After what felt like an age of tech industry tea-leaf reading, OpenAI has officially snapped up “io,” the much-buzzed-about startup building an AI device from former Apple design guru Jony Ive and OpenAI’s chief, Sam Altman. The price tag? billion.OpenAI put out a video this week talking about the Ive and Altman venture in a general sort of way, but now, a few more tidbits about what they’re actually cooking have slipped out.And what are they planning with all that cash and brainpower? Well, the eagle-eyed folks at The Washington Post spotted an internal chat between Sam Altman and OpenAI staff where he set a target of shipping 100 million AI “companions.”Altman allegedly even told his team the OpenAI device is “the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here.”To be clear, Altman has set that 100 million number as an eventual target. “We’re not going to ship 100 million devices literally on day one,” he said. But then, in a flex that’s pure Silicon Valley, he added they’d hit that 100 million mark “faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before.”So, what is this mysterious “companion”? The gadget is designed to be entirely aware of a user’s surroundings, and even their “life.” While they’ve mostly talked about a single device, Altman did let slip it might be more of a “family of devices.”Jony Ive, as expected, dubbed it “a new design movement.” You can almost hear the minimalist manifesto being drafted.Why the full-blown acquisition, though? Weren’t they just going to partner up? Originally, yes. The plan was for Ive’s startup to cook up the hardware and sell it, with OpenAI delivering the brains. But it seems the vision got bigger. This isn’t just another accessory, you see.Altman stressed the device will be a “central facet of using OpenAI.” He even said, “We both got excited about the idea that, if you subscribed to ChatGPT, we should just mail you new computers, and you should use those.”Frankly, they reckon our current tech – our trusty laptops, the websites we browse – just isn’t up to snuff for the kind of AI experiences they’re dreaming of. Altman was pretty blunt, saying current use of AI “is not the sci-fi dream of what AI could do to enable you in all the ways that I think the models are capable of.”So, we know it’s not a smartphone. Altman’s also put the kibosh on it being a pair of glasses. And Jony Ive, well, he’s apparently not rushing to make another wearable, which makes sense given his design ethos.The good news for the impatient among usis that this isn’t just vapourware. Ive’s team has an actual prototype. Altman’s even taken one home to “live with it”. As for when we might get our hands on one? Altman’s reportedly aiming for a late 2026 release.Naturally, OpenAI is keeping the actual device under wraps, but you can always count on supply chain whispers for a few clues. The ever-reliableApple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has thrown a few alleged design details into the ring via social media.Kuo reckons it’ll be “slightly larger” than the Humane AI Pin, but that it will look “as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle.” And yes, like the Shuffle, Kuo says no screen.According to Kuo, the device will chat with your phone and computer instead, using good old-fashioned microphones for your voice and cameras to see what’s going on around you. Interestingly, he suggests it’ll be worn around the neck, necklace-style, rather than clipped on like the AI Pin.Kuo’s crystal ball points to mass production in 2027, but he wisely adds a pinch of salt, noting the final look and feel could still change.So, the billion-dollarquestion remains: will this OpenAI device be the next big thing, the gamechanger we’ve been waiting for? Or will it be another noble-but-failed attempt to break free from the smartphone’s iron grip, joining the likes of the AI Pin in the ‘great ideas that didn’t quite make it’ pile?Altman, for one, is brimming with confidence. Having lived with the prototype, he’s gone on record saying he believes it will be “the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.”Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here. #details #leak #jony #ives #ambitious

Today’s newest AI models might be capable of helping would-be terrorists create bioweapons or engineer a pandemic, according to the chief scientist of the AI company Anthropic.Anthropic has long been warning about these risks—so much so that in 2023, the company pledged to not release certain models until it had developed safety measures capable of constraining them.Now this system, called the Responsible Scaling Policy, faces its first real test.On Thursday, Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4, a new model that, in internal testing, performed more effectively than prior models at advising novices on how to produce biological weapons, says Jared Kaplan, Anthropic’s chief scientist. “You could try to synthesize something like COVID or a more dangerous version of the flu—and basically, our modeling suggests that this might be possible,” Kaplan says.Accordingly, Claude Opus 4 is being released under stricter safety measures than any prior Anthropic model. Those measures—known internally as AI Safety Level 3 or “ASL-3”—are appropriate to constrain an AI system that could “substantially increase” the ability of individuals with a basic STEM background in obtaining, producing or deploying chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, according to the company. They include beefed-up cybersecurity measures, jailbreak preventions, and supplementary systems to detect and refuse specific types of harmful behavior.To be sure, Anthropic is not entirely certain that the new version of Claude poses severe bioweapon risks, Kaplan tells TIME. But Anthropic hasn’t ruled that possibility out either. “If we feel like it’s unclear, and we’re not sure if we can rule out the risk—the specific risk being uplifting a novice terrorist, someone like Timothy McVeigh, to be able to make a weapon much more destructive than would otherwise be possible—then we want to bias towards caution, and work under the ASL-3 standard,” Kaplan says. “We’re not claiming affirmatively we know for sure this model is risky … but we at least feel it’s close enough that we can’t rule it out.” If further testing shows the model does not require such strict safety standards, Anthropic could lower its protections to the more permissive ASL-2, under which previous versions of Claude were released, he says.Jared Kaplan, co-founder and chief science officer of