Author: Stephanie Gauthier

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.

Kashmir, a region already marked by more than seven decades of tension, plunged back into conflict.

Kashmir crisis live: Pakistan PM authorises armed forces to undertake ‘corresponding action’ after India strikes kill 26

— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) 2025-05-07T10:51:34Z

In just two weeks, the deadly April 22 attack on a tourist bus in Pahalgam, a popular tourist resort in India’s Kashmir region, has rekindled historic tensions between India and Pakistan.

New Delhi’s reaction was swift: India launched the military operation “Sindoor”, targeting so-called “terrorist” sites in Pakistan and Islamabad-controlled Kashmir.

This series of strikes, described as “targeted and non-escalatory” by the Indian authorities, was perceived by Pakistan as outright aggression.

Since then, firefights, casualties and threatening rhetoric have intensified on both sides of the Line of Control. According to Islamabad, Pakistan deplores 26 dead and 46 wounded. India, for its part, claims that 15 civilians were killed and 43 wounded by Pakistani artillery fire.

While, according to The Guardian, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh hailed the operation as “Victory to Mother India”, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the strikes as an “act of war”. Faced with this rise in tensions, the international community fears a rapid deterioration in the situation that could lead to a major crisis.

According to many observers, the fear of a major military confrontation between these two nuclear powers has never been greater.

From the Oval Office of the White House, Donald Trump said he was honored to welcome Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, recalling that the latter had won, in his words, “a very big election”.

NEW: Canadian PM Mark Carney tells President Trump that Canada is 'not for sale' as the two leaders meet to discuss tariffs at the White House.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-05-06T16:52:44Z

Trump then took some of the credit for Carney’s victory, saying he thought he was “the best thing that ever happened to him”.

Trump said that Carney’s party, previously led by Justin Trudeau, was “losing by a lot” before Carney eventually won the election.

The president went on to describe the victory as “one of the greatest comebacks in political history, perhaps even greater than mine”

Trump went on to say that he had been following the Canadiens election with great interest. Trump added that, in his eyes, Canada had chosen “a very talented person and a very good person”.

Mark Carney must appreciate such compliments from Donald Trump, who never ceased to criticize his predecessor Justin Trudeau. Trump even told Carney that he didn’t particularly like the former prime minister.

Strong discussions between the two leaders are expected in the coming weeks, particularly on the issue of tariffs.

In their first official meeting, Canada’s new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged cordial words, with Trump congratulating Carney on his victory and affirming his attachment to Canada and his desire for a friendly relationship between the two countries.

Canadian PM Carney tells President Trump that his country "won't be for sale, ever" ahead of their critical meeting to discuss mounting trade tensions. Follow live updates.

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-05-06T16:57:22.380Z

The sensitive issue of the now infamous 51st state, a veritable elephant in the Oval Office, was of course not lost on the many journalists present, as it was raised face-to-face by the two leaders during their meeting.

Trump tried to tone down his comments, while reiterating that he’d like to see the idea come to fruition, adding that he “still believes Canada should become the 51st state”.

However, he made it clear that this should be done in a spirit of friendship, before concluding:

«We’re not going to be discussing that unless somebody wants to discuss it.»

Carney was keen to remind Trump that as he met with Canada’s owners during his campaign, the message from Canadians, he said, was clear: “It’s not for sale.”

Carney added: “There are places that will never be for sale”, citing the White House as a symbolic example.

Mark Carney closed the debate by declaring firmly: “It will never be for sale”,

Under pressure from the American public’s negative reactions to his tariff war with most countries, with the notable exception of Russia, Donald Trump, whose fortune topped $7 billion in January according to Bloomberg, is maintaining a defiant stance in the face of growing American criticism of his economic policy, particularly with regard to… the number of dolls and pencils American children should have.

Donald Trump promised that his tariff regime would bring wealth and prosperity to the nation, but now insists that kids ration their dolls and pencils.www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol…

— Rolling Stone (@rollingstone.com) 2025-05-05T14:59:25.786Z

In an interview with NBC News, the president reaffirmed comments made the previous week at a cabinet meeting marking his first 100 days in office, to the effect that little girls should make do with two dolls rather than 30… and even that they’ll cost more!

This time, he added the bonus that it would be enough for American children to own just five pencils.

While the president has launched a major tariff war against China, a move that is expected to cause major disruptions to store supplies in the US in the coming weeks, criticism is mounting of the billionaire president who has made a fortune for himself and his children since the start of his political adventures, but especially with the launch of his “meme coin” crypto-currency, which alone, according to the Financial Times, would have generated at least $350 million in revenue in just three weeks after its launch in January 2025.

Attempting to downplay the scale of the coming disruption to the homes of American families, Trump said, in response to a question about the effects of his tariffs on consumers:

«I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs… that’s 11 years old… needs to have 30 dolls.»

He then declared:

«They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.»

