>> the intelligence officer presented himself as a researcher that was looking at the global markets. >> reporter: by then, norris told us, covid had made it more difficult for spies to travel abroad. so china's intelligence officers started leaning on virtual espionage, gleaning military secrets through online contacts. in the last two years, federal law enforcement agents told us they have identified about a dozen such cases. they have secured convictions against three service members recruited by suspected undercover agents of china. >> they will turn over every stone to try and collect what they can. >> reporter: kevin vorndren heads the fbi's counterintelligence division. u.s. officials told us china is trolling professional network sites, including linkedin to find american service members and others who hold u.s. government security clearances. >> members of the military, former members of the military list their resumes. it exposes their expertise.

and through that, it makes targeting by an intelligence service in a sophisticated intelligence service simple to accomplish. >> reporter: how many other thomas zhaos are out there? >> i'm very concerned about that. they're certainly endeavoring to target as many people as they can. >> reporter: in zhao's case, what started as chats about stock trades began to veer into sensitive areas. questions about naval exercises in the pacific, where china seeks to challenge u.s. military strength. >> in the end, he received approximately $15,000. >> reporter: court records revealed the agent asked zhao to take photographs and videos of restricted areas and told him to destroy evidence of their communications. how does that not raise every red flag available to thomas zhao? >> it should have. and zhao stated that he questioned the intelligence officer occasionally. >> when i tried to cut the relationship with him, he -- it's already kind of late. >> you feel like you were trapped?

>> yeah. >> reporter: zhao, a u.s. citizen since he was 12, was arrested and is currently serving more than two years for bribery and conspiracy, but his actions did not rise to the level of espionage. did he know what he was doing was wrong? >> at some point, yes. >> reporter: attorney tarik shockey secured a plea deal for thomas zhao, but says his client, to some degree, was scammed by the chinese intelligence officer. >> this agent built up a level of trust over a period of time such that at a certain point, i think the human condition is that you want to suspend a little bit of your better judgment because of that human connection. and that's what makes it so dangerous. >> that was jim axelrod reporting. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

studies show the average american spends nearly half their waking lives looking at screens, most often our smartphones. now a new book is exploring the impact of the so-called attention economy. cbs' brook silva-braga spoke with the author. >> reporter: you might know chris hayes as a cable news host, but he is also into influential best sellers examining inequality in america. next week he is out with "the siren's call" which makes the case that today the world's most endangered resource is human attention, and that ruthless competition for our attention is changing how we live. >> so this illustrates one of the fundamental things i talk about in the book. >> reporter: chris hayes says something as simple as a goggle search is an example of what he calls attention capitalism. >> we make this conceptual mistake a lot. we think of the information age and information is a valuable resource. information is infinite. there is boundless information.

the valuable resource is our attention. and the reason that google was the most profitable enterprise of the entire internet was that it conserved our attention. >> reporter: but hayes says google doesn't do that so well anymore. >> i searched for three row ev, three row electric vehicle. >> reporter: the search for three-row ev isn't just littered with ads -- >> one, two, three, four. >> reporter: they're mostly ads for vehicles. >> the iv 4 is not. >> reporter: that don't even match the search. >> toyota does not make a four-row ev. >> reporter: why did they do that? >> i think the basic business imperatives which you have to increase revenue if you're a public company. >> reporter: today most of the world's largest public companies, apple, amazon, microsoft, meta make their money in one way or another from our attention. >> it's become i think one of the world's most valuable resources, one of the most sought after, one of the most competed for, and one of the

most ruthlessly extracted. >> reporter: and the idea that this can be monetized, you argue, making it different than other things you might monetize like a piece of land or a piece of coal. this is something that comes from within us. >> yes. in this sense, the resource that is being extracted, like rubber from a tree is inside our own heads, is our conscious lives. >> reporter: the title, "the siren's call" is a reference to the sirens in the greek epic "the odyssey." >> no man who hears this song can escape. >> reporter: you might remember from high school lit their song is so dangerous and yet to tempting. >> i want to hear their song. >> reporter: that odysseus has himself tied to the ship's mast. >> and don't untie me. >> reporter: hoping to safely experience something he knows is bad for him. and you think this is us now? >> absolutely. i think we are all odysseus on the mast all the time. >> reporter: if "the sirens

