US govt paid Reuters for ‘social deception’ – Musk

Co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk.
©Apu Gomes/Getty Images

A subsidiary of Reuters has received millions in US government funding for “large scale social deception” projects, Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has claimed.

In a post on Thursday, Musk weighed in on data from the website USAspending.gov stating that Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, had contracts with government agencies.

One of the publicly available documents stipulated that the US Department of Defense had committed more than $9 million on two projects called Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) and Large Scale Social Deception (LSD).

Commenting on the document, Musk wrote: “Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for ‘large scale social deception’. That is literally what it says on the purchase order! They’re a total scam. Just wow.”

According to the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the ASEAD program aims to develop automated defenses against social engineering attacks, which could involve deceptive tactics to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information. Neither the Pentagon nor USAspending.gov elaborates on the purpose of the program, but both LSD and ASEAD are listed as activities within the realm of engineering and research and development.

Reuters was awarded another Pentagon contract that provides the Department of Defense with unidentified advanced development services. The agency has also received around $500,000 from the State Department for access to news services.

Both Musk and US President Donald Trump have vowed to fight corruption and wasteful spending in the US government. In light of this, several federal agencies have terminated contracts totaling $8 million with Politico magazine following Musk’s criticism of these agreements as a “wasteful” use of taxpayer funds.

Trump has also suggested that billions of dollars have been misappropriated within agencies such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary agency for funding political projects abroad, to pay for favorable media coverage of Democrats. The claim was rejected by several US media outlets, including Politico and the Associated Press.

French SCALP missile deactivated and destroyed in Kursk Region - Military operation in Ukraine

©Russian Emergencies Ministry/TASS

A French-made SCALP missile was deactivated in Russia’s borderline Kursk Region, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.

"Russian emergencies ministry’s bomb specialists neutralized a French-made SCALP cruise missile. Before deactivating and destroying the missile, the sappers surveyed the area with the use of drones to ensure that there was no one in the vicinity. After that, the missile was deactivated and its warhead was blown up on the site," it said.

Since August 2024, Russian emergencies ministry specialists have neutralized around 2,000 explosive objects in nearly 300 locations.

Russian drone reduces Ukrainian armored vehicle to burned-out wreck

©Russian Ministry of Defense

The Russian Defense Ministry has showcased a first-person view (FPV) strike against a Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle in a video released on Monday.

The footage shows the interception of the moving military vehicle from several angles, including the robotic aircraft’s perspective. The kamikaze drone targeted a vulnerable section of the vehicle, circumventing the anti-drone shield that protected it from above.

Additional segments filmed from a distance captured a powerful explosion, depicted through thermal imaging and visible light. The armored vehicle was left a charred wreck, with only the lower chassis remaining relatively intact.

The military said a unit from the Zapad force carried out the strike, confirming it took place in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

©Russian Ministry of Defense

In its regular update earlier in the day, the ministry reported ongoing combat near three settlements in the DPR, where Zapad troops had recently engaged. Their operations reportedly led to the destruction of two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, four military vehicles, two artillery pieces, and an electronic warfare station.

Russian forces have been making significant battlefield gains in recent months, while media reports indicate that Ukraine is struggling to achieve its military mobilization goals amid high desertion rates among conscripted recruits.

Last week, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky announced a plan to draft “volunteers” aged 18 to 24 – a group currently exempt from mandatory enlistment. Although existing laws permit these individuals to join the military, Zelensky claimed the government could offer appealing incentives, including generous salaries, to attract more recruits.

Ukrainian draft dodger arrested after pepper-spraying military recruiter

©National police of Ukraine

Ukrainian police have arrested a potential draftee in the northern city of Chernigov after he attacked a recruitment officer with pepper spray to avoid an ID check, officials have said. The incident comes amid Kiev’s struggling mobilization campaign, which has been marred by widespread violence between reluctant recruits and recruitment officers.

In a statement on Monday, local police said they had apprehended a man last week on suspicion of assaulting and threatening a serviceman from the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center, a body tasked with carrying out Kiev’s draft campaign.

