Secures FCC Conditional Approval to Deploy Autonomous Drones for U.S. Electricity Grids
sees.ai has secured conditional approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to operate its centrally controlled autonomous drones for close‑quarter inspection of high‑voltage electricity infrastructure. The approval, granted under the FCC’s new Conditional Approval pathway, validates the company’s security and supply‑chain safeguards, allowing deployment across transmission and distribution networks. The drones deliver engineering‑grade inspection data at scale, helping utilities address aging assets, rising demand and grid resilience challenges. The move positions sees.ai as one of the first firms cleared for such operations in the United States.
Austin Breaks Ground on $1.5B Walnut Creek WWTP Expansion
Austin broke ground on a $1.5 billion expansion of the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, boosting capacity from 75 MGD to 100 MGD. The upgrade adds advanced nutrient removal, UV disinfection, odor control and a flood wall while keeping the plant fully operational....
North Dakota Regulators Can’t Help Blumenthal on Data Center Oversight
Senator Richard Blumenthal asked state utility regulators for data‑center nondisclosure agreements, but the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) said it does not regulate such facilities and can provide only limited information. The PSC is reviewing a $110 million power project...
Palantir Issues Ominous Corporate Manifesto
Palantir released a 22‑point Twitter summary of its 320‑page corporate manifesto, sparking outrage over its hard‑line, anti‑woke worldview. The document calls for universal national service, prioritizes hard power over moral appeal, and envisions a software‑driven world order. Critics, including philosophers...
After Watchdog Slams Understaffing, AI to Vet Pentagon-Backed Professors’ China Ties
The Pentagon’s Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency disclosed that only two staff members were tasked with vetting roughly 27,000 defense‑funded research awards for foreign influence, prompting the department to roll out artificial‑intelligence tools to screen academics for ties to China....
USDA Seeks to Cut ReConnect Rural Broadband Grant Program
The USDA’s proposed 2027 budget includes a 19% cut to discretionary spending and would eliminate the agency’s ReConnect rural broadband grant program, canceling roughly $40 million in unobligated balances. ReConnect has been a primary source of funding for construction, upgrades, and...
We Can’t Trust Palantir with Our NHS Data
Palantir Technologies UK secured a data‑analytics contract with the NHS valued at roughly $15 billion over two years, promising faster cancer diagnoses and reduced discharge delays. Critics highlight that private firms have already earned about $2 billion in profit from NHS contracts,...
These States Will Let Your iPhone Be Your Driver's License
Apple is expanding its Apple Wallet to store driver’s licenses and state IDs, a feature now available in roughly half a dozen states and territories. Users need an iPhone 8 or newer, Face ID or Touch ID, two‑factor authentication, and the latest iOS,...
US Security Agency Leverages Claude Mythos Despite Pentagon Blacklist
The National Security Agency has begun using Anthropic’s new Claude Mythos Preview model despite a Pentagon‑issued supply‑chain risk designation on the company. Mythos, announced on April 7, is a general‑purpose LLM tuned for cyber‑exploit identification and is currently being rolled out under the...
Amid Rule Delay, Website Accessibility Must Be ‘Ongoing Practice,’ Leaders Say
The U.S. Department of Justice has granted state and local governments an extra year to meet the web accessibility rule under Title II of the ADA, moving the deadline for jurisdictions with over 50,000 residents to April 26, 2027 and for smaller entities...
Conn. Officials Pause Statewide LE Usage of AI Report-Writing Software
Connecticut prosecutors and police chiefs have placed a statewide moratorium on AI‑powered police report‑writing tools, pausing their use until thorough testing and clear rules are established. The move follows high‑profile AI errors, such as a Utah body‑cam incident that generated...
Agencies Urge ‘Trust and Verify’ as Supply Chain Cyber Risks Shift
Federal leaders at the CyberScape summit urged agencies to adopt a continuous "trust and verify" approach to supply‑chain cybersecurity. They highlighted a visibility gap, noting that 60‑65% of Defense Logistics Agency partners are small businesses with limited cyber budgets. Officials...
