'We don't play your little games…': Pete Hegseth scolds Fox reporter over Iran question
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved in a heated exchange with one of the senior-most reporters at the Pentagon and his former colleague, Fox News' Jennifer Griffin, at the press briefing Thursday. Hegseth was addressing 'intelligence leak' claims days after the US' strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. The verbal clash between Hegseth and Griffin came amid a broader push to discredit media outlets over reporting on intelligence laying out the extent of damages done by U.S. strikes to Iranian nuclear sites. Hegseth insisted Thursday that American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were a success, backing President Donald Trump and berating the media for questioning the results of the operation.
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The Print
31 minutes ago
- The Print
Maharashtra govt floats tender for fact check unit to track ‘malicious, inaccurate' content
Brijesh Singh, principal secretary, DGIPR, told ThePrint: 'Every day, we treat media reports as feedback on governance. During his previous tenure, Chief Minister Fadnavis made our approach clear: 'either the media is right, or we are right. If they are right, we need to take note. If they are wrong, we should inform them of factual inaccuracies'. This unit serves exactly that purpose.' The unit will be set up under the state government's Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR), and will use technological interventions to speedily screen all information concerning the state government and check its credibility across languages for any supposedly malicious or inaccurate content. Mumbai: The Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra has floated a tender to set up a fact-check unit to track all content about the state government across traditional media as well as social and digital media platforms. 'It is not intended to have any chilling effect (on the public) or create the fears some people are expressing,' he added. Government departments routinely identify any alleged discrepancies in media reports and send rejoinders as and when required. Singh said the fact-check unit will make this exercise more thorough and faster, bringing in technological interventions. 'We lack the capability to handle the current volume of misinformation, and it requires significant technical capabilities. When altered photos claim a bridge has collapsed, or old images are used out of context, we need to respond promptly and accurately, pointing out, for instance, that an image is from 2016. This requires forensic capabilities, making technical expertise essential,' Singh said. According to the tender, which ThePrint has seen, the fact-check unit will have a dashboard that would offer detailed reports and alerts on any 'misinformation, disinformation and malinformation' detected. The dashboard, the tender states, should help government officials to quickly review the content that has been flagged, understand the scope of the issue and respond in a timely manner. The agency chosen to set up the unit will also conduct training sessions and workshops for officials from the DGIPR and other government departments on how to use the dashboard, and view and analyse reports. Also Read: Trump dismisses as 'fake news' CNN report saying US strikes didn't destroy Iranian nuclear sites 'Fact-check unit proposal legally vetted' The Bombay High Court had in September last year declared a 2023 amendment in the Centre's Information Technology Rules, as part of which the government planned to fact-check social media content, as 'unconstitutional'. The amended rules were to restrain social media 'intermediaries' from publishing content about the government which its own fact-check unit identified as fake. Multiple petitions from organisations such as the Editors Guild of India, News Broadcasters and Digital Association, Association of Indian Magazines as well as comedian Kunal Kamra had challenged the amendment, saying the rules infringe upon freedom of speech and expression. In a 2023 letter, the Editors Guild of India had said: 'While admittedly there is a problem of misinformation and fake news, especially in the online space, efforts to check such content have to be by independent bodies that are not under the sole purview of the government, lest they become tools to clamp down on voices of dissent.' In December last year, the Centre filed a special leave petition against the high court's decision in the Supreme Court. It is, however, yet to be admitted. According to Singh, however, the Maharashtra government has got the proposal for the DGIPR's fact-check unit legally vetted and it will not be in contravention of the court's orders. 'The central fact-check unit was ruled unconstitutional by courts in an earlier decision because it required platforms to take down content based on the unit's report. Our approach is fundamentally different: it is not binding. The state government lacks such enforcement powers. Since that ruling, PIB (Press Information Bureau) has continued fact-checking, as have many other states,' Singh said. What the tender says According to the tender document, the fact-checking unit is expected to track social and digital media platforms, websites, online news aggregators and blogs for the state government to identify and respond to 'instances of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation being published' in a timely manner. 'If someone posts false information—say, claiming a statue has been desecrated somewhere—the government has a responsibility to respond with accurate information. Our primary objectives are serving public interest and increasing transparency and trust,' Singh told ThePrint. The unit will be expected to validate and assess the credibility of content not just in English, but also in Hinglish (an informal blend of Hindi and English) as well as regional languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Malayalam, Punjabi and Bengali. The tender document states the agency setting up the fact-check unit should also provide a solution to conduct predictive analytics so that the government can identify potential outbreaks of alleged misinformation based on historical patterns and social media activity. 'Using AI, it must forecast which topics are likely to be misrepresented, manipulated, or misused, allowing government agencies to respond proactively and mitigate potential damage,' it says. Further, the agency selected to set up the fact-check unit will enable sorting the allegedly malicious content into categories based on why it is malicious—whether it is inflammatory, insulting, obscene, profane or adverse. It will be required to detect deepfakes as well as content using code language with a 'harmful intent without explicit terminology'. The agency's solution will also classify accounts allegedly using media manipulation tactics to gain social media traction, posts that make derogatory remarks about someone based on their identity, and content by entities lacking credibility or verifiable accuracy, among other things, the tender document states. (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: India's Chief of Information War during Op Sindoor night was fact-checker Mohammed Zubair