Anthropic, on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThis moment is a crucial test for Anthropic, a company that claims it can mitigate AI’s dangers while still competing in the market. Claude is a direct competitor to ChatGPT, and brings in over billion in annualized revenue. Anthropic argues that its RSP thus creates an economic incentive for itself to build safety measures in time, lest it lose customers as a result of being prevented from releasing new models. “We really don’t want to impact customers,” Kaplan told TIME earlier in May while Anthropic was finalizing its safety measures. “We’re trying to be proactively prepared.”But Anthropic’s RSP—and similar commitments adopted by other AI companies—are all voluntary policies that could be changed or cast aside at will. The company itself, not regulators or lawmakers, is the judge of whether it is fully complying with the RSP. Breaking it carries no external penalty, besides possible reputational damage. Anthropic argues that the policy has created a “race to the top” between AI companies, causing them to compete to build the best safety systems. But as the multi-billion dollar race for AI supremacy heats up, critics worry the RSP and its ilk may be left by the wayside when they matter most. Still, in the absence of any frontier AI regulation from Congress, Anthropic’s RSP is one of the few existing constraints on the behavior of any AI company. And so far, Anthropic has kept to it. If Anthropic shows it can constrain itself without taking an economic hit, Kaplan says, it could have a positive effect on safety practices in the wider industry. Anthropic’s new safeguardsAnthropic’s ASL-3 safety measures employ what the company calls a “defense in depth” strategy—meaning there are several different overlapping safeguards that may be individually imperfect, but in unison combine to prevent most threats.One of those measures is called “constitutional classifiers:” additional AI systems that scan a user’s prompts and the model’s answers for dangerous material. Earlier versions of Claude already had similar systems under the lower ASL-2 level of security, but Anthropic says it has improved them so that they are able to detect people who might be trying to use Claude to, for example, build a bioweapon. These classifiers are specifically targeted to detect the long chains of specific questions that somebody building a bioweapon might try to ask. Anthropic has tried not to let these measures hinder Claude’s overall usefulness for legitimate users—since doing so would make the model less helpful compared to its rivals. “There are bioweapons that might be capable of causing fatalities, but that we don’t think would cause, say, a pandemic,” Kaplan says. “We’re not trying to block every single one of those misuses. We’re trying to really narrowly target the most pernicious.”Another element of the defense-in-depth strategy is the prevention of jailbreaks—or prompts that can cause a model to essentially forget its safety training and provide answers to queries that it might otherwise refuse. The company monitors usage of Claude, and “offboards” users who consistently try to jailbreak the model, Kaplan says. And it has launched a bounty program to reward users for flagging so-called “universal” jailbreaks, or prompts that can make a system drop all its safeguards at once. So far, the program has surfaced one universal jailbreak which Anthropic subsequently patched, a spokesperson says. The researcher who found it was awarded Anthropic has also beefed up its cybersecurity, so that Claude’s underlying neural network is protected against theft attempts by non-state actors. The company still judges itself to be vulnerable to nation-state level attackers—but aims to have cyberdefenses sufficient for deterring them by the time it deems it needs to upgrade to ASL-4: the next safety level, expected to coincide with the arrival of models that can pose major national security risks, or which can autonomously carry out AI research without human input.Lastly the company has conducted what it calls “uplift” trials, designed to quantify how significantly an AI model without the above constraints can improve the abilities of a novice attempting to create a bioweapon, when compared to other tools like Google or less advanced models. In those trials, which were graded by biosecurity experts, Anthropic found Claude Opus 4 presented a “significantly greater” level of performance than both Google search and prior models, Kaplan says.Anthropic’s hope is that the several safety systems layered over the top of the model—which has already undergone separate training to be “helpful, honest and harmless”—will prevent almost all bad use cases. “I don’t want to claim that it’s perfect in any way. It would be a very simple story if you could say our systems could never be jailbroken,” Kaplan says. “But we have made it very, very difficult.”Still, by Kaplan’s own admission, only one bad actor would need to slip through to cause untold chaos. “Most other kinds of dangerous things a terrorist could do—maybe they could kill 10 people or 100 people,” he says. “We just saw COVID kill millions of people.” #exclusive #new #claude #model #triggers

Trump to host investors in his cryptocurrency despite ethical concerns 4 hours agoLily JamaliNorth America Technology Correspondent•@lilyjamaliReporting fromSan FranciscoGetty ImagesUS President Donald Trump will host top purchasers of the cryptocurrency that bears his name at a gala dinner on Thursday.$TRUMP was launched shortly before his inauguration in January, initially rocketing in value before falling sharply shortly afterwards."It's fundamentally corrupt -- a way to buy access to the President," Democrat senator Chris Murphy wrote on X, one of a number of people to question the ethics of the event.Some have also suggested the expected attendance of many foreign investors poses a threat to national security.But the White House has batted away such allegations, saying Trump is only motivated by public serviceWhat is $TRUMP?