Europe Awards €180m in "Sovereign" Cloud Contracts, Touts SEAL Levels
The European Commission has awarded a €180 million (≈$156 million) contract to four cloud providers from Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg to deliver sovereign cloud services for EU institutions. The deal is part of a broader push for data‑sovereignty across the bloc,...
Flemish Transport Agency Deploys Its 1,000th Electric Bus
Flemish transport agency De Lijn has deployed its 1,000th electric bus, marking a milestone in its transition from diesel. In 2025 the agency ordered over 650 e‑buses and aims for 3,800 electric buses by 2035, supported by a €400 million ($436 million)...
Federal Agencies Navigate Tradeoffs Between AI Speed, Security
Federal agencies are accelerating AI deployments to improve mission outcomes, but they must navigate stringent security, data‑privacy, and governance constraints. The USDA leveraged AI and NASA’s NAIP imagery to map poultry farms and predict avian‑flu hotspots, enabling targeted inspections that...
GSA No. 2 Talks ‘Million Hours Challenge,’ Scaling Agency AI Efforts
The General Services Administration (GSA) is pursuing its Eliminate, Optimize and Automate (EOA) playbook to automate one million work hours by leveraging AI and intelligent automation. Deputy Administrator Michael Lynch said the agency has already identified 400,000 low‑value hours to...
Massachusetts Senate Considers DER Peak Reduction Mandate to Curb Grid Costs
The Massachusetts Senate is drafting a climate omnibus bill that could impose a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Peak Reduction Standard on investor‑owned utilities. The mandate would require utilities to meet capacity targets by dispatching customer‑sited solar and storage, creating a...
Election Officials Left in Limbo as State Leaders Contemplate Next Steps for Ballot QR Codes
Georgia’s 2024 law prohibits using QR codes on ballots after July 1, yet the legislature failed to allocate funds or extend the deadline, leaving counties without a clear path forward. Governor Brian Kemp may convene a special session, but timing conflicts...
Everbridge Advances High Velocity CEM™ with Dynamically Adaptive Resilience
Everbridge unveiled an upgraded High Velocity Critical Event Management (CEM) platform that adds a dynamically adaptive resilience layer. The solution blends AI‑driven automation with human oversight to detect risk across cyber, physical, operational and geopolitical domains. Customers report up to...
Cyberattack at French Identity Document Agency May Have Exposed Personal Data
France’s National Agency for Secure Documents (ANTS) suffered a cyberattack on its portal that manages passports, ID cards, residence permits and driver’s licences. The breach, detected on April 15, may have exposed login credentials, names, email addresses, dates of birth and...
France, Poland Combine on Telco Satellite Defence Project
France’s Thales Alenia Space, Poland’s Radmor and Airbus Defence and Space have signed an agreement to build a geostationary telecommunications defence satellite for the Polish Ministry of Defence. The satellite will deliver secure, cyber‑hardened communications and anti‑jamming capabilities, enhancing Poland’s...
Two Fixes, One Lifeline: What Congress Must Do to Strengthen 911 in Every Community
America’s 911 system, a critical public‑safety lifeline, is strained by outdated technology and workforce misclassification. Most call centers still run landline‑era systems that cannot handle texts, photos, video, or medical data, and they lack cyber‑resilience. A $15 billion nationwide upgrade to...
Dronamics Enters Japan and Welcomes Asia Air Survey as Strategic Investor
Dronamics announced a strategic partnership with Japan’s Asia Air Survey, which is investing through its corporate venture arm and becoming the first Japanese shareholder. The deal includes the creation of Dronamics Japan Holdings to commercialize the Black Swan drone in Japan and...
What Is Configuration Drift, and How Can Governments Manage It?
Configuration drift—unintended divergence from approved cloud baselines—is emerging as a top security risk for state and local governments adopting hybrid and multicloud environments. The drift stems from manual tweaks, rapid automated updates, and fragmented governance across diverse platforms. IBM’s CTO...