call" describes people trapped by technology, hayes writes about it as an inmate. >> part of this is enduring the human condition, but -- sorry. >> reporter: in the two days we spent with him, just about every quiet moment was filled with the glow of a screen. >> this is like watching me shoot up or something. >> reporter: to manage his addiction -- >> like what are people saying about me. >> reporter: hayes hides the comments from most of his nearly three million social media followers so he can't see what they're saying. >> yes, because i'm tying myself to the mast. >> reporter: okay. >> you know what i mean? i think that desire what are people saying about me, maybe i'm broken as a person. but i think it's actually a pretty broad pathology. >> reporter: this hyper-charged battle for eyeballs isn't just lousy for individuals, possibly causing loneliness and depression, definitely changing how we spend our time, but also bad for society, hayes says, since the easiest way to gain market share is with endless

short bursts of the outrageous. >> trolling as the form of public discourse is the dominant form of public discourse. who of the biggest trolls are elon musk and donald trump. they're very good at getting negative attention. >> reporter: richest man and most powerful man. >> richest man and most powerful man. they've sort of hacked something. they've sort of figured something out. >> reporter: though hayes certainly doesn't consider himself a troll, he's also become rich and powerful through attention capitalism as an msnbc host. >> hey, guys. >> reporter: and over the years came to peace with the guy that keeping his job and drawing viewers generally requires giving the people what they want. what you leading with tonight? >> we're leading with this kind of tech oligarchy. >> reporter: in its 13th year, "all in with chris hayes" is bookish -- >> five, four -- >> reporter: but reliably partisan. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. >> reporter: stories likely to stoke fear or anger in his liberal viewers are easy to find.

>> when it comes down to a scenario where there is a competing interest between what's good for jeff bezos or mark zuckerberg or elon musk, and what's good for you, who do you think is going to win that fight? >> reporter: i think when people are making the list of things that are kind of getting their attention and they're not happy about that or not, cable news is kind of on that list. >> 100%, yeah. >> reporter: you wrote a whole book on the questionable impact of this phenomenon, and yet you're right in the middle of it. how do you reconcile this? >> yeah, i think in some ways -- first of all, i wrote a book. i think a book is a different technology than cable news. >> reporter: no doubt. but the forgiven write that book to literally be someone who is in this business is interesting. >> for me, i try to do the best job of a cable news show that i can. and part of what that means, to be totally honest, is wrestling every single day with every decision we make between following the lure of the incentives towards the lowest common denominator and resisting them in favor of doing something better. >> so i started taking a walk

every day. >> reporter: while writing the book, hayes started thinking about reclaiming his own attention. instead of listening to podcasts on his daily walk, now he just strolls with his thoughts. and has it had the effect you hoped? >> absolutely, yeah. >> reporter: he is rooting for i alternatives to attention capitalism. maybe group texting will replace social media. maybe the noncommercial internet will make a comeback. but our need for distraction is unlikely to go away. you know, blaise pascal is writing in the 1600s. he said i've come to believe that all the troubles of man stem from his inability to sit alone in his own chamber. >> reporter: i took the subway to meet you here, and the q train makes that beautiful pass over the east river. >> oh, the best. >> reporter: where the brooklyn bridge is right there and the downtown manhattan skyline. and the only people i found not on their phone were sleeping or eating. >> so it's funny you say that.

my daughter takes that train to commute every day, and she told me, and i love this, this she and her friends have a rule that you have to look at the view. the generation of people most native to this are in some ways more aware of it than anyone. >> reporter: that makes you hopeful? >> oh, totally, yeah. yeah. i generally think they are set for like a rebellion against it. >> that was brook silva-braga reporting. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

artificial intelligence is becoming a standard in new smartphones. but as cbs' danya bacchus reports, people don't seem to be too impressed by what ai can do so far. >> reporter: samsung is out with a new smartphone, and artificial intelligence is at the center of it. >> they're setting the standard for mobile ai innovation. >> reporter: the galaxy s-25 comes with google's gemini technology, which can help with questions or offer dinner ideas just by taking a look at what's in your refrigerator. >> can you recommend me some recipes with these? >> sure. here are some recipe ideas based on what i found in your fridge. >> reporter: gemini is also available in google pixel phones and allows users to carry on a conversation. >> can you explain organic chemistry as if it were some juicy gossip? >> organic chemistry is all about carbon relationships, who

