Black Swift Technologies & NOAA Validate Multi-UAS Hurricane Sensing
Black Swift Technologies, in partnership with NOAA, completed the first simultaneous multi‑UAS sampling from a crewed hurricane aircraft, deploying two S0 drones from a WP‑3D Orion. The operator controlled both platforms through a mission‑level interface, allowing the drones to hover 20‑30 feet above the sea for up to two hours and collect continuous pressure, temperature and humidity data. The flights validated a 247‑mile communication link and deconfliction protocols, proving the system ready for larger swarms. This marks a transition from single‑point dropsonde measurements to persistent, high‑resolution sensing of the hurricane boundary layer.
Commission Preliminarily Finds Meta in Breach of Digital Services Act for Failing to Prevent Minors Under 13 From Using Instagram...
The European Commission has issued a preliminary finding that Meta’s Instagram and Facebook violate the Digital Services Act by not adequately preventing children under 13 from accessing the platforms. Although Meta’s terms set the minimum age at 13, the current...
Calls to Revive Jersey Driverless Car Plans
Jersey’s government shelved draft driverless‑car legislation after spending roughly £35,000‑£40,000 (about $45,000‑$51,000) on its development. EVie, an electric‑car‑hire firm, is urging officials to adopt a policy that permits autonomous‑vehicle trials to generate safety and usage data. Environmental advocates argue that...
SP Mobility, ComfortDelGro Engie Bag Contracts to Deploy EV Fast-Charging Hubs in HDB Towns
Singapore’s Land Transport Authority subsidiary EVe awarded contracts to SP Mobility and ComfortDelGro Engie to install eight electric‑vehicle fast‑charging hubs across HDB towns. Each site will host six to eight 50 kW fast chargers, with one location also offering three 7.4 kW...
Former FCA Interim CEO to Lead Government Digital Markets Efforts
The UK government has created a Wholesale Digital Markets Champion role to accelerate tokenised wholesale finance and modernise payments regulation. Chris Woolard, former interim FCA chief and EY partner, will lead the effort, fostering public‑private collaboration. A £1 million (≈$1.25 million) grant...
NHS England Simplifies the Digital Estate
NHS England is extending its public‑facing design system to cover staff‑oriented digital services, adding new components rather than building a separate internal framework. The update introduces an account header, smaller checkboxes, notification banners, pagination, interruption pages, and a file‑upload widget....
Liverpool Rolls Out AI Welcome Mat to Open Spectators
Liverpool City Region’s Combined Authority, together with Sum Vivas, has installed an AI‑powered terminal called Jimmy at Southport station for The Open Golf Championship. The avatar greets visitors in 99 languages, automatically switching to the language spoken to the user....
Hong Kong Expands Charging Infrastructure Planning for Electric Public Transport
Hong Kong’s government announced expanded charging infrastructure guidelines for electric public transport, requiring new transport interchanges to reserve space and power for fast chargers. The first interchange with ten 100 kW+ chargers opened in March 2026, supporting up to 21 electric buses...
Hong Kong Outlines Strategy To Accelerate Autonomous Vehicle Development And Trials
Hong Kong’s Transport Department unveiled a comprehensive plan to speed autonomous vehicle (AV) development, moving from pilot projects toward commercial services. A dedicated regulatory framework and a new Code of Practice, effective March 2024, set safety, data and insurance standards...
EU Legislators Fail to Clinch Deal to Delay AI Law
European Union legislators could not reach an agreement to postpone key provisions of the Artificial Intelligence Act, leaving the high‑risk AI rules slated to take effect in August 2024 unchanged. The deadlock centered on a German‑backed proposal to exempt industrial...
Thailand Pilots ‘Zero Burn to Earn’ Model Turning Farm Waste Into Renewable Energy
Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation has launched the PMUC Zero Burn to Earn pilot, beginning 5 May 2026 in Chiang Mai. The program swaps crop residues for farm equipment and renewable‑energy inputs, creating a market for agricultural waste. Pilot...