Stuck in Traffic: How to Get the Urban Mobility Dream Moving
Arthur D. Little’s "Future of Mobility 5.0" study finds private cars still dominate urban travel, accounting for roughly 70 % of miles, and proposes eight high‑impact solutions to double the share of sustainable mobility to about 60 % within a decade. The roadmap...
Why the Axios Attack Proves AI Is Mandatory for Supply Chain Security
Two weeks ago a suspected North Korean group injected malicious code into the widely used Axios JavaScript library, which averages about 100 million weekly downloads across enterprises, startups and government agencies. An Elastic researcher identified the compromise within minutes using an...
The CAPE Tariff Refund System Is Here. Is Your Global Trade Team Ready?
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system on April 20 to electronically refund $166 billion in tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court. The platform will serve more than 330,000 importers and...
Planning for Cyber Defense of Critical Urban Infrastructure
Cybersecurity for critical urban infrastructure has become a public‑safety priority as ransomware attacks increasingly target city services, especially water and transportation systems. Attackers exploit phishing and weak user credentials, often encrypting data and demanding cryptocurrency payments. Municipalities frequently lack robust...
Top ICT Tenders: RTMC Looks to Panel for IT Needs
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has launched a three‑year invitation for vendors to join an IT services panel, with an optional two‑year extension. The panel will provide hardware, software, support and maintenance for RTMC’s 1,500 staff and the National...
US, California Use Purchasing Power to Set AI Rules
The White House’s General Services Administration issued AI procurement rules that require U.S.-made systems and forbid using government data to train other models, while California’s governor signed an executive order demanding bias safeguards and civil‑rights protections for AI vendors. The...
The Philippine Government Seeks Concrete Action From Meta on Disinformation, Threatens Regulatory Crackdown
The Philippine government warned Meta that its response to a joint request on disinformation was inadequate. The Department of Information and Communications Technology, together with the DOJ and the Presidential Communications Office, demanded clear, binding, time‑bound actions to curb false...
UK.gov Kicks Off Half-a-Billion Quid Sovereign AI Venture with £80M Invite
The UK government has opened an £80 million ($100 million) AI procurement programme, drawing on a £500 million ($625 million) sovereign capability fund. The initiative will invite tech firms to compete for contracts of up to £5 million ($6.25 million) each, starting as early as July...
Pilot Blocks More than 2 Million Phishing Attempts
The Dutch Anti‑Phishing Shield pilot, launched in July 2025, has blocked more than 2 million phishing attempts. Phishing accounts for 91% of cyber attacks, contributing to 25 million victims in the Netherlands. The initiative unites telecoms, broadband operators, police, the Dutch Banking Association...
UNESCO Launches the Observatory on Artificial Intelligence in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean
UNESCO inaugurated the Observatory on Artificial Intelligence in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean on April 14, positioning it as the region’s first multi‑stakeholder platform to guide AI integration in schools. The observatory will deliver data, policy recommendations, and...
DVLA Reveals AI-Powered Automated Contact Centre Agent Has Cut Call Times Significantly
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has replaced its old touchtone menu with an AI‑powered interactive voice response system built on Google Dialogflow and Content Guru’s Storm platform. The natural‑language IVR now handles roughly 900,000 monthly callers across licensing,...
Germany Sets up ERTMS Coordination Office
Germany announced the creation of an ERTMS Coordination Office to accelerate the rollout of the European Rail Traffic Management System and its train control component ETCS across both trackside and onboard equipment. The office will serve as a single point...
New Wits-Built App to Warn South Africans of Pollution Spikes
Scientists at the University of Witwatersrand have built South Africa’s first real‑time air‑quality alert app, SACAQM, to warn Johannesburg residents of sudden pollution spikes. The app pulls data from hundreds of monitoring stations and pushes notifications with protective advice, such...
DWP’s £300m Pensions Dashboard Scheme Commissions Security Review Ahead of Provider Connections
The Department for Work and Pensions’ £300 million (≈ $381 million) Pensions Dashboards Programme has commissioned a £50,000 (≈ $63,500) security review as it approaches a six‑month deadline for private‑sector pension providers to connect. Leeds‑based cyber consultancy tmc3 will assess the security of the...