it's bonding with, who it's breaking up and what kind of crazy molecules they're forming. >> reporter: apple is making its phone more of an assistant. apple intelligence can transform a short note into a formal invitation and create custom emojis based on your description. but apparently the new technology has yet to impress consumers. a survey last month from the smartphone marketplace sell cell found that 73% of iphone users and 73% of samsung users say ai features add little to no value. however, analysts believe that will change as the tech improves. >> there has been a lot of hype around ai and some of the things theoretically it can do, but i feel like today we started to get a hint of some stuff that regular people are going to want to use and that will be truly impactful. >> reporter: experts add that smartphone companies are spending billions on artificial intelligence so you can expect more new ai features in the future. danya bacchus, cbs news, los angeles.

and that's today's "cbs news roundup." for some of you, the news continues. for others, tune in later for "cbs mornings," and follow us online any time at cbsnews.com. reporting from the cbs broadcast center in new york city, i'm carissa lawson. ♪ hello and thanks for watching. i'm carissa lawson in new york, and this is "cbs news roundup."

here are the top stories. investigators of the mid-air collision between an american airlines passenger jet and a u.s. army helicopter in washington, d.c. have recovered the plane's black boxes. none of the 67 people aboard the airplane and the chopper survived, but how could this have happened? we'll take a look. and remembering the victims, including a group of young figure skaters. dive operations have been suspended in the potomac river near reagan national airport in washington, d.c., the site of the crash. investigators say dangerous conditions are making it just impossible to continue until daybreak, but two pieces of crucial evidence have been retrieved, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. for the very latest, we turn to cbs' erica brown at the scene. >> reporter: recovery crews spent all day thursday combing the potomac river, searching for the remains of those lost in the horrific collision just short of the runway at reagan national airport.

>> at this point we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident. >> reporter: officials say there were 64 people on board the american airlines regional jet from wichita, kansas, and three from the u.s. army black hawk helicopter when they slammed into each other as the jet was preparing to land just before 9:00 wednesday night. >> crash, crash, crash, this is alert 3, crash, crash, crash. >> reporter: the plane now sits upside down in waist high water in the potomac. cbs news has learned that just one air traffic control worker was managing the helicopters and planes, a job normally done by two people. the national transportation safety board is leading the investigation. >> we look at the human, the machine, and the environment. that is standard in any part of our investigation. >> reporter: the ntsb says both black boxes from the plane have been recovered. they're being analyzed at an ntsb lab near the crash scene. at the time of the crash, both aircraft were flying at about 400 feet. military helicopters are supposed to stay below 200 feet.

recovery crews suspended their search at dusk. they'll be back in the water at dawn. erica brown, cbs news, arlington, virginia. >> cbs news new senior transportation correspondent kris van cleave has been examining how this could have happened, even with high-tech safety measures in place. >> reporter: just before 9:00 shows american flight from wichita descending towards the nation's capital on what had been an unremarkable trip. but then a collision above the icy potoma river. >> crash, crash, crash, this say letter 3. crash crash crash. >> the airline broke apart into at least three people. >> we were looking for an versus the helicopter in the potomac. >> reporter: first responders, police and coast guard rushed to the banks of the potomac. in the waist-deep water, they found a horrific scene of mangled metal, luggage, and human remains. what they did knott find is someone to save.