Hong Kong Mandates Electronic Payment Options in Taxis to Improve Passenger Convenience
Hong Kong’s Transport Department has mandated that all 46,000 licensed taxis offer at least two electronic payment options—one QR‑code based (e.g., Alipay, WeChat Pay) and one non‑QR method such as Octopus or credit cards—effective 1 April 2026. The rule aims to streamline...
Solar Scheme May Push Induction Cooktops Amid Energy Disruptions
India is evaluating a support package for induction cooktops under the PM Suryaghar Muft Bijli Yojana, prompted by energy market disruptions linked to the Iran war. The plan seeks to shift households away from the nation’s 320 million LPG connections toward solar‑powered electric cooking. Policy...
Davinia Simon Joins Databricks as A/NZ Public Sector Lead
Databricks has appointed Davinia Simon as the public‑sector lead for Australia and New Zealand, tasked with shaping the company’s regional government strategy. Simon will target agencies in New South Wales and Queensland, driving data‑platform modernization, advanced analytics and AI‑enabled services. Her two‑decade track...
Digital Sovereignty: Why Control, Continuity, and Lawful Authority Matter for Canada’s Data Future
ThinkOn CEO Craig McLellan discussed digital sovereignty on CGE Radio, emphasizing the need for Canadian firms to retain control, continuity, and lawful authority over their data. He warned that reliance on global hyperscalers such as AWS and Azure can expose...
UK Set To Join Australia In Booting U16s Off Social Media
The UK government announced plans to restrict or ban social‑media access for children under 16, following Australia’s December 2025 rollout. Education Minister Olivia Bailey told Parliament that a public consultation launched in March will shape the mechanism, after the House of Lords...
Scoop: White House Workshops Plan to Bring Back Anthropic
The White House is drafting an executive action that would let federal agencies bypass the supply‑chain risk label placed on Anthropic, opening the door to its newest model, Mythos. Senior officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary...
AI Governance Lagging
At the Govt Cybersecurity & AI 2026 conference in Canberra, experts warned that AI governance in the public sector is still nascent and struggling to keep pace with rapid model evolution. Delegates highlighted the difficulty of aligning slow government procurement...
Government Spends £60k on Podcast Promotion for Digital ID Consultation
The UK government has allocated £62,817 (≈$80,000) to promote its digital identity public consultation via podcast ads on Acast and Audioboom. The 12‑week campaign runs until 5 May, aiming to broaden participation beyond traditional media channels. Minister James Frith emphasized that...
Whitehall Chips in as Digital Inclusion Drive Nets Thousands of Devices
The UK’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan has delivered 22,000 refurbished laptops and tablets to community centres, homelessness charities, and individuals in under a year. The effort is coordinated by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) together with the...
Fraud without a Breach: The Emerging Risk in Digital Government Programs
Governments are confronting a new wave of fraud that bypasses traditional cybersecurity defenses, as providers exploit digital claim‑submission platforms to bill for services that never occurred. In the United States, childcare subsidy programs have lost billions of dollars through falsified...
Improving Access to Essential Medicines via Decision-Aware Machine Learning
A new wave of decision‑aware machine‑learning models is being applied to pharmaceutical supply chains in low‑income regions, blending demand forecasts with inventory and distribution constraints. Early pilots in Zambia and Rwanda report up to a 30% reduction in stock‑outs and...
HTX and ST Engineering Launch Space Tech Program for Singapore Public Safety
Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and ST Engineering signed a five‑year MoU to launch a dedicated public‑safety satellite, Xplorer, slated for a 2029 launch. The 100‑kg spacecraft will orbit near the equator, delivering high‑revisit coverage for the...
Army’s Project ARIA Seeks to Accelerate AI Adoption Across the Force
The U.S. Army launched Project ARIA to fast‑track artificial‑intelligence integration across its force. The initiative focuses on three thrusts: a “model armory” that delivers AI tools to soldiers at the tactical edge, automating the Planning‑Programming‑Budgeting‑Execution (PPBE) process, and building a...
How Tech Can Bridge Gaps in Rural Healthcare Data Struggles
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is pushing technology to cut costs and improve care in rural America. A new ONC mandate requires electronic health records to show prescription benefit information, giving patients price transparency at the...