$TRUMP is what is known as a meme coin - a type of cryptocurrency inspired by internet memes or viral online trends. Its price peaked at in January before plummeting to less than in April - it was trading at around at the time of writing.Experts question the value of such assets."This is something that doesn't have obvious utility. It's not being used for payments. It's not being used as a store of value," said Rob Hadick, General Partner of Dragonfly, a crypto venture fund.The dinner - which is being held at Trump's golf course near the nation's capital - is advertised on the website gettrumpmemes.com as "the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World."The top 220 purchasers of the meme coin, viewable on a leaderboard, received invitations to the "black-tie optional" event.The top investor in the $TRUMP meme coin is billionaire crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun who was charged with fraud and market manipulation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission during the Biden Administration.In February, the Trump administration paused the case.Sun said this week on the social media platform X that he planned to attend the dinner, calling himself Trump's "TOP fan!"From crypto critic to investorTrump's views on cryptocurrency have undergone radical change in recent years.In 2021, he called Bitcoin a "scam."Now, he's not just in charge of regulating cryptocurrencies in the US – he and his family are active industry participants.In addition to the meme coin, the Trump family also holds a majority stake in the crypto exchange World Liberty Financial, which was launched just prior to the election.Trump expressed his desire to be the nation's first "Crypto President" while campaigning for president and was a major beneficiary of campaign contributions from the crypto industry in the 2024 election.Many crypto assets have leapt in value under his presidency. On Thursday, Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of almost per coin.According to a report by the group State Democracy Defenders Action, Trump's investments in crypto have helped boost his net worth by as much as billion."As a stakeholder in crypto assets, President Trump will likely profit from the very policies he is pursuing," the report states.Three days into his term, Trump issued an Executive Order to establish a regulatory framework that promotes the growth of digital currencies.A Trump administration official told the BBC that the meme coin has nothing to do with the White House.White House spokesperson Anna Kelly pushed back on concerns about potential conflicts."The President is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself," Kelly said in a statement. But one former financial regulator likened the meme coin to gambling."It's like selling membership cards for his personal fan club which are then traded," said Timothy Massad, Director of the Digital Asset Policy Project at Harvard. "They have no value. But people speculate on the price and those purchases and that trading enriches him."ReutersU.S. Senator Chris Murphyspeaks on Day 3 of the Democratic National Conventionat the United Center, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 21, 2024. REUTERS/Mike SegarAt a Senate committee hearing this week, Senator Chris Murphygrilled Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the lack of transparency regarding who will attend Thursday night's dinner.Mr Murphy cited reports that many of the attendees at the invite-only event were expected to be foreigners."There's clearly a way around the State Department for foreign individuals of significant influence and wealth to be able to directly lobby the president of the United States," Mr Murphy said."I don't have any concern that the president having dinner with someone is going to contravene the security of the United States," responded Mr Rubio, who said he was unaware of the dinner.On Thursday afternoon, Mr Murphy and certain other Democratic members of Congress planned a protest against the dinner to be livestreamed."The Members will demand Trump release the list of individuals attending the dinner and what favors they will be getting for the millions of dollars they invested in Trump's meme coin," the group said in a statement.Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.BitcoinCryptocurrency #trump #defies #ethical #concerns #host

This is dangerous.No Rules, No ExceptionsThe latest version of the Republicans' Budget Reconciliation Bill — the "one big, beautiful bill," as President Trump has called it — includes a clause that would ban all AI regulation in the US at the state level for a full decade. Over 100 organizations, CNN reports, are calling for lawmakers not to pass it.According to CNN, 141 policy groups, academic institutions, unions, and other organizations have signed a letter demanding that legislators in Washington walk back the sweeping deregulatory provision, urging that the bill would allow AI companies to run wild without safeguards or accountability — regardless of any negative impact their technology might have on American citizens.The letter warns that under the proposal, Americans would have no way to institute regulatory safeguards around and against AI systems as they "increasingly shape critical aspects of Americans' lives," including in areas like "hiring, housing, healthcare, policing, and financial services."There aren't any exceptions outlined in the bill, which declares instead that "no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the ten year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act," as 404 Media was first to flag last week."The AI preemption provision is a dangerous giveaway to Big Tech CEOs who have bet everything on a society where unfinished, unaccountable AI is prematurely forced into every aspect of our lives," Emily Peterson-Cassin of the nonprofit Demand Progress, whose organization wrote the letter, told CNN.Forseeable HarmIn the letter, the groups emphasize that such a drastic moratorium on regulatory action would mean that even in cases where a company "deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm — regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences — the company making that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public."Transformational new technologies can be riddled with unknown, chaotic, and sometimes quite destructive outcomes. And as the writers of the letter note, regulation can serve to fuel innovation, and not stifle it by way of a thousand Silicon Valley lobbying-dollar-funded cuts."Protecting people from being harmed by new technologies," reads the letter, "including by holding companies accountable when they cause harm, ultimately spurs innovation and adoption of new technologies.""We will only reap the benefits of AI," it continues, "if people have a reason to trust it."More on the bill: New Law Would Ban All AI Regulation for a DecadeShare This Article #dozens #organizations #push #back #against

