct a thorough review of data centers’ impacts on the environment, noise pollution, and electric bills.

The moratorium, passed on Thursday, comes just weeks after Trump said that communities that reject data centers would “end up being backwards and poor.” Among the wealthiest counties in the country, Palm Beach County includes the town of Palm Beach, home to 65 billionaires.

“If you want to go through poverty, crime and squalor, I would say don’t approve of data centers,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Sep. 4.

The Palm Beach County Commissioners’ 6-0 vote doesn’t put a permanent ban on data centers. Instead, it gives county leadership time to conduct environmental impact reviews before updating zoning rules for where data centers can be built.

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a picture of a data center as he holds a cabinet meeting with members of his administration in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. This is the seventh cabinet meeting of Trump’s second term. Seated next to President Trump was Secretary of State Marco Rubio.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

TRUMP’S DATA CENTER PUSH FRACTURES CONGRESS AS LOCAL ANGER EXPLODES: ‘GRASPING AT STRAWS’

The moratorium applies to all new applications for data centers with an anticipated peak electrical load of at least 50 megawatts.

“Many communities want the economic benefits a data center brings, but we all fear the higher power bills, the negative environmental impact, disruptive noise, the depletion of water resources,” a Palm Beach County resident shared during Thursday’s meeting.

Trump has made expanding data centers and accelerating artificial intelligence a cornerstone of his agenda, arguing that the United States cannot afford to lose the AI race to China and warning that opposition to data centers only benefits Beijing.

Data centers are the physical backbone of artificial intelligence, housing thousands of powerful computers that store and process digital information while providing the computing power needed to train and run AI systems.

Palm Beach County has already approved in 2016 the construction of “Project Tango” — a proposed 202-acre AI data center, which is located 20 miles from Mar-a-Lago. The data center will also be built near an elementary school and homes.

A woman holds signs during a nationwide protest against AI data center expansion outside Peace Hall in New Port Richey, Florida on July 18, 2026.(Thomas Simonetti / AFP / Getty Images)

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS QUESTION WHETHER AI’S PROMISE OUTWEIGHS ITS RISKS

In July, commissioners voted 6-1 to reject a proposal to expand Project Tango by roughly 1.67 million square feet. But existing approvals for two 100,000-square-foot data center buildings remain in place.

Residents at the Thursday meeting said Project Tango was the driving factor behind the push to hit pause on data center project approvals, with several residents advocating for no data centers to be built.

An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Aug. 10, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla.(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

“I think the best good neighbor data center is no data center,” resident Sergei Kelly said. “We have the Everglades to our South and to our West. The coast to our East. I don’t think data centers, especially large data centers they want to build desperately should be here at all.”

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Fox News Digital reached to the White House and Palm Beach County Commissioners for comment.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.