What Travelers Need to Know About the EU’s New Biometric Border Checks
The EU’s Entry/Exit System (E.E.S.) launched this month, requiring biometric data—fingerprints and facial photos—at all Schengen border points. The rollout across 29 Schengen countries has triggered hours‑long queues at airports such as Milan, Paris and Amsterdam. Officials say the system...
Building Cyber Resilience Through Zero Trust in the Public Sector
Public sector agencies are prime cyber‑crime targets, prompting governments to replace perimeter defenses with identity‑led Zero Trust models. In Australia, Zero Trust is codified in the 2025 Protective Security Policy Framework and reinforced by state strategies such as NSW’s 2026‑2028...
AI Strategy Pillars, New SMB Procurement Program Revealed in Canada’s Spring Economic Update
Canada’s Spring Economic Update unveiled six pillars for a forthcoming national AI strategy, emphasizing privacy safeguards, AI training, SME adoption, sovereign compute infrastructure, growth capital for Canadian champions, and international standards cooperation. The update also announced a Small and Medium...
Federal Drawdown of Election Support ‘Destroyed’ Ongoing Relationships, Experts Say
Federal efforts under President Trump to scale back the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have stripped election‑security staff, halted disinformation teams and eliminated the agency’s election program in the FY 2027 budget proposal. State officials in Michigan and Georgia testified...
Exclusive: OpenAI, Anthropic Meet with House Homeland Security Behind Closed Doors on Cyber Threats
OpenAI and Anthropic briefed the House Homeland Security Committee staff in classified sessions about their new cyber‑capable AI models—OpenAI’s tiered‑release GPT‑5.4‑Cyber and Anthropic’s Mythos Preview, which remains unreleased due to exploit risks. Both firms are granting federal agencies direct access...
Spy Agency Officials Say Job Loss Anxiety, Moving Fast ‘Safely’ Among Top Challenges in AI Workforce Overhaul
The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) is launching a three‑to‑five‑year AI transformation, aiming to embed agentic AI into secure decision‑making while preserving core intelligence methods. Agency leaders stress moving fast enough to stay ahead of adversaries such as Russia and...
Pentagon AI Chief Confirms DOD's Expanded Use of Google, Says Reliance on One Model 'Never a Good Thing'
The Pentagon’s chief digital and AI officer, Cameron Stanley, confirmed that the Department of Defense is expanding its use of Google’s Gemini model for classified projects, following the recent removal of Anthropic from DOD contracts. The move reflects a broader...
South Africa Used AI to Write Its AI Policy. The Citations Were Fake.
South Africa’s Communications Minister Solly Malatsi withdrew the draft national AI policy after News24 uncovered six fabricated academic citations among its 67 references. The policy, approved by Cabinet in March and released for public comment in April, proposed a multi‑regulator...
Shift to SSI Could Preserve Security of India’s Digital Ecosystem at Scale
The Data Security Council of India and the Digi Yatra Foundation released a joint paper urging a shift to self‑sovereign identity (SSI) for India’s digital ecosystem. It argues that centralized identity systems like Aadhaar are straining under scale, privacy expectations,...
Google Signed the Pentagon’s Classified AI Deal and Walked Away From Its Drone Swarm Contest on the Same Day.
Google confirmed a classified contract that gives the Pentagon API access to its Gemini AI models for any lawful government purpose, despite a petition signed by more than 580 employees urging the company to refuse. The agreement includes advisory guardrails...
NOAA Relies on Cloud Computing to Evolve Hurricane Predictions
NOAA’s Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) has moved to cloud infrastructure, leveraging Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure to run multiple predictive models concurrently. The shift enables the Climate Prediction Center to process more data faster, improving forecast accuracy...
Federal CIO Cautious on Anthropic’s Mythos Despite Planned Rollout
Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia said the government will proceed with a measured rollout of Anthropic’s Mythos AI model, noting its promise for bolstering cyber defenses while emphasizing lingering uncertainties about real‑world performance. He has only seen lab‑based evaluations and no...
Elsight’s Halo, Its BLOS (Beyond Line-of-Sight) Connectivity Platform, Is Now Certified on the U.S. DCMA Blue UAS List, Enabling Faster...