on board flight 5342, a group of the nation's top young figure skater, their parents and coaches returning from a skate camp in wichita. >> we are one family, and today we are all heartbroken. we're all searching for answers. >> reporter: at the time of the crash, both aircraft were flying at about 400 feet. military helicopters are supposed to stay below 200 feet. and cbs news has learned just one air traffic controller was managing helicopter traffic and some airplane traffic, a job normally done by two people. the crash shut down the busy washington reagan national airport not midday and shattered an unprecedented record of aviation safety. this disaster the first u.s. airliner crash since buffalo in 2009. we spoke with ntsb board member todd inman. are there any signs that people tried to get out of that airplane? >> we've not seen any indication of that. of course, we're still in a recovery mode. first and mother most, to get

the perishable evidence and specifically the bodies out. once we get a little bit closer into that, we'll be able to better understand the dynamics of what may have happened upon impact. >> reporter: you also have to speak to the families. >> yes. >> reporter: how difficult is that part of this job? >> being at the debris field, i expected to see plane debris. but when you look over and you see those bodies laying, that's someone's family. it could be yours. they didn't expect that to happen. >> reporter: kris van cleave, cbs news. >> as kris van cleave just explained, victims of the crash included a group of figure skaters, many of them teenagers. they were returning from the u.s. figure skating championships in wichita, kansas. six of the passengers had ties to the skating club of boston where friends and teammates are now mourning their loss in this tragedy. beth germano of cbs news boston has their story. >> reporter: the rink was empty at the skating club of boston after six members from this elite figure skating community

were killed aboard the american airlines flight that crashed near washington, d.c. doug zeghibe is the ceo. >> our rink is eerily quiet. coaches are not coming in. kids are not coming in. i think everybody is mourning privately. >> reporter: the club is mourning the loss of 13-year-old jinna han and 16-year-old spencer lane, two up and coming skaters. han's mother jin and christine were also on the plane along with their children's coaches, vadi naumov and evgenia shishkova. >> loved by everyone from the people running the club to the smallest skaters to people competing for a shot at the olympics, they all adored him. >> reporter: their russian-born coaches shishkova and naumov were married. they won the title in 1994 and completed in the winter olympics twice. their son maxim, a competitive figure skater for the u.s., was not on the plane. >> they grew up in st.

petersburg. they learned a very traditional russian style of skating and training. that is something they brought here. >> reporter: former olympic ice skater nancy carrigan, an suppo >> the main thing you learn in skating you get back up and keep trying. even when it's hard, you get back up. >> reporter: this is not the first time tragedy has struck this club. in 1961, the entire 18-member u.s. figure skating team was killed after their plane crashed as it was landing in brussels. the coach's son maxim was supposed to compete next weekend, but it's unclear if he will skate, or if any other events or competitions will be postponed. in the meantime, the club said it will up to individual skaters to decide when they're comfortable to return to the ice. for cbs news, i'm beth germano in massachusetts. eight more hostages were

released thursday in gaza after hamas militants held them hostage for 481 days. it was a chaotic handover for israeli hostage arbel yehud. here you can see her surrounded by hamas gunmen pushing her through a large crowd. three israelis and five thai nationals were set free. arbel is now safe with her family. still ahead on "cbs news roundup," near misses at america's airports are on the rise, and people are flying in record numbers. can the system handle the growing demand? ever lose your keys? is that normal aging? dementia? or something else? fear often stops us from asking for a simple check-up from the neck up. knowing your numbers: blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol are common. but your cognitive numbers are also important. request our free guide. it's filled with tips for better brain health, facts about dementia, and much more. go to 1800dementia.org or call 1-800-dementia.

your brain will thank you. i'm not here to fire you up. if you're not already fired up, you shouldn't be in this room. right now is your chance to be a part of a victory the world will remember forever. victory over cancer®. today's cancer research is tomorrow's victory. a victory that is there for the taking. grab it. now that was a great halftime speech. let's go win. [jim valvano] don't give up. don't ever give up® [background sounds running backwards throughout] ♪ [girl singing] oh mr. sun, sun, ♪ ♪ mr. golden sun, ♪ ♪ please shine down on me ♪ ♪ oh mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun, ♪ ♪ hiding behind a tree. ♪

