Trump gets a NATO victory lap, but U.S. leadership is on shaky ground
You're reading an excerpt from the WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest, including news from around the globe and interesting ideas and opinions to know, sent to your inbox on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
President Donald Trump left Tuesday to appear at a NATO summit in The Hague that seemed choreographed for him. The other Western leaders convening in the Dutch capital appeared to understand the assignment. The military alliance's member states would pursue a massive increase in defense spending, aiming for a target equivalent to 5 percent of their national GDP — a significant rise from the 2 percent threshold that most NATO states have struggled for years to meet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indianapolis Star
27 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
Federal NPR, PBS cuts could shut down some Indiana public media stations, leader says
Some Hoosier public radio and television stations could be forced to shutter if President Donald Trump's administration is successful in its most recent attempt to defund NPR and PBS. Indiana's 17 stations are already grappling with the loss of millions of dollars from the state, which is forcing tighter budgeting, consolidation efforts and layoffs in at least one case. "The state funding cut was a gut punch," said Mark Newman, executive director of Indiana's network of public broadcasting stations. Without the federal money "They could be done." Earlier this month, the U.S. House approved legislation that would seek to withhold $1.1 billion that was already approved for local public media stations across the country over the next two years. The U.S. Senate still needs to vote on the bill. The chamber's appropriations committee will hear the legislation June 25. Nearly a third of Indiana Public Broadcasting's total budget — about $13 million — comes from the state and federal governments, according to a WFYI analysis. Without that financial support, smaller and more rural stations will be most at risk for closure or dramatic cuts. State and federal money accounts for more than 50% of some of their budgets. One of the more extreme examples is Lakeshore Public Media, which serves northwest Indiana. It could lose 60% of its total operating revenue between lost state dollars and pending federal cuts. Layoffs and a reduction in TV and radio programming are already expected, though not finalized. For WFYI, state cuts will cost the station about $590,000 a year. Congress could strip away an additional $1.5 million a year in federal funding — about 11% of the station's budget. These cuts ultimately mean the state's existing news deserts could expand, Newman said. Even if local outlets don't permanently close, he said, the cuts could hamstring their ability to produce news coverage in areas where accessible and consistent coverage is already limited. "If you don't have that — have that trusted and independent source — where does it come from?" he said. "There's a greater likelihood that people would rely on less reliable sources of news and information about what's happening locally, regionally, nationally and internationally." Indiana has 17 television and radio stations in Indianapolis, Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Evansville, Vincennes, Muncie, West Lafayette, South Bend, Merrillville and Elkhart. Since taking office, Trump has sought to strip all federal funding from National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service, asserting that public media have a liberal bias. Despite the focus on the national organizations, Newman said, they aren't the ones getting hit hardest. "The folks that get hurt by this are the stations: the WFYIs of the world or the WVPEs of the world," he said, "small, rural communities who have stations that serve as a lifeline to a information content and how they learn and perceive the world around them." Indiana's public media outlets were already limping through significant and somewhat unexpected state budget cuts, he said. In late April, Indiana's Republican supermajority approved a bare-bones state budget that included a last-minute measure to strip $7.4 million from Indiana Public Broadcasting. Stations have been finding ways to make up the loss of state money through fundraising, Newman said. Supporters have increased donations amid the threats, he said, but those surges are not sustainable long term. Across the board, he said, stations are working to find efficiencies and consolidate operations. Without federal support, Newman said, stations will be in survival mode. Some may have to close, but others would "absolutely" need to dip into reserves for daily operations, he said. It's difficult to see this effort as anything other than an attack on the freedom of the press, Newman said. Use of labels like "fake news" are difficult to understand because the rationale is unclear, he said. The White House has described public media as "radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news'" and has used those criticisms as reason for the massive cuts. NPR and PBS have repeatedly denied those claims. In response to an executive order attempting to cease all federal public media funding, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations are suing the administration. The suit says the order violates the First Amendment and oversteps Trump's power as president. Newman said Indiana stations don't hear Trump's criticisms from local residents. Staff at these stations don't fit that narrative, he said. "It's just the environment that we're in, and it's just not journalism that's under attack in that way," he said. Public media leaders, including Newman, are encouraging people to call and write their lawmakers to talk about their relationship with public media and urge them to vote down the federal cuts through the organized push called "Protect My Public Media." The USA TODAY Network - Indiana's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Workers in UK need to embrace AI or risk being left behind, minister says