Deal  When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. CuriosityStream Standard Planis now discounted by 62% Neowin Deals · May 22, 2025 13:00 EDT Today's highlighted deal comes via our Apps + Software section of the Neowin Deals store, where you can save 62% on a lifetime subscription to CuriosityStream Standard Plan. Journey through our world and beyond with unlimited access to 2,000+ documentary features and seriesCuriosity Stream is the award-winning streaming and on-demand viewing destination where you can journey through our world and beyond. Its immersive experiences feature experts like David Attenborough who will teach you about the natural world, Michio Kaku, and Brian Greene who will broaden your perspective on space, time, and the future with stunning visuals, and unrivaled storytelling. With thousands of documentaries covering nature, history, science, and more, including exclusive originals, Curiosity Stream brings a wealth of knowledge right to your screen, whether you're watching on TV, desktop, mobile, or tablet. Join millions of subscribers and select from thousands of the world's best documentaries Unlimited streaming of the best in documentary programming Download shows so you can watch anytime, anywhere without an internet connection HDdocumentaries available on multiple devices New content added weekly so you’ll never run out of things to watch Browse titles with multiple search tools to help you quickly find your favorite subject areas Rate your favorite shows & get recommendations for related content Bookmark shows to watch later or resume watching previously viewed shows on other devices Series Include: Planet of Treasures Engineering the Future The History of Home Out of the Cradle Speed Deep Time History Into the Jungle Autonomy Polar Bears image via official CuriousityStream LinkedIn pageHere's the deal A lifetime subscription to CuriosityStream Standard Plan normally costs but you can pick it up for a Price Dropped for a limited time, that's a saving ofoff. For a full description, specifications, and license info, please click the link below. Get a lifetime of CuriousityStream at 60% off, or learn more See all discounted Neowin Deals on offer. This is a time-limited deal.Although priced in U.S. dollars, this deal is available for digital purchase worldwide. We post these because we earn commission on each sale so as not to rely solely on advertising, which many of our readers block. It all helps toward paying staff reporters, servers and hosting costs. Other ways to support Neowin Whitelist Neowin by not blocking our ads Create a free member account to see fewer ads Subscribe to Neowin - for a year, or a year for an ad-free experience Disclosure: Neowin benefits from revenue of each sale made through our branded deals site powered by StackCommerce. Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed #curiositystream #standard #plan #lifetime #now

A broad coalition of technology partners and law enforcement agencies, spearheaded by Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, has disrupted the dangerous Lumma Stealer malware-as-a-serviceoperation, which played a key role in the arsenals of multiple cyber criminal gangs, including ransomware crews. Using a court order granted in the US District Court of the Northern District of Georgia earlier in May, the DCU and its posse seized and took down approximately 2,300 malicious domains that formed the core of the Lumma operation. “Lumma steals passwords, credit cards, bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, and has enabled criminals to hold schools to ransom, empty bank accounts and disrupt critical services,” said DCU assistant general counsel, Steven Masada. At the same time, the US Department of Justiceseized the MaaS central command structure and targeted the underground marketplaces where access was sold, while elsewhere, Europol’s European Crime Centreand Japan’s Cybercrime Control Centrewent after locally hosted infrastructure. Europol EC3 head Edvardas Šileris, said: “This operation is a clear example of how public-private partnerships are transforming the fight against cyber crime. By combining Europol’s coordination capabilities with Microsoft’s technical insights, a vast criminal infrastructure has been disrupted. Cyber criminals thrive on fragmentation – but together, we are stronger.” In a blog post detailing the takedown, Masada said that over a two-month period, Microsoft had identified more than 394,000 Windows computers that had been infected by Lumma. These machines have now been “freed”, with communications between Lumma and its victims severed. This joint action is designed to slow the speed at whichactors can launch their attacks, minimise the effectiveness of their campaigns, and hinder their illicit profits by cutting a major revenue stream Steven Masada, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit At the same time, about 1,300 domains seized by or transferred to Microsoft – including 300 actioned by Europol – are now redirecting to Microsoft-operated sinkholes. “This will allow Microsoft’s DCU to provide actionable intelligence to continue to harden the security of the company’s services and help protect online users,” said Masada. “These insights will also assist public- and private-sector partners as they continue to track, investigate and remediate this threat. “This joint action is designed to slow the speed at which these actors can launch their attacks, minimise the effectiveness of their campaigns, and hinder their illicit profits by cutting a major revenue stream.” The Lumma Stealer MaaS first appeared on the underground scene about three years ago and has been under near-continuous development since then. Based out of Russia, and run by a primary developer who goes by the handle “Shamel”, Lumma offers four tiers of service, starting fromand rising to an eye-popping for which buyers receive access to Lumma’s style and panel source code, the source code for plugins, and the right to act as a reseller. In conversation with a cyber researcher in 2023, Shamel claimed to have approximately 400 active users. When deployed, the goal is typically to monetise stolen data or conduct further exploitation. Like a chameleon, it is difficult to spot and can slip by many security defences unseen. To lure its victims, Lumma spoofs trusted brands – including Microsoft – and spreads through phishing and malvertising. As such, it has become something of a go-to tool for many, and is known to have been used by many of the world’s more notorious cyber crime collectives, including ransomware gangs. Its customers likely included, at one time, Scattered Spider, the group thought to be behind the ransomware