DrunkEngineer

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has disbanded two expert committees that worked with the government to produce economic statistics, potentially affecting the quality of data.

The terminations by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were effective February 28 and communicated on Tuesday via email to one of the panels, the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC), which assisted with inflation and employment gross domestic product (GDP) data.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a prominent Republican congresswoman and a staunch ally of Trump, suggested a return to "measles parties" for children. She criticized contemporary attitudes towards vaccination, stating, "Now, they demonize parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids."

A transport ministry Railway Bureau representative said the project was needed because the existing eastern rail line struggles to meet demand during peak hours. They also said road traffic between Taipei and Yilan has increased significantly since National Highway Five opened, and congestion on holidays is particularly bad.

Rights advocates raised alarm, including free speech concerns, on Thursday after it was reported that the U.S. State Department will use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who it perceives as supporters of Palestinian Hamas militants.

Axios cited senior State Department officials to report that an AI-fueled "Catch and Revoke" effort will include AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts.

The Liberal government announced in early 2023, that it would purchase 88 F-35s in a project costing $19 billion. DND officials also confirmed the full life-cycle cost for the F-35 project would eventually tally $70 billion.

The first of Canada’s F-35s will be first delivered to a U.S. military base in 2026 and then into Canada in 2028. Canada plans to operate the aircraft until 2060.

In recent days, some Canadians have voiced concerns online that the U.S. has installed a specialized kill switch that could disable the Royal Canadian Air Force’s F-35 fleet.

DND spokesperson Kened Sadiku said no such switch exists on the aircraft, but he did acknowledge that the U.S. is in charge of both software and hardware upgrades for the planes.

Two new 10.6km tunnels are the centrepiece of the preferred $US 7.66bn proposal to redevelop the city centre station.

The existing station is entirely at-grade and served by both mainline and regional services.

CZECH infrastructure manager SŽ has presented the results of a feasibility study into the potential redevelopment of Prague's main station. Of three possible options, the Ministry of Transport says it favours the construction of a two-storey underground station beneath the existing site that will be served by two new 10.6km double-track tunnels.

The tunnels will run from Prague-Vršovice to Negrelliho viaduct and Prague-Smíchov - Prague-Libeň, intersecting on separate levels at the redeveloped main station. Each tunnel will have capacity for 16 trains per hour, and will separate local from long-distance services. New underground stations will be built along the route at Karlín, Wenceslas Square and Karlovo Square as well as a partially underground station at Florenc.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn.

Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the U.S. economy’s health.

Alstom has been selected to supply a further 12 high speed trainsets to support the extension of the Tanger – Kénitra high speed line to Casablanca and Marrakech. There are options for six more trainsets.

This railway will reduce travel time between Istanbul and Bulgaria, benefiting both passengers and freight services. It serves as a vital link between Europe and Asia, enhancing regional trade.

Currently, the railway accommodates 600,000 passengers annually, but this figure will rise significantly. By 2028, the number of passengers is projected to reach 3.4 million annually.

Serbia was supposed to abstain from voting on the Ukrainian resolution, Vucic said.

"I believe that Serbia made a mistake today. I apologize to the citizens of Serbia for that, and I take the blame for that because I was probably tired and overwhelmed," he said. "I didn't have time to deal with this (issue) enough, maybe I'm too tired, maybe I have too many things (to deal with)."

Designed for a maximum speed of 350km/h, the new line will have more than 30 bridges and viaducts and a 2km tunnel. Upon completion, the Seville - Huelva journey time will be cut from 1h 30min at present to 30 minutes, including a stop at the line’s only intermediate station at La Palma del Condado.