♪ these little children are asking you ♪ ♪ to please come out ♪ ♪ so we can play with you. ♪ ♪ oh mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun, ♪ ♪ please shine down on me. ♪ ♪ please shine down on me. ♪ [singing and background sound fades out] ♪ this is "cbs news roundup." i'm carissa lawson in new york. the deadly midair crash near reagan national airport has rattled the nerves of american flyers. but aviation in the u.s. does

have a stellar safety record, and more americans are flying than ever before. as cbs' mark strassmann reports, the system is clearly under stress. >> reporter: we all know planes are crowded. our skies are too. this is a snapshot of today's u.s. air traffic on flight radar 24.com. on average, 45,000 commercial planes are en route somewhere every day. this icon represents american airlines flight 5342 approaching washington last night. at what appears to be the moment of midair impact, it freezes over the potomac river, then disappears from the screen, shattering much of the flying public's sense of safety. >> it alerted me a lot more. it made my nerves a lot more on edge. >> reporter: given that congestion in the sky, u.s. aviation has a remarkable safety record. >> it is safer to get on an airplane and go coast-to-coast at 30,000 feet and 600 miles an hour than it is to drive yourself to the airplane at 60 miles per hour with four wheels on the ground.

>> reporter: kit dash darby is retired and commercial military plielt. he has flown in and out of reagan national's airport for years. >> you've got to hit your spot, you know. you've got to do a good job of being a pilot to fly successfully in that airport. >> reporter: truckier than most? >> far trickier than most. >> reporter: not since this disaster in buffalo in 2009 has america seen a major commercial plane crash. that's nearly 16 years, the longest streak in u.s. aviation history. 50 people were killed. since that crash in buffalo, our aviation system has grown more stressed, more tested every day. increased flights, air traffic controller staffing issues, climate change, worsening weather, and more objects to avoid in the sky, including private planes and drones. washington's reagan national airport designed to serve as 15 million passengers a year now processes more than 26 million. and it's one of three u.s. airports along with new york's

jfk and la guardia relying on runway slots to limit air traffic. the faa considers those airports capacity constrained. how much of it is reliant on humans getting it right? >> well, everything has gotten better fast. people, however, remain an issue, seeing, hearing, understanding, depth perception, all those factors are key, and they haven't gotten better, as fast as the mechanical things have gotten. >> reporter: another measure of a stressed system. over the last 20 years, reagan national airport has reported at least nine near mid-air collisions. mark strassmann in atlanta. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

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growing both good bacteria and bad. that balance is key to a healthy gut environment. benefiber's plant-based prebiotic fiber gently nourishes the good bacteria, working with your body to help your gut, and you, flourish. effortlessly. every day. grow what feels good. with benefiber. we're learning more about some of the youngest people affected by the devastating wildfires in california. the pasadena rosebud academy charter school in altadena is among several schools that were destroyed. the school's executive director lost her home as well. but as cbs' gayle king report, she found innovative ways to make sure her students don't miss out on learning. >> reporter: even in the ashes, shawn browne knows every inch of her school. >> we kind of kept the littles together. >> i love that, the littles. >> yes. and their play area was right

here. so you have the books in there. they're charred but still there. >> look at the pages. >> yeah. >> is it hard for you walking through this? or are you just thinking all the things you have to do. or maybe you've already had your moment. >> i just -- i haven't had any moment to think about anything. i had to go from hearing that the house and the school burned down to figuring out what am i going to do with these kids. >> brown opened rosebud academy in 2007 to give the community she grew up in a place for students to learn things like critical thinking and financial literacy. >> hey, brooklyn, how are you? >> after the fire, she knew she had to keep her students engaged. >> you tired too? it's been a long week. >> so they found a meet-up point, and brown and her staff quickly came up with a plan. >> so the first week after all of this, we scheduled field trips. >> we're visiting the california science center. >> one of our pillars is

exposure and experience. and so we really like to get our students out of the community, and we know that travel is a huge part of thinking bigger and dreaming bigger. >> and because you were so insistent about creating normalcy for the children, do you think they realize how bad it is? >> i don't think they understand the gravity of it. they know their school burned down. but i think a bigger part of that is they know we still have each other. >> but brown's students still needed classrooms. after a long search, her team found a solution. and on monday, the students met up and were bussed to their new temporary school. amber trejo's 5-year-old daughter kyra is a rosebud academy kindergartner. >> she thinks that we're on vacation, which is i kind of like it that way, because emotionally it's been very hard. >> trejo's childhood home where she lived with her grandmother,

parents, brother and children burned down. >> we had everything in that home. my whole childhood was in that home. but we will rebuild, and we'll make it stronger. and just like i say, altadena is not for sale, and we're going to keep our home. >> she says still being able to keep her daughter in school gives them both a sense of normalcy. >> it makes me happy. it makes me happy for her. >> when the students arrived at the beehive in south los angeles, they were pretty happy too. >> it's a high-tech place, and they serve black and brown students in l.a., and they really bring kids in to help them learn more about the tech field and encourage them that they can get those fields as well. and they worked around the clock that weekend to outfit each of their studios into classrooms

for our students. ♪ >> jupiter, saturn. >> reporter: staff at the beehive went out and got desks, chairs, and other supplies for the youngest students. >> and then when the kids came in, they were just ahh! >> so excited. >> yeah, they were excited. >> but this solution is only short-term. >> then at the end of two weeks, you're going have to find another place. >> right. so we're continuing our search. >> so you operate on what kind of basis? minute by minute? >> minute by minute. >> hour by hour, day by day. >> oh my goodness. mama, do you see all of this? >> oh, jesus. >> back in altadena, brown is still dealing with losing her home and the home she grew up in where her mom gloria was still living. >> this is her street. >> you're on your street. >> this is her street?

where's my house. >> we're getting there. >> we went with them as gloria and brown's sister stella returned to the neighborhood for the first time since the fire. >> the car is burned. >> oh, that's the car right there. >> it smells still. >> yeah, you can still smell it. >> gloria has lived here over 50 years. why did it take you so long to finally come and see it? >> you know, i thought i was going cry. >> uh-huh. >> but i didn't cry. and i usually cry at the drop of a hat. but i haven't cried yet. i'll get home tonight and cry. >> gloria insists she will rebuild her home, and shawn says she hopes to build a new rosebud academy. >> we would really need funding to rebuild. and that has been the ultimate goal for the school, even when i started it. it was like start this, but the long-term goal is to build something amazing for our students.

there's a lot more ahead on "cbs news roundup." stay with us. when caroline has a cough, she takes robitussin. so she can have those one-on-ones again. hey, jim... can we talk about casual fridays? for sure. what's up? get fast powerful cough relief with robitussin and find your voice. ♪robitussin♪

your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel. nothing beats it. i recommend pronamel active shield because it actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a game changer for my patients. try pronamel mouthwash. a coffee shop in london is living up to its name by giving everyone a fair shot. cbs' tina kraus shows us how. >> reporter: 18-year-old alex wattling takes pride in his work at this coffee shop in england. >> learning how to make coffee,

how to make food from what you got, taking customer orders and toasting the sandwiches too. >> reporter: he is one of dozens of trainees with disabilities who are learning the ropes, hoping it will one day pay off like it does for aya bider. >> i'm so proud that i got a paid job because in the past i've applied for employment and i have been rejected. >> reporter: fair shot cafe is designed to give young people just that, a chance to succeed, whether they have autism, motor skill difficulties, down syndrome, or another condition. >> we offer an intense internship with a learning disability every year, and we get 90% of them that are then ready for a job into employment. >> reporter: ceo bianca says her experiences with an autistic friend inspired her to create a world where those with disabilities can unlock their potential through practical training. >> it gives them the opportunity and helps both the public and them interact together instead of separating it constantly.

>> reporter: now halfway through the program, alex believes he is brewing a path to success. >> i'm proud that i've been doing this job so far as i can develop experience. hopefully at the end of the course to get to work towards that paid job. >> reporter: managers say an inclusion revolution is under way. walls at the cafe are filled with photos of past trainees in a testament to transformation. tina kraus, cbs news, london. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

i guess what i'm looking for from you is, i mean, i know how the fire affected me, and there's always a constant fear that who's to say something like that won't happen again? that's fair. we committed to underground, 10,000 miles of electric line. you look back at where we were 10 years ago and we are in a completely different place today, and it's because of how we need to care for our communities and our customers. i hope that's true. [joe] that's my commitment. [ambient noise]

it's friday, january 31, 2025. this is "cbs news mornings." search for answers. new clues in the investigation into the d.c. midair disaster, as we learn about the lives lost and the heartbreak in the figure