Catégorie oBox : OBOXMA
Newark airport has once again been hit by a serious radar failure, similar to the one that occurred the previous week, plunging several air traffic controllers into a state of severe distress and causing work stoppages, delays and disruption at Newark airport.
Breaking News: An air traffic control facility at Newark Airport suffered another radar outage, the latest disruption at one of the nation’s busiest airports.
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-05-09T16:04:55.157Z
More worryingly, this new failure could have led to incidents with potentially catastrophic consequences for aircraft operating in the vicinity of the airport.
According to the New York Times, this second incident occurred on Thursday night at around 4 a.m., when the radar, as on the previous occasion, stopped working completely for around 90 seconds.
According to the FAA, cited by ABC News, the airport was the victim of a « telecommunications failure that affected communications and radar display in Zone C of the Philadelphia TRACON control center ».
This second incident forced the FAA to temporarily suspend all departures to the airport, as controllers were no longer able to communicate with aircraft during the short duration of the outage.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy announced this week the deployment of a new « state-of-the-art » air traffic control system to replace the current infrastructure, described as « obsolete ». But its commissioning is not expected for another three to four years, raising serious concerns among air traffic controllers, especially as the Trump administration, backed by Elon Musk and the DOGE movement, has imposed major budget cuts on the FAA.
These incidents rekindle deep concerns about aviation safety in the United States, while several major disasters have marked the start of Trump’s term in office. Among them: the deadly collision on January 29 between a PSA Airlines regional jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac, which killed 67 people; the crash of a medical jet in Philadelphia on January 31, resulting in eight deaths; the crash of a Bering Air flight in Alaska on February 6, with ten fatalities; and the collision on the tarmac at Scottsdale airport, Arizona, on February 10, which left one person dead.
After unsuccessfully imploring Putin on Truth Social to halt his forwards against Ukraine in the midst of talks, Trump is now adopting a new stance, in the hope of convincing the Russian president to end the war triggered by his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
This bizarre proposal from the President of the United States comes as he has been desperately trying for several weeks to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
With pressure mounting around one of his campaign promises to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in the White House, Trump is now suggesting that Vladimir Putin might consider stopping his bloody forwards if Russia were to secure a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The country had in fact been suspended from competitions by FIFA and UEFA after its illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
While Donald Trump was, according to the New York Times, in discussion with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, he was reportedly surprised to learn that Russia was excluded from the World Cup and could not be reinstated until it ended its senseless aggression against Ukraine.
The President of the United States seems to be desperately looking for any leverage he can think of to bend Vladimir Putin, while all the Trump administration’s initiatives on this issue have so far ended in failure.
Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged that Russia is « asking too much » to end the war with Ukraine.
A form of frustration is now spreading through the ranks of the administration, which, after initially blaming Ukraine at the start of the talks, is beginning to admit that Moscow may bear a heavier share of responsibility for prolonging the conflict.
As he celebrates the 25th anniversary of the foundation he co-founded with his ex-wife in 2000, Bill Gates announces his intention to close the organization by 2045 and donate almost his entire fortune by then.
In an interview with the New York Times, Bill Gates reveals that he has recently revised his plans to accelerate the donation of almost his entire fortune through the Gates Foundation. By accelerating the liquidation of his fortune, Bill Gates plans to add $3 billion a year to his humanitarian aid budget, bringing it to a total of $9 billion annually for the next 20 years.
He points out that this decision is motivated by the major budget cuts implemented by Elon Musk and Donald Trump since they recently came to power, particularly those targeting the US agency USAID, even though humanitarian aid had already been severely weakened in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The billionaire describes the massive cuts imposed on USAID as « stunning », well beyond the expected 20%, with an estimate as high as 80%. He argues that these cuts affect programs of crucial global importance, and that the resulting damage risks dramatically undoing the progress made over the past 25 years in humanitarian aid and research, particularly in relation to child mortality.
The billionaire points out that, in his view, the massive humanitarian aid of the last 25 years has reduced the number of child deaths worldwide from 10 million to 5 million a year.
He estimates that this figure could have fallen to 4 million this year. However, with the drastic cuts imposed by the DOGE program, headed by Elon Musk in accordance with the wishes of Donald Trump and his administration, the number of deaths could now rise again to 6 million a year.