attack on Marks & Spencer in the UK, although there is no public evidence to suggest it was used in this incident. Blake Darché, head of Cloudforce One at Cloudflare, which provided key support during the takedown, said: “Lumma goes into your web browser and harvests every single piece of information on your computer that could be used to access either dollars or accounts – with the victim profile being everyone, anywhere, at any time. “The threat actors behind the malware target hundreds of victims daily, grabbing anything they can get their hands on. This disruption worked to fully set back their operations by days, taking down a significant number of domain names and ultimately blocking their ability to make money by committing cyber crime. “While this effort threw a sizeable wrench into the largest global infostealer’s infrastructure, like any threat actor, those behind Lumma will shift tactics and reemerge to bring their campaign back online,” said Darché. about malware Mobile malware can come in many forms, but users might not know how to identify it. Understand the signs to be wary of on Android devices, as well as what to do to remove malware. Malware operators are further monetising their malicious software by selling it to other attackers on a subscription basis. Learn how to detect and mitigate the threat. A wiperware cyber attack can change the game for organisations because it causes complete destruction of data and systems. Find out how to protect your business. #microsoft #raises #posse #target #dangerous

May 22, 20255 min readDisaster-Struck States Waiting for Weeks for Trump’s Sign-Off on FEMA AidStates and cities struck by deadly tornadoes and floods are begging the Trump administration for disaster aidBy Thomas Frank & E&E News A man is comforted by a family friend while cleaning up the debris of his house on May 18, 2025 in the community of Sunshine Hills outside of London, Kentucky. A tornado struck the neighborhood of Sunshine Hills just after midnight on May 17, 2025 in London, Kentucky. Michael Swensen/Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | Public officials have started pleading with the Trump administration for help in recovering from deadly disasters as President Donald Trump triggers frustration in states struck by tornadoes, floods and storms by taking no action on requests for aid.Trump has left states, counties and tribes in limbo as he delays making decisions on formal requests for millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding. Some areas that are still reeling from extreme weather are unable to start cleanup.“We’re at a standstill and waiting on a declaration from FEMA,” said Royce McKee, emergency management director in Walthall County, Mississippi, which was hit by tornadoes in mid-March.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The county of 13,000 people can’t afford to clean up acres of debris, McKee said, and is waiting for Trump to act on a disaster request that was submitted by Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, on April 1 after the tornadoes killed seven people, destroyed or damaged 671 homes, and caused million in public damage.“I’m disappointed, especially for the people that lost their houses,” McKee said.Trump himself assailed FEMA in January for being “very slow.”The frustration over Trump’s handling of disasters is the latest upheaval involving FEMA. Trump recently canceled two FEMA grant programs that gave states billions of dollars a year to pay for protective measures against disasters. The move drew protests from Republican and Democratic lawmakers.On May 8, Trump fired FEMA leader Cameron Hamilton and replaced him with David Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer who has no experience in emergency management.At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, pleaded with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to push Trump to approve three disaster requests that Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, had sent to Trump beginning April 2.“We are desperate for assistance in Missouri,” Hawley said as Noem pledged to help. Her department oversees FEMA.St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer, whose city was badly damaged by tornadoes earlier this week, told MSNBC: “What we need right now is federal assistance. This is where FEMA and the federal government have got to come in and help communities. Our city can’t shoulder this alone.”U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press on January 24, 2025 as he prepares to travel to North Carolina, California, Nevada and Florida over the weekend.Kent Nishimura/Getty ImagesTrump has not acted on 17 disaster requests, a high number for this time of year, according to a FEMA daily report released Wednesday. On the same date eight years ago, during Trump’s first presidency, only three disaster requests were awaiting presidential action, the FEMA report from May 21, 2017, shows.Eleven of the 17 pending disaster requests were sent to Trump more than a month ago.“This looks to me like, until FEMA’s role is clarified, then we’re just going to sit on it,” said a former senior FEMA official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.Trump has indicated that he wants to shrink the agency, which distributes about billion in disaster aid a year, helps with as many as 100 disasters at a time and, he said, “has been a very big disappointment.”“It’s very bureaucratic and very slow,” Trump said in January during a visit to disaster-stricken western North Carolina.The Trump administration has made no announcements about how it is handling requests for disaster aid, leaving governors, local officials and individuals uncertain about what to expect.