Workers in the UK should turn their trepidation over AI into 'exhilaration' by giving it a try or they risk being left behind by those who have, the technology secretary has said. Peter Kyle called on employees and businesses to 'act now' on getting to grips with the tech, with the generational gap in usage needing only two and a half hours of training to bridge. Breakthroughs such as the emergence of ChatGPT have sparked an investment boom in the technology, but also led to forecasts that a host of jobs in sectors ranging from law to financial services will be affected. However, Kyle said: 'I think most people are approaching this with trepidation. Once they start [using AI], it turns to exhilaration, because it is a lot more straightforward than people realise, and it is far more rewarding than people expect.' Kyle spoke after meeting tech company bosses to discuss a new government-industry drive to train 7.5 million UK workers – a fifth of the overall workforce – in AI by 2030, with the help of firms such as Google, Amazon and BT. He said: 'There's no one in employment at the moment that is incapable of gaining the skills that will be needed in the economy in the next five years. 'That is the optimistic way of saying, act now, and you will thrive into the future. Don't, and I think that some people will be left behind. And that's what worries me the most.' Kyle said there appeared to be a generational gap in AI, with over-55s using AI half as much as over-35s. Closing this gap would take two and a half hours of training, he said. 'People don't need to get trained in quantum physics,' Kyle said. 'They need to get trained in the basics of how AI works, how to interact with it, and to explore all of the potential it has for you as an individual in the workplace.' Keir Starmer acknowledged this week that people were 'sceptical' about AI and worry about it taking their job. Speaking at London Tech Week, the prime minister said the government would attempt to prove that technology can 'create wealth in your community … create good jobs [and] vastly improve our public services'. People in English-speaking countries including the UK, US, Australia and Canada are more nervous about the rise of AI than those in the largest EU economies, according to polling data shared with the Guardian last week. Forecasts about the impact of AI on jobs vary, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warning the technology could trigger job losses in skilled professions such as law, medicine and finance. The International Monetary Fund has calculated 60% of jobs in advanced economies such as the US and UK are exposed to AI and half of these jobs may be negatively affected. However, the Tony Blair Institute, which has called for widespread adoption of AI in the public and private sectors, has said potential UK jobs losses in the private sphere will be mitigated by the technology creating new roles. Kyle said he was ready for a reset in the debate over AI and copyright after opposition to the government's proposed overhaul of copyright law in the House of Lords ended. The data bill, a vehicle for peers' opposition to proposals to let AI firms use copyright-protected work without permission in order to develop their products, finally passed this week after lords did not submit further copyright-related amendments. 'I'm acting with humility and self-reflection about the things I could have done better in that process,' he said. 'And I've made promises to move forward with a reset and a refocus on what will deliver the rights remuneration and opportunities for creatives in the digital age that they have enjoyed for generations in the analogue age – whilst travelling on that journey with the AI industry alongside.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
USA Today
30 minutes ago
- USA Today
Florida approves cruel 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Everglades. Gators want no part of it.
This sinister attempt to assist the Trump administration's already cruel mass deportation effort leans heavily on the grotesque stereotype that we alligators are vicious killers. Dear American humans: As a proud reptile and founding member of the Consortium for Responsible Alligator Publicity, I would like to express my community's umbrage over the state of Florida's plan to put a migrant detention facility in the ecologically sensitive Everglades under the offensive name 'Alligator Alcatraz.' This sinister attempt to assist the Trump administration's already cruel mass deportation effort leans heavily on the grotesque stereotype that we alligators are vicious killers and dangerous creatures to be feared. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier shared a video on June 20 boasting about Alligator Alcatraz, and it showed one of our consortium members sticking out from the water while the attorney general said: 'If people get out there's not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.' First off, Mr. Uthmeier, the gator you showed is a respected community member, an avowed pacifist and a longtime ovo vegetarian. She's less likely to eat a fleeing migrant than you are. She enjoys poetry and has formed a close friendship with a local wood stork. Furthermore, you have some gall suggesting we alligators are scary and would act as the Department of Homeland Security's perimeter-enforcing beasts. How many alligators have you seen wearing masks and grabbing hardworking migrants out of Home Depot parking lots? How many of my reptilian brothers and sisters have been caught on video ripping mothers from their children or trying to deport the spouses of military veterans? Who's scary now, Mr. Uthmeier? 'Human waste, sewage needs, water supply needs' Apparently, the federal government has already signed off on this invasive Everglades facility, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis enthusiastically supporting the construction of a 5,000-bed detention facility on 39 square miles of our land. Migrants will be housed in tents in the swampy summer heat on an old landing strip. Opinion: Trump lied about LA protests to deploy the National Guard. He wants violence. One of our human friends, Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, told The Washington Post: 'If you get a thousand-bed prison in there, whether it's supposedly temporary or not, you're going to have impacts related to human waste, sewage needs, water supply needs, ancillary development.' We're about to be swimming in human waste, and you all want to make us sound like the bad guys? C'mon, humans. The whole idea for this place, from the Alligator Alcatraz name to the suggestion that our presence will make it all seem ultra-cruel and terrible, is offensive and species-ist. Despite common media portrayals, we alligators are naturally fearful of humans and do our best to avoid you all. The more we watch the way the Trump administration is dehumanizing immigrants and tearing families apart, the more we think our fear is justified. Opinion: Manufacturing down, food expensive and ICE is deporting moms. Happy now, MAGA? Alligators aren't interested in biting any fleeing migrants. ICE agents, on the other hand ... Which is scarier: An alligator hanging out in the Everglades water, opportunistically hoping a tasty fish comes along? Or a bunch of brutish Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers hopping out of an unmarked car and grabbing a day laborer so they can send him to a place called Alligator Alcatraz? Alex Howard, who was a DHS spokesperson under President Joe Biden, told the Miami Herald: 'Turning the Everglades into a taxpayer-funded detention camp for migrants is a grotesque mix of cruelty and political theater.' And we gators, quite frankly, won't be party to this evil. Keep your detention facility out of our territory. And trust us, we aren't interested in biting any migrants who try to flee your clutches. You all, on the other hand? We may be fearful of humans, but you ICE lot are starting to look downright tasty. CHOMP! CHOMP! 😡 — Phineas Alligatorius, Consortium for Responsible Alligator Publicity Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at