The president went on to say, regarding dolls and pencils, that he didn’t think there was any point in wasting money on useless stuff you don’t need.

He added that, in his eyes, it doesn’t matter if baby carriages and dolls become more expensive: the main thing is that the price of gas goes down.

He concluded:

«Thousand of times more important than a stroller or something.»

Asked about the anticipated duration of this tariff transition, Trump admitted he didn’t know the outcome, while assuring:

«We’re making a lot of money, we’re doing great.»

Rio de Janeiro police have arrested two people suspected of planning a forward at Lady Gaga’s free mega-concert on Copacabana beach.

BREAKING: Brazilian police say they thwarted a bomb attack planned for Lady Gaga’s historic concert that drew an estimated 2 million people to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday: cnn.it/3SkMpE0

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-05-04T15:18:03.606Z

A third person, allegedly planning to carry out a “satanic ritual” during the singer’s concert, has also been arrested as part of the investigation to identify other accomplices involved in the attack.

While Gaga was performing for free in front of nearly 2.1 million people, neither she nor her team knew that the event was being targeted by two individuals posing online as fans.

They were trying to recruit others to carry out a forward attack targeting the LGBTQ+ community with improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails.

Police kept information about their investigation, dubbed “Operation Fake Monster”, secret until the arrests were made, to avoid mass panic or distortion of the facts that could have compromised the investigation.

According to CNN, the suspects belonged to an online hate group that sought to radicalize young people by disseminating content linked to hate crimes, self-harm, violence and pedophilia.

Brazilian police also claim to have foiled several planned crimes on the dark web in the weeks leading up to the Gaga concert, with no direct link to the event, but suggesting that the group targeting the concert was also active on these underground networks.

As part of the investigation into the planned forward, police arrested an individual, who was being prosecuted on terrorism charges.

According to the authorities, he was planning to commit a “satanic ritual involving the murder of a child or infant” during Lady Gaga’s concert.

In a recent interview with ABC News on the first 100 days of his presidency, Donald Trump quickly turned confrontational.

President Trump insisted in a television interview that the man his administration mistakenly sent to a Salvadoran prison has the letters and numbers “MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles.

— The Wall Street Journal (@wsj.com) 2025-04-30T14:45:24.011Z

The tone escalated when Trump lashed out at ABC News reporter Terry Moran, who claimed that the letters “M”, “S”, “1” and “3” had been Photoshopped onto the hand of Kilmar Ábrego García, a man mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador, and whom the Trump administration accuses, without proof, of belonging to the MS-13 gang.

Moran pointed out that the letters and numbers had been “photoshopped” onto the image recently published by Trump on his Truth Social network, where the president is seen, from the Oval Office, holding a sheet on which is printed the photo of Kilmar Ábrego García’s hand.

The fingers of the hand in the photo feature several tattoos: a marijuana leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull. However, the photo in question has clearly been digitally altered: letters and numbers have been added above each image – an “M”, an “S”, a “1” and a “3” – forming the acronym “MS-13”.

After pointing out that the letters “M”, “S”, “1” and “3” had obviously been added digitally to the image, the ABC News reporter was visibly annoyed that the President didn’t grasp this digital manipulation.

Moran, however, didn’t dispute that the tattoo “could be interpreted that way”, pointing out that he didn’t consider himself an expert on the subject.

These remarks triggered a sharp reaction from the president, who immediately retorted: “No, Terry, no, no, he has M-S… as clear as you can be, not interpreted”.

During this tense exchange, the president went on to hurl insults at the journalist, claiming that this interview represented “the big break of a lifetime” for him.

He then accused the media of fueling public distrust, concluding, “This is why the people no longer believes the news” .

“Why don’t you just say, yes he does (has the MS13 tattoed) and go on to something else”, Trump then launched, in a fit of rage.

Apple has unveiled its results for the first quarter of 2025, with iPhone sales just reaching the forecast $46 billion.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that planned US tariffs on foreign imports will add $900 million in costs in the current period

— Bloomberg News (@bloomberg.com) 2025-05-01T21:35:24Z

Apple sales generated more than $95 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2025, slightly exceeding forecasts of just over $94 billion.

However, some indicators are already revealing strains, including a billion-dollar drop in sales in China below projections.

According to Forbes, Apple’s first-quarter sales in the greater China region, currently at the center of a major tariff dispute with the U.S., came in below expectations.

While projections were for $17 billion, sales came in at just $16 billion.

CEO Tim Cook predicts a difficult second quarter due to the tariffs introduced by the Trump administration, which the company believes would result in additional costs estimated at $900 million.

If the trade conflict with China were to drag on, Apple would inevitably suffer the consequences, with China accounting for 17% of its revenues in 2024.

What’s more, beyond the impact on sales, the majority of iPhones are assembled in this country, which accentuates the company’s vulnerability.