Economic Times
32 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Trump administration's plan to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a third country sparks outrage
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immigration case has once again made headlines. Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported once before and returned to the United States, but the Trump administration now intends to deport him again. This time, they want to send Abrego Garcia to a third country rather than his home country, El Salvador, raising legal and human rights concerns. Officials say there is no set timeline yet. Garcia, who was recently returned to the United States and released from jail, is still facing legal uncertainty as deportation approaches.A federal prosecutor told a federal judge in Maryland on Thursday that once Kilmar Abrego Garcia is released from jail in Tennessee, the administration of President Donald Trump intends to deport him to a nation other than his native El Salvador, as per a report by Guynn, an attorney with the Justice Department, stated that the removal process would take place in a "third country." However, the prosecutor added that the U.S. government would abide by all court orders and that there are "no imminent plans" to deport Abrego Garcia. ALSO READ: Microsoft layoffs: Xbox faces turbulence - up to 2,000 jobs on the line as studio shutdowns loom With the Supreme Court's approval, the Trump administration has incorporated deportations to non-origin nations into its immigration this month, Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States and the Justice Department was directed to free him from Tennessee prison pending trial, as per a Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw stated that Abrego Garcia is likely to be deported to his native El Salvador. Abrego Garcia entered a not guilty plea to charges of smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States. At the DOJ's civil division, Jonathan Guynn, deputy assistant attorney general, told the court on Thursday, "Our plan is that he will be taken into ICE custody and removal proceedings will be initiated," according to NOTUS. "To El Salvador or a third country?" Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District inquired. "To a third country is my understanding," he Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Abrego Garcia will never go free on American for Abrego Garcia expressed concern that he might be released from Tennessee on Friday and then taken away over the weekend by Immigration and Customs the call on Thursday, Guynn informed the judge that "there's no timeline." He declared, "We do intend to abide by the orders we have received from this court and other courts." "However, there is no schedule for these particular proceedings."In a hurried conference call with U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis and Abrego Garcia's lawyers in Greenbelt, Maryland, Guynn acknowledged the government's plans. In order to prevent deportation before trial, Abrego Garcia's attorneys had submitted an urgent request to Xinis, asking him to direct the government to transport him to Maryland upon his release from Tennessee, as per a report by The isn't Abrego Garcia deported to El Salvador?The administration intends to deport him to a third country, though it has not specified which. Is there a timeline for his deportation? No. Officials say there are no imminent plans, but removal proceedings have begun.
NDTV
35 minutes ago
- NDTV
What Iran's Khamenei Said On Trump's "Surrender" Remark
Tehran: Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has strongly criticised US President Donald Trump's call for Iran's surrender, describing it as "too big to come out of his mouth." "The US President stated, "Iran must surrender." Needless to say, this statement is too big to come out of the US president's mouth," Khamenei wrote on X. The US President stated, "Iran must surrender." Needless to say, this statement is too big to come out of the US president's mouth. — (@khamenei_ir) June 26, 2025 According to The Hill, he said that the US "achieved nothing" from its military strikes on his nation and warned against any further attacks. In his first public remarks since the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday, Khamenei declared victory in the conflict and pushed back on President Trump's claims that the strikes were a "spectacular military success." "My congratulations on our dear Iran's victory over the US regime. The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn't, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed," Khamenei said in his more-than 10 minute address, according to a translated passage posted to his account on the social platform X. "It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing," he added. Trump has said that the strikes "obliterated Iran's nuclear program," but the Iranian supreme leader pushed back on that assessment. Recently, Trump shared a post on his social media, Truth Social, saying "Unconditional surrender" Trump warned that he could order further action if Tehran does not agree to a satisfactory peace agreement. In his address to the nation from the White House on Saturday (local time), Trump said, "There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we've witnessed over the last eight days." "This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill," Trump added. The conflict between Iran and Israel began on June 13 when Israel launched a large-scale airstrike targeting Iranian military and nuclear facilities under "Operation Rising Lion". Iran responded by launching "Operation True Promise 3", a campaign involving missile and drone attacks against Israel's infrastructure.