Bill Gates has some harsh words for Elon Musk, saying that while he might become a great philanthropist one day, for now he’s « the world’s richest man involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children ».
After renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, now the President of the United States wants to rename the Persian Gulf.
Iran Warns Trump Renaming Persian Gulf Will ‘Bring The Wrath Of All Iranians’
As Trump prepares for his first trip away to the Middle East, he appears to be siding with Saudi Arabia by adopting their unofficial designation of « Arabian Gulf ».
This announcement immediately angered Iran, which sees it as a direct provocation and a challenge to its historical heritage.
Present in Greek and Roman texts since antiquity, the name « Persian Gulf » refers to the Persian Empire, which once controlled the territory corresponding to present-day Iran. From the 16th century onwards, the name was used in European cartography.
Since the 1960s, some Arab countries, notably Saudi Arabia, have argued for the use of the term « Arabian Gulf ».
Despite these tensions, however, the UN and the majority of international organizations continue to officially recognize the name « Persian Gulf » as the only correct designation.
According to Forbes, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a stern message on X in reaction to Trump’s announcement, declaring, « This will only bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life ».
While Meta is mired in antitrust proceedings threatening to lead to its dismantling, Mark Zuckerberg is desperately tightening his ties with the Trump administration, which he has been trying to seduce for several months in the hope of securing highly lucrative military contracts.
New: Meta is recruiting former national security officials to bolster its military ambitions, months after allowing its Llama AI model to be used for military use.www.forbes.com/sites/davidj…
— David Jeans (@davidjeans.bsky.social) 2025-05-07T15:47:51.450Z
Mark Zuckerberg has made one strategic rapprochement gesture after another towards Donald Trump, combining financial initiatives, internal decisions and political signals: a million-dollar donation at his inauguration in January, a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, the dismantling of Facebook’s fact-checking program, the removal of Meta’s diversity team, the appointment of people close to Trump to the board of directors, and the purchase of a house in Washington D.C.
All the indications are that he is now focusing all his efforts on winning military contracts to promote his own artificial intelligence technologies, in direct competition with those of OpenAI.
According to Forbes, Meta has recently recruited former Pentagon officials to support Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitions: to win lucrative government contracts by directing Llama artificial intelligence towards military intelligence uses.
Meta, which is leading this sustained recruitment campaign, is banking in particular on its Llama artificial intelligence model, initially designed for civilian use, but now oriented towards military applications in order to appeal to defense and intelligence agencies.
Clearly in seduction mode, Meta is also looking to recruit policy experts linked to national security, including a position specifically designed to manage relations with the White House. The company would preferably target profiles with security clearance and Pentagon experience.
Meta recently hired Francis Brennan, a former advisor to Donald Trump, to head up its strategic communications in Washington.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Russia for a four-day trip to mark Victory Day commemorations. He is also due to hold talks with Vladimir Putin, and the two leaders are expected to sign several cooperation agreements.
Xi’s visit comes as Moscow shows little sign of moving towards peace in Ukraine, while Kiev has launched a series of drone attacks on the Russian capital.
In the days leading up to Friday’s Victory Day parade, the two presidents will seek to further strengthen their cooperation, which has intensified since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine accuses President Xi Jinping of sending Chinese citizens to fight for Russia on Ukrainian soil, while it has been announced that a Chinese People’s Liberation Army honor guard will take part in Friday’s ceremony.
Volodymyr Zelensky issued a warning to the 30 or so dignitaries expected by Vladimir Putin, saying: «Our position is very simple for all countries planning to go or already heading to Russia on May 9: we cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation. They [Russia] are the ones providing security, and therefore, we will not offer any guarantees».
According to The Guardian, this statement comes at a time when Ukraine has launched a series of drone attacks against Russia, targeting Moscow and causing major disruption at airports in the region, prompting some dignitaries to change their itinerary.
Vladimir Putin had announced a three-day pause in the attacks against Ukraine, from May 8 to 10, to coincide with the celebrations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected this proposal, arguing that three days was not enough time for genuine peace talks.
He declared that he did not trust Moscow and specified that a ceasefire of at least 30 days would be necessary to start serious talks, failing which Ukraine would not consider any truce.