Page 88 - United States

Trump signs executive order on developing AI 'free from ideological bias'

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on artificial intelligence that will revoke past government policies his order says act as barriers to American AI innovation." To maintain global leadership in AI technology, "we must develop AI systems that are free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas, the order says. The new order doesn't name which existing policies are hindering AI development but calls for the development of an AI action plan within 180 days. Just hours after returning to the White House on Monday, Trump repealed former President Joe Biden's guardrails for fast-developing AI technology, a sweeping executive order signed in 2023. Until Thursday, it wasn't clear if Trump planned to replace Biden's signature AI policy with his own order. Trump had also signed executive orders on AI in his previous term, which are still on the books. Much of Biden's 2023 order set in motion a sprint across government agencies to study's AI impact on everything f

Immigrant detention beds may be maxed out as Trump moves to deport millions

President Donald Trump's inauguration-day executive orders and promises of mass deportations of millions and millions of people will hinge on securing money for detention centres. The Trump administration has not publicly said how many immigration detention beds it needs to achieve its goals, or what the cost will be. However, an estimated 11.7 million people are living in the US illegally, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently has the budget to detain only about 41,000 people. The government would need additional space to hold people while they are processed and arrangements are made to remove them, sometimes by plane. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the daily cost for a bed for one adult is about $165. Just one piece of Trump's plan, a bill known as the Laken Riley Act that Congress has passed, would require at least $26.9 billion to ramp up capacity at immigrant detention facilities to add 110,000 beds, according to a recent memo from DHS. That bill na

Barclays sees heightened competition in India from Japan's biggest banks

Japanese banks including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. are targeting India and the US for expansion

Saudi leader offers $600 bn investment pledge in call with Donald Trump

The crown prince, known as MBS, spoke to the American president in a congratulatory phone call on Wednesday

Over 50K under evacuation orders as wildfire imperils homes north of LA

Nearly 20,000 people on Wednesday were ordered to evacuate as a huge and fast-moving wildfire swept through the rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, as parched Southern California endured another round of dangerous winds and two major previous blazes continued to smolder. The Hughes Fire broke out in the late morning and within hours charred nearly 21 square km of trees and brush, sending up plumes of dark smoke near Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area about 64 km from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week. A 48 km stretch of Interstate 5, a major north-south artery, was closed as flames raced along hilltops and down into wooded canyons. Crews on the ground and in water-dropping aircraft tried to prevent the wind-driven fire from moving across the interstate and toward Castaic, where most of the 19,000 residents were ordered to evacuate. Another 15,000 people in the area were warned to prepare to leave at a moment's notice, according to t

Pentagon sending up to 1,500 active-duty troops to secure US-Mexico border

The Pentagon on Wednesday said it has begun deploying 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days, putting in motion plans US President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration. Acting Defence Secretary Robert Salesses said the Pentagon will provide military aircraft to support Department of Homeland Security deportation flights for more than 5,000 detained migrants and the troops will assist in the construction of barriers. The number of troops and their mission may soon change, Salesses said in a statement. "This is just the beginning," he said. It remains to be seen if they will end up doing law enforcement, which would put American troops in a dramatically different role for the first time in decades. The active duty forces will join the roughly 2,500 US National Guard and Reserve forces already there. There are currently no active duty troops working along the roughly 3,219-km ...

Trump administration's stance may open doors for bilateral FTA with India

Govt holding inter-ministerial consultations following new US policies

India's 6% equalisation levy on ads may face US scrutiny under Trump memo

The equalisation levy was introduced at 6 per cent in FY17 for digital advertising services

US President Donald Trump's anti-climate diktat opens more doors for India

Green initiatives in India unaffected, experts flag India's chance to occupy climate leadership role

Rice exports steady in 2024 despite curbs; basmati shipments surge

The country's rice exports in 2024 stood at 17.8 million metric tons, marginally down from 17.86 million tons shipped a year earlier

