US President Barack Obama formally asked lawmakers on Thursday for another US$83.4 billion to pay for the immediate needs of his revamped strategy for Afghanistan and for the war in Iraq.
In a letter to his top Democratic ally in the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Obama pleaded for swift passage of the emergency spending measure, citing the worsening situation in Afghanistan.
“We face a security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan that demands urgent attention. The Taliban is resurgent and al-Qaeda threatens America from its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” he said. “With that reality as my focus, today I send to the Congress a supplemental appropriations request totaling US$83.4 billion that will fund our ongoing military, dsiplomatic and intelligence operations.”
PHOTO: AFP
The package includes items not related to the two conflicts, including US$350 million for security and counter-narcotics work along the US-Mexico border and US$89.5 million for efforts to secure Russian nuclear materials and pursue disablement and dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear work.
But “nearly 95 percent of these funds will be used to support our men and women in uniform as they help the people of Iraq to take responsibility for their own future — and work to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Obama said.
The president’s Republican foes were expected to join his Democratic allies in approving the request, despite growing unease among some on his party’s left flank about the escalation in Afghanistan and the pace and scope of the military draw-down from Iraq.
The request includes US$75.85 billion for military and intelligence operations in the two wars, and another US$7.1 billion for international aid — including US$400 million to help Pakistan battle Islamist extremists.
It also includes US$800 million to support the Palestinian Authority and provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, and US$200 million in aid to Georgia.
Another US$800 million would go to UN peacekeeping operations, fund an expanded mission in Democratic Republic of Congo, and a new mission in Chad and the Central African Republic.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: The majority of chatbots tested provided guidance on weapons, tactics and target selections, with Perplexity and Meta AI deemed to be the least safe From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the US and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and Meta AI. Eight of the chatbots assisted the make-believe attackers in more than half the responses, providing advice on “locations to target” and “weapons to use” in an attack, the study said. The chatbots had become a “powerful accelerant for
RSS