“A disaster survivor that’s waiting for relief — that’s the hard part about this,” the former FEMA official said.In a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the administration wants state and local governments “to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged.”Trump handles disaster requests “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters,” Jackson said.'Death and destruction'Despite the absence of an announced policy change, Trump’s actions on a handful of disasters indicate that he is making it harder for states to receive FEMA aid for cleanup and rebuilding.There is no indication of partisan considerations in Trump’s actions. Only three of the 17 pending disaster requests came from Democratic governors. Trump made national headlines in April when he denied a request by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican who was the White House press secretary during his first presidency.The denial of Sanders’ request for aid to clean up debris and repair electric cooperatives after a tornado outbreak in mid-March exemplifies Trump’s new direction. Sanders calculated that the tornadoes caused million in public damage, which is more than enough to qualify for FEMA aid.Under long-standing FEMA policy, the agency sets a population-based damage threshold that states must exceed in order to get money for cleanup and rebuilding. In Arkansas, the threshold is slightly more than million — and the state’s damage was twice that amount.Sanders appealed the denial, but Trump again rejected her request for repair money, although he did agree to help 249 households pay for temporary housing and minor home repairs with FEMA aid. The federal funding will amount to about million.Trump took the same action on aid requests from West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrissey, a Republican, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, after flooding struck their states in February and April, respectively. In both cases, Trump approved money for households and rejected their funding requests for public rebuilding.When Trump rejected Washington state’s April request for aid to help rebuild public infrastructure following a November flood, Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, noted that the damage easily exceeded the threshold to qualify for federal money.“There are very clear criteria to qualify for these emergency relief funds. Washington’s application met all of them,” Ferguson said after Trump’s denial. Communities “have been waiting for months” for federal aid, “and this decision will cause further delay.”On Tuesday, Beshear sent Trump a new disaster request after tornadoes killed 19 Kentucky residents and caused extensive property damage. Beshear is seeking an “expedited major disaster” declaration, which presidents typically approve in a day or two.“This tornado event is devastating. There’s no other way to describe the death and destruction this has brought to the community,” Beshear said at a news briefing Tuesday.Although the request did not calculate the cost of the damage, Kentucky Division of Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson said Tuesday, “We met a number that is clearly easy for anyone to see that this disaster needs some federal assistance.”Beshear said Trump called him Sunday after the outbreak and "pledged to be there for the people of Kentucky."Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals. #trump #leaves #disasterstruck #states #waiting

It seems like a triumph for a cryptocurrency industry that has long sought mainstream acceptance: Top investors in one of President Donald Trump’s crypto projects invited to dine with him at his luxury golf club in Northern Virginia on the heels of the Senate advancing key pro-crypto legislation and while bitcoin prices soar.But Thursday night’s dinner for the 220 biggest investors in the $TRUMP meme coin has raised uncomfortable questions about potentially shadowy buyers using the anonymity of the internet to buy access to the president.While Democrats charge that Trump is using the power of the presidency to boost profits for his family business, even some pro-Trump crypto enthusiasts worry that the president’s push into meme coins isn’t helping their efforts to establish the credibility, stability and legitimacy they had thought his administration would bring to their businesses.After feeling unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, the industry has quickly become a dominant political force, donating huge sums to help Trump and crypto-friendly lawmakers. But that’s also served to tether the industry—sometimes uncomfortably—to a president who is using crypto as a platform to make money for his brand in unprecedented ways.“It’s distasteful and an unnecessary distraction,” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter and partner at the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures, who said the president is “hugging us to death” with his private crypto businesses. “We would much rather that he passes common-sense legislation and leave it at that.” Concerns about Trump’s crypto ventures predate Inauguration Day At the swanky Crypto Ball held down the street from the White House three days before he took office on Jan. 20, Trump announced the creation of the meme coin $TRUMP as a way for his supporters to “have fun.”Meme coins are the crypto sector’s black sheep. They are often created as a joke, with no real utility and prone to extremely wild price swings that tend to enrich a small group of insiders at the expense of less sophisticated investors.The president’s meme coin is different, however, and has a clear utility: access to Trump. The top 25 investors of $TRUMP are set to attend a private reception with the president Thursday, with the top four getting crypto-themed and Trump-branded watches.Trump’s meme coin saw an initial spike in value, followed by a steep drop. The price saw a significant increase after the dinner contest was announced. Its creators, which include an entity controlled by the Trump Organization, have made hundreds of millions of dollars by collecting fees on trades.First lady Melania Trump has her own meme coin, and Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr.—who are running the Trump Organization while their father is president—announced they are partnering with an existing firm to create a crypto mining company.The Trump family also holds about a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president’s relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. The project got a boost recently when World Liberty announced an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.A rapidly growing form of crypto, stablecoins have values pegged to fixed assets like the U.S. dollar. Issuers profit by collecting the interest on the Treasury bonds and other assets used to back the stablecoins.Crypto is now one of the most significant sources of the Trump family’s wealth.“He’s becoming a salesman-in-chief,” said James Thurber, an American University professor emeritus who has long studied and taught about corruption around the world. “It allows for foreign influence easily. It allows for crypto lobbying going on at this dinner, and other ways. It allows for huge conflicts of interest.” How Trump changed his mind on crypto “I’m a big crypto fan,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One during last week’s trip to the Middle East. “I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign.”That wasn’t always true. During his first term, Trump posted in July 2019 that cryptocurrencies were “not money” and had value that was “highly volatile and based on thin air.”“Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade,” he added then. Even after leaving office in 2021, Trump told Fox Business Network that bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, “seems like a scam.”Trump began to shift during a crypto event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in May 2024, receiving assurances that industry backers would spend lavishly to get him reelected. Another major milestone came last June, when Trump attended a high-dollar fundraiser at the San Francisco home of David Sacks.He further warmed to the industry weeks later, when Trump met at Mar-a-Lago with bitcoin miners. The following month, he addressed a major crypto conference in Nashville, promising to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”Those close to Trump, including his sons and billionaire Elon Musk, helped further push his embrace of the industry. Sacks is now the Trump administration’s crypto czar, and many Cabinet members—including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—have long been enthusiastic crypto boosters.“I don’t have faith in the dollar,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a 2023 interview. “I’m bullish on bitcoin.” Trump + crypto: A political marriage of convenience Many top crypto backers were naturally wary of traditional politics, but gravitated toward Trump last year. They bristled at Democratic President Joe Biden ‘s Securities and Exchange Commission aggressively bringing civil suits against several major crypto companies.Since Trump took office, many such cases have been dropped or paused, including one alleging that Justin Sun, a China-born crypto entrepreneur, and his company engaged in market manipulation and paid celebrities for undisclosed promotions.Sun, who once paid million for a piece of art involving a banana taped to a wall, and then ate the banana, helped the Trumps start World Liberty Financial with an early million investment.Sun has disclosed on social media that he is the biggest holder of $TRUMP meme coins and is attending Thursday’s dinner.“I’m excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry,” Sun said. Are Trump family profits hurting other crypto investors? Trump has signed executive orders promoting the industry, including calls to create a government bitcoin reserve. In March, Trump convened the first cryptocurrency summit at the White House.But some of the industry’s biggest names, often brash and outspoken, have kept mostly mum on Trump’s meme coins and other projects.“It’s not my place to really comment on President Trump’s activity,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at a recent public event.Meanwhile, a top legislative priority for crypto-backers, a bill clarifying how digital assets are to be regulated, has advanced in the Senate. But some Democrats have tried to stall other pro-crypto legislation over the president’s personal dealings.“Never in American history has a sitting president so blatantly violated the ethics laws,” Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts said during a contentious House hearing earlier this month.The White House referred questions about dinner attendees to the Trump Organization, which didn’t provide a list of who is coming.“The President is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.In addition to Sun, however, some attendees have publicized qualifying for the dinner. Another will be Sheldon Xia, the founder of a cryptocurrency exchange called BitMart that’s registered in the Cayman Islands.“Proud to support President Trump’s pro-crypto vision.” Xia wrote in both English and Chinese on social media.Thurber, the expert on government and ethics, said Trump’s “personal attention to crypto at this dinner helps the crypto industry.”“But also it’s risky,” he said, “because they could all lose a lot of money.” —Will Weissert and Alan Suderman, Associated Press #crypto #investors #saw #trump #their

As Memorial Day approaches and National Military Appreciation Month comes to a close, here’s a timely fact: the largest private funder of veteran employment in the United States is a video game. Tied to Activision’s long-running military game franchise “Call of Duty,” the aptly named Call of Duty Endowmenthas placed over 150,000 veterans in jobs since 2009 and has been surpassing the federal government’s placement efforts since 2022, according to the organization’s president, Dan Goldenberg. Related Stories The initiative has raised million through sales of special accessory packs in “Call of Duty” games alone, in addition to other donation streams, and “every cent of which is going to putting vets in jobs,” Goldenberg says. Popular on Variety “The ‘Call of Duty’ community has been generous. Activision, as partners, have been incredible. They’ve all kind of come together in this ecosystem,” Goldenberg told Variety. “And one thing I know for sure is we’ve had more measurable social impact than anyone I know of in the gaming industry. I can’t think of another cause where it’s not so much the money raised, it’s the impact out. Others may have raised more money, but we’ve put — including the in-game stuff and other donations and corporate partnerships — close to million against this problem. And as a result, 150,000 vets have jobs, their families are more secure. Meaningful employment is just so core to so many other challenges a vet may encounter. If you have a meaningful job, you probably have health care, you have colleagues, you have purpose.” According to C.O.D.E., it costs per placement of each vet. The average starting salary for vets in these placements is and 93% are receiving full-time placement. Goldenberg says the program has seen an 89% retention rate at six months. Additionally, 20% of the program’s veterans placed are women. Launched in 2009 by former Activision chief Bobby Kotick and co-chaired by General James L. Jones beginning in 2012, the Call of Duty Endowment started out a time when the unemployment rate for veterans “was super high,” Goldenberg said. “It stemmed from this very successful gaming franchise that said, ‘We’ve gotten really big, and we owe a lot of our success to the people who inspired us. We’d like to find a good way to give back to them,'” Goldenberg said, adding that “initially, we looked like a lot of corporate foundations