Elsight's Halo beyond‑line‑of‑sight (BLOS) connectivity platform has been certified on the U.S. Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Blue UAS List, confirming it meets the department’s rigorous supply‑chain and cybersecurity standards. The certification lets U.S. military units procure Halo directly through...
Police Are Using AI Camera Networks to Stalk Women
Police departments nationwide are exploiting automated license‑plate readers (ALPRs) to stalk romantic partners and strangers, with at least 14 documented cases since 2024. The surge follows Flock Safety’s rapid expansion to over 6,000 U.S. cities and 76,000 readers, despite the...
Preparing for Major Events: NUSTL Field Guidance for C-UAS Planning
The Department of Homeland Security’s National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) released new field guidance to help agencies place counter‑unmanned aircraft systems (C‑UAS) sensors for upcoming large‑scale events such as the FIFA World Cup and America250. The guidance was field‑tested...
Schools Have Another Year to Make Websites Accessible. Why That Matters
The U.S. Department of Justice has pushed back the deadline for school districts to meet new web‑accessibility regulations until 2028, extending the original 2027 target for smaller agencies. The rule, issued under Title II of the ADA, mandates compliance with WCAG 2.0...
US Bill Would Require Warrants for Digital Surveillance, Biometric Searches
The House introduced the Surveillance Accountability Act (H.R. 8470), a bipartisan bill that would require a warrant for virtually all government searches of digital and biometric data, including facial recognition, license‑plate readers, cloud storage, and data‑broker records. The legislation amends...
Drone Pilot Makes US Rescind No-Fly Zones Around Unmarked, Moving ICE Vehicles
After a series of protests in Minneapolis, the FAA issued a sweeping temporary flight restriction in January 2026 that barred drones from flying within 3,000 feet laterally and 1,000 feet vertically of any moving Department of Homeland Security vehicle, even if unmarked....
Massachusetts Police Share Fingerprint Data with ICE Despite Limits, Report Says
A Citizens for Juvenile Justice report reveals Massachusetts police, sheriffs, and courts continue to transmit fingerprint data and other records to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite the 2017 Lunn v. Commonwealth decision limiting civil detainer arrests. The 49‑page study, based...
Bloomberg Philanthropies and Johns Hopkins University Launch Mayors AI Forum at CityLab
Bloomberg Philanthropies and Johns Hopkins University announced the Mayors AI Forum at the Bloomberg CityLab 2026 summit in Madrid. The initiative gathers forward‑thinking mayors from cities such as Bogotá, Boston, London, and Tokyo to demonstrate responsible AI deployment in public...
Army Sets Industry Day for High-Performance Computing Recompete
The Army Corps of Engineers announced an industry day on June 24‑25 to launch the High Performance Modernization Computing Program‑Unrestricted III (HITS‑UIII), the next iteration of its high‑performance computing support contract. BAE Systems, the incumbent from the HITS‑UII award, has already had...
New Bill Would Autofill Tax Forms
Rep. Bill Foster (D‑Illinois) introduced the “Autofill Act,” a bill that would let taxpayers download tax forms already filled with data the IRS receives from employers, the Social Security Administration and financial institutions. The pre‑populated forms would be available both...
Capito Bill Tightens FCC Vetting of Broadband Providers
Congress approved the Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025, directing the FCC to vet broadband providers before awarding high‑cost universal service funds. The FCC must issue a rulemaking within 180 days requiring applicants to demonstrate technical, financial and operational capability...
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass To Speed Up Permits After Meeting With Trump
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed an executive order to overhaul the city’s building‑permit process, a move prompted by a recent meeting with President Donald Trump who criticized LA’s slow post‑wildfire rebuilding. The order introduces artificial‑intelligence review, expands pre‑approved housing...
Drones Join Police Helicopters in Los Angeles’ Skies
The Los Angeles Police Department deployed drones more than 3,500 times in 2024, with half arriving before officers and helping cancel unnecessary units. A $1.2 million donation will fund an expansion from nine to 24 drones, adding launch pads across five...