Trump finds new ways to flex presidential power after White House return

President Donald Trump is swiftly breaching the traditional boundaries of presidential power as he returns to the White House, bringing to bear a lifetime of bending the limits in courthouses, boardrooms and politics to forge an expansive view of his authority. He's already unleashed an unprecedented wave of executive orders, daring anyone to stop him, with actions intended to clamp down on border crossings, limit the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship and keep the popular Chinese-owned TikTok operational despite a law shutting down the social media platform. Democrats and civil rights organisations are rallying to fight Trump in court, but legal battles could drag on before slowing the president down. Meanwhile, Trump is drafting a new blueprint for the presidency, one that demonstrates the primacy of blunt force in a democratic system predicated on checks and balances between the branches of government. He's going to push it to the max, said Sen. Tommy Tuberville,

Beauty Industry in flux after TikTok braces for an uncertain future in US

On Jan 18, TikTok went dark for users across the US just days after the Supreme Court ruled that it would uphold a law forcing ByteDance to either sell its American platform by Jan 19 or be banned

TikTok owner ByteDance plans to spend $12 billion on AI chips in 2025

This move comes as the Chinese company faces pressure from Washington to sell its popular video-sharing app in the United States

Donald Trump's murky tariff policy sets the stage for market volatility

Trump enters office with an ambitious agenda spanning trade, immigration, tax cuts and deregulation which has the potential to boost US corporate profits

'I like competent people coming to US': Donald Trump on H-1B visa debate

The H1B visa programme, long regarded as a cornerstone for attracting highly skilled foreign talent in the tech sector, has become a divisive issue within Trump's support base

In a volatile world, Quad will be force for global good: S Jaishankar in US

Speaking after the meeting in the US, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted the significance of the Quad in ensuring a free, open, and stable Indo-Pacific

Trump defends pardon to those convicted of assaulting cops on Jan 6

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his decision to pardon people who were charged and convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot, despite having run as an ally of law enforcement. "I am the friend of police, more than any president who's ever been in this office," he said. Trump told reporters at the White House that those he pardoned have already served years in prison, claiming murderers often aren't charged for their crimes. "We pardoned people who were treated unbelievably poorly," he said. Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes connected to the riot on his first day back in office.

Trump fires heads of TSA, Coast Guard; guts aviation safety advisory panel

US President Donald Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Coast Guard before their terms are up, and eliminated all the members of a key aviation security advisory group. Trump's immigration policy changes drew the most attention at Homeland Security, but he is also making changes at the rest of the massive agency. Members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo on Tuesday saying the department is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees as part of a "commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security". The aviation security committee, which was mandated by the Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, will technically continue to exist but it won't have any members to carry out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and airports. Before ..

US throws out policies limiting arrests of migrants at sensitive locations

Officers enforcing immigration laws will now be able to arrest migrants at sensitive locations such as schools and churches after the Trump administration threw out policies limiting where those arrests could be made. The move reverses guidance that for over a decade has restricted two key federal immigration agencies -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection -- from carrying out immigration enforcement in sensitive locations. "This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens -- including murders and rapists -- who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Tuesday. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidance dates back to 2011. The Customs and Border Protection issued similar guidance in 2013.

Murder charge upheld against only suspect in 1996 Tupac Shakur killing

The only suspect ever to be charged in the 1990s killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas has lost a bid to have his murder case dismissed. Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny said in a decision issued Tuesday that Duane Keffe D Davis had provided no proof of any immunity deals and that the state of Nevada has never offered him a deal. Davis and his lawyer had argued that he never should have been charged with murder because of immunity agreements he says he reached years ago with federal and local authorities. Attorney Carl Arnold said the indictment against his 61-year-old client is an egregious violation of his constitutional rights because of a 27-year delay in prosecution. Arnold said after the hearing that they will decide in the coming days if they will appeal the judge's decision to the state Supreme Court. Prosecutors said Davis has provided no proof that he was granted immunity by authorities who interviewed him in 1998 and in the early 2000s while he was