writing big checks. But the difference was the discipline that had made Activision and ‘Call of Duty’ so successful was being applied to trying to solve a social problem here.” C.O.D.E. is currently bracing for a higher number of unemployed veterans amid the recent job cuts across government service, a popular sector for vet placement, under the administration of President Donald Trump. But Goldenberg says the techniques the endowment already has in place — methods it has been building on through years of trial and error — will help significantly with this influx. “A lot of it was vetting our partners, and we insisted on a return on our investment,” Goldenberg said. “The difference was, it was a social return. We wanted to see a lot of vets put in jobs. And when we started, we were at parity. Our cost per placement was about the same as the federal government’s efforts.” And with “consistent disciplined vetting and accountability of our grantees on a quarterly basis,” Goldenberg says the Endowment has pulled ahead. “It works. So last year, we placed vets in jobs for 1/15th the cost of placement of the government with much higher quality outcomes in terms of average starting salary, retention rates, and the percentage of those jobs that are for full-time employment,” Goldenberg said. “And I guess the big lesson out of it is the discipline of business can really make a big difference for social cost. That’s been our unequivocal experience. We didn’t go in for brands. We looked for nonprofit partners who we thought for the dollar could accomplish the most social impact, and that’s what we’ve gotten.” As for how the actual “Call of Duty” video games can help vets, a study done by the Entertainment Software Association found that 86% of surveyed U.S. vets said video games provided them with a “healthy outlet for stress and anxiety.” “And not surprisingly, ‘Call of Duty’ is their favorite game,” Goldenberg says of the study’s findings. “When I’ve talked to friends who’ve been forward, when I’ve gone forward, you would think, and people from outside will say, ‘Don’t you get enough of the military thing?’ And no, it’s like a great way for them — especially when we were in active combat, people would come back to the forward operating bases, and they use it to decompress and have fun,” Goldenberg says. #how #call #duty #getting #more

The US is currently prioritising a stablecoin-focused bill as part of its broader effort to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for the crypto industry. Known as the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US StablecoinsAct, the proposed legislation seeks to introduce clear guidelines for the issuance and management of stablecoins—cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the value of reserve assets such as fiat currencies or gold. Recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren emphasised the need for stablecoin regulations to prevent private companies from creating their own versions of the US dollar.Earlier this week, the bill was approved by the House Financial Services Committee, advancing it to the House of Senate for the final approval. The crypto industry lauded the development, calling it a milestone moment for the sector's recognition.Paul Atkins, the chief of SEC's Crypto Task Force, has shown a strong support to the GENUIS Bill. Atkins, in an interview with CNBC said, “We have every expectation now that it's going to pass."As momentum builds around the GENIUS Act, let's take a closer look at what this proposed legislation could mean for the future of the stablecoin sector.GENIUS Bill: Key DetailsThe GENIUS bill was first introduced to the US lawmakers in February this year. Tim Scott, the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is among the four sponsors of the proposed laws.Outlining the ambitions of this legislations, its sponsors said that the rules would establish clear protocols to guide the issuance of stablecoins in the US. Institutions like Meta that may seek licences to issue stablecoins will have to comply with these mandates.The rules will define reserve requirements for existing and potential stablecoin issuers, while also setting up regimes on the supervision, examination, and enforcement of stablecoin-producing businesses.Large-scale stablecoin issuers offering tokens worth billion or banking firms are proposed to be under a strict oversight by the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, large-scale non-bank entities will be monitored by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency under, if the bill gets approved into an Act by the Senate.The states may individually get the right to regulate smaller stablecoin issuers internally.According to Senator Bill Hagerty, "The previous administration's hostility toward crypto and refusal to provide clear regulatory guidelines have severely stifled stablecoin innovation." He believes that this legislation can preserves a strong state pathway to stablecoin issuance.The US House Financial Services Committee passed the stablecoin bill in April.Stablecoin HypeThe US is among many nations that are now viewing stablecoin as a blockchain-based solution to quick, secure, and cheap cross-border transfers.Scott, the US Senate Banking Committee chief, sees stablecoins as a major advancement in the financial sector.“Stablecoins enable faster, cheaper, and competitive transactions in our digital world and facilitate seamless cross-border payments,” he said. "From enhancing transaction efficiency to driving demand for US Treasuries, the potential benefits of strong stablecoin innovation are immense."US President Donald Trump himself is part of issuing the USD1 stablecoin, indicating support to the sector's potential.While the stablecoin bill is still making its way through the legislative process in the US, Hong Kong passed its own stablecoin bill on May 21 that is slated to come into effect within this year.Traditional fintech giants like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal are also exploring service offerings related to stablecoins.Among blockchain majors, Polygon plans to concentrate on its stablecoin plans this year, owing to "rising institutional demands".A recent report by Standard Chartered estimated that the size of the stablecoin market could surge by about 10-fold to trillionwithin the next three years. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Stablecoin, Genuis Act, US Radhika Parashar Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More Related Stories #what #us039 #stablecoinfocussed #genius #act