One Login: GDS to Create ‘Easily Digestible Version’ of Privacy Impact Report
The UK Government Digital Service (GDS) announced it will publish an "easily digestible" version of the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for the GOV.UK One Login by the end of 2026, though the full unedited report is unlikely to be...
NCSC Outlines Coordinated Plan to Boost NHS Cyber Resilience
The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) unveiled a coordinated plan to strengthen cyber resilience across the NHS, built on 18 months of government‑industry collaboration. The strategy pivots on five pillars, including the Active Cyber Defence 2.0 pilot, software‑supply‑chain hardening,...
Growing AI Power Slurpage Prompts MPs to Examine Low-Energy Computing
British MPs have launched a short‑term inquiry into low‑energy computing to curb the soaring electricity demand of AI‑driven datacentres. The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee is examining emerging chip designs such as neuromorphic computing and silicon photonics, which promise far...
Tiny North Carolina Town Takes a Big Step Toward Geothermal Energy
Enfield, North Carolina secured a $300,000 seed grant to launch a shallow‑geothermal thermal energy network that will heat, cool and provide hot water to a new 34‑unit affordable‑housing development. The pilot is part of a larger $5 million plan to eventually...
Echodyne Named as Radar System for Trust Automation’s $490M Air Force Counter-UAS Engineering Contract
Echodyne announced that its EchoShield radar will serve as the primary sensor in Trust Automation’s Small‑Unmanned Air Defense System (SUADS) platforms for a U.S. Air Force IDIQ contract valued at $490 million. The contract covers three variants—rapid‑deployable, fixed‑site, and expeditionary SUADS—each...
Three Major Japanese Financial Institutions Tap Canton to Bring Government Bonds On-Chain
Mizuho Financial Group, Nomura Holdings and Japan Securities Clearing Corporation have launched a joint proof‑of‑concept with Digital Asset’s Canton Network to manage Japanese Government Bond (JGB) collateral on‑chain. The initiative, backed by the Financial Services Agency’s Payment Innovation Project, aims...
Prisons Pledged £82 Million Digital Modernisation
The UK government has committed roughly $103 million (£82 million) to a digital overhaul of its prison system aimed at eliminating accidental releases. Central to the plan is the Justice ID platform, which will use fingerprints and facial recognition to track offenders...
Sovereign AI Gains Ground in Asia as Control, Compliance, Infrastructure Collide
Sovereign AI is moving from policy talk to concrete actions across Asia, with India funding domestic GPU capacity and a national data platform, Singapore supporting a multilingual regional model, and Vietnam and South Korea tightening data‑control regulations. Enterprises see reliance...
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Germany's Merz Says Industrial AI Needs Less Stringent EU Regulation
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for the European Union to ease regulatory constraints on industrial artificial intelligence, arguing that the current AI Act is too restrictive for manufacturing applications. He pledged to push for exemptions that would allow AI to boost...
Don't Debate Digital ID, Trial It - the Isle of Wight Could Settle the Argument
The piece urges the UK to run a voluntary digital‑identity pilot on the Isle of Wight, a self‑contained community of about 140,000 residents, before any national rollout. Past attempts such as Gov.uk Verify burned roughly £220 m (≈$280 m) with little impact,...
Vahan Portal Transition Triggers Vehicle Registration Delays in State
The Telangana Transport Department’s rollout of the Vahan portal, built by the National Informatics Centre, has sparked complaints of prolonged vehicle registration delays, with some applicants waiting up to 20 days for permanent numbers. While temporary registration services have been...
Odisha Rail Projects Worth ₹90,000 Crore Underway, Says Ashwini Vaishnaw
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that rail projects worth ₹90,000 crore (about $10.8 billion) are under execution across Odisha, backed by a record railway budget allocation of ₹10,928 crore (≈$1.3 billion). The plan includes redeveloping 59 stations under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme and...