GOP-led states quickly mirror Trump’s policy agenda.

-
Image
In his nearly four weeks in office, President Donald Trump has unveiled a constant stream of policy priorities in quick succession, from shrinking government, to cutting taxes, to waging a war on diversity initiatives, illegal immigration and transgender rights. His allies in the states are rushing to keep up.   The Florida and Tennessee legislatures have passed sweeping immigration packages that will make it easier for state law enforcement and federal immigration officials to coordinate during recent special sessions. Leaders in Ohio and Arkansas are renewing efforts to place work requirements on Medicaid recipients. And Republicans in at least nine states have moved to create government efficiency task forces inspired by the initiative helmed by billionaire Elon Musk.  Across the country, Republican governors and legislatures are taking advantage of the national spotlight – and friendlier regulatory environment – the Trump administration has created to advance lo...
Post a Comment

Mysterious New Jersey drones were 'not the enemy' - White House

-

 


The mysterious drones that lit up skies across the US late last year were authorised by federal regulators and "not the enemy," the White House has announced.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had approved the drones for research and many also belonged to people in the area, President Donald Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her first White House briefing on Tuesday.

The drones were spotted in New Jersey and other nearby states in November and December and led to rampant online speculation about their origins and intentions.

Authorities never provided definitive answers about the sightings, saying only that they

they were not a danger to the public or national security.

"In time, it got worse due to curiosity," Ms Leavitt said of the online rumours. "This was

 not the enemy."

The statement, made at Ms Leavitt's first official press conference for the Trump White 

House, is the most definitive statement yet that there was nothing nefarious about the phenomenon.

The previous Biden administration had also concluded there was likely no national

 security threat invovled.

Last December, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said it received more than

 5,000 drone sighting tips from concerned citizens.

Even former Maryland governor Larry Hogan reported that he saw dozens of drones

 over his home. New York's governor touted the state's drone detecting technology to

 worried residents.

The FAA then temporarily restricted drone flights over 22 cities through January.

The previous Biden administration had previously confirmed that residents had spotted

 drones as well as manned aircraft, but officials had stressed there was "no foreign involvement".

The FAA regulates drone use and flights in the US. Nationally, more than one million 

drones are registered for use, according to the agency. About 409,000 are registered for commercial use, while about 385,000 are used recreationally.

XXXX

In mid December, four federal agencies declared the investigators had "not identified 

anything anomalous" about the reports.

The sightings, they said, were actually a combination of lawful drones from hobbyists 

and law enforcement, as well as planes, helicopters and "stars mistakenly reported as

 drones".


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says India 'will do what's right' on illegal immigration.

-
Image
  US President Donald Trump has said India "will do what's right" on the deportation of  illegal migrants following a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The leaders spoke on Monday, their first conversation since Trump's inauguration last  week. They discussed immigration, security issues and trade in what the White House  described as a "productive call". Trump told reporters after the call that Modi was likely to visit the United States  "sometime in February". Since taking office on 20 January, Trump has announced a number of  immigration-related executive orders, paving the way for a widespread effort to crack  down on undocumented migrants in the US. According to the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 725,000 undocumented  Indian immigrants in the US as of 2024. Last week, India's foreign ministry said Delhi would take in Indians overstaying  "anywhere in the world" as long as their documents were shared and n...
Read more

OpenAI says Chinese rivals using its work for their AI apps

-
Image
  The maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI, has complained that rivals, including those in China, are using its work to make rapid advances in developing their own artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The status of OpenAI - and other US firms - as the world leaders in AI  has been dramatically undermined this week  by the sudden emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese app that can emulate the performance of ChatGPT, apparently at a fraction of the cost. Bloomberg has reported that Microsoft is investigating whether data belonging to OpenAI - which it is a major investor in - has been used in an unauthorised way. The BBC has contacted Microsoft and DeepSeek for comment. OpenAI's concerns have been echoed by the recently appointed White House "AI and crypto czar", David Sacks. Speaking on Fox News, he suggested that DeepSeek may have used the models developed by OpenAI to get better, a process called knowledge distillation. "There's substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is ...
Read more

Australian police find explosives for possible antisemitic attack

-
Image
  Authorities in Sydney are investigating whether explosives discovered in a caravan were intended for an antisemitic attack. The explosives could have caused a 40-metre-wide blast and "significant damage,"  police said on Wednesday, adding that the threat was contained. A note was found in the caravan that displayed antisemitic messages, investigators said. "This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event," New South Wales Premier  Chris Minns said. New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told a news conference  that the caravan was discovered on 19 January in Dural, a suburb of north-west Sydney. The investigation became public on Wednesday after details of it were leaked to the  media. There was "some indication that the explosives might be used in some form of  antisemitic attack," Mr Hudson said, but he wouldn't be drawn on the possible target. He said officers had "mitigated the risk as much as possible" but str...
Read more