According to officials, the 43-year-old “refused to show identification during a routine check, acted aggressively and sprayed the recruiter in the face with pepper spray before fleeing the scene.” The man later barricaded himself in his apartment.

©National police of Ukraine

Police dispatched a patrol and a canine unit to raid the suspect’s home, where they recovered a telescoping baton – which the suspect allegedly used to threaten a recruitment officer – nearly 1kg of cannabis, and approximately 200 rounds of ammunition of various calibers.

The authorities released footage of the raid showing four heavily equipped agents smashing through a flimsy door before using an angle grinder to cut through another, sturdier door into the suspect’s apartment. The man was quickly apprehended and handcuffed, with police showing the camera a large amount of ammunition and drugs.

The suspect has been charged with intentionally causing bodily harm to a public official, illegal possession of narcotics, and illegal handling of weapons and ammunition. The charges carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Ukraine announced general mobilization after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, barring most men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. The campaign has struggled due to widespread draft-dodging and bribery. Faced with manpower shortages, Kiev last year lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and tightened mobilization rules.

In recent months, Ukrainian recruiters have begun to raid public places to hunt for potential conscripts, with social media flooded with videos of violent confrontations between draft officers and would-be conscripts.

Raging battle for key Donbass town - Thek Russia MOD Video

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a compilation video on Saturday, highlighting moments from the five-month battle for the town of Dzerzhinsk.

The town (known as Toretsk in Ukraine) in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) was liberated by Russian troops on Friday.

The video provides a glimpse of urban warfare in the heavily battered town, depicting the intensive use of assorted drones.

The footage features excerpts from various videos taken by surveillance, bomber and first person view (FPV) drones during the battle. It shows the targeting of Ukrainian logistics and personnel, as well as strikes against firing positions set up by Kiev’s troops in high-rise buildings.

Kiev deployed some 40,000 soldiers to defend the town, which had been turned into a heavily fortified stronghold, the Russian military has said. The Ukrainian force stationed in Dzerzhinsk lost around 70% of its personnel in the battle, roughly 26,000 troops, the military added, noting that its garrison included the most motivated hardline nationalist units at Kiev’s disposal.

“Almost every building was turned into a well-equipped and protected long-term firing position. The waste heaps and shafts located in the northern and western parts of the town were used for defense as well,” the Defense Ministry in Moscow stated.

Apart from the liberation of Dzerzhinsk, Moscow announced the capture of two adjacent villages, Druzhba and Krymskoye, with the development apparently signaling that the Russian forces had already established a solid defensive zone around the town.

Control over Dzerzhinsk is expected to alleviate the hardships long-endured by the DPR city of Gorlovka, located a short distance to the southeast of the town. Apart from serving as an important fortified position for Ukrainian troops, the town also served as a key staging point for indiscriminate artillery, missile and drone attacks, which had been endured by Gorlovka on an almost daily basis.

The liberation of Dzerzhinsk now opens the way to Konstantinovka and potentially gives the Russian military room to flank Ukrainian forces concentrated inside and near Kramatorsk, one of the last major Ukrainian-held cities in the DPR.

Footnote:

- MOD : Ministry Of Defence

Google removes ban on weaponizing AI

FILE PHOTO ©Getty Images/Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket

Google has significantly revised its artificial intelligence principles, removing earlier restrictions on using the technology for developing weaponry and surveillance tools. The update, announced on Tuesday, alters the company’s prior stance against applications that could cause “overall harm.”

In 2018, Google established a set of AI principles in response to criticism over its involvement in military endeavors, such as a US Department of Defense project that involved the use of AI to process data and identify targets for combat operations. The original guidelines explicitly stated that Google would not design or deploy AI for use in weapons or technologies that cause or directly facilitate injury to people, or for surveillance that violates internationally accepted norms.

The latest version of Google’s AI principles, however, has scrubbed these points. Instead, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and senior executive for technology and society James Manyika have published a new list of the tech giant’s “core tenants” regarding the use of AI. These include a focus on innovation and collaboration and a statement that “democracies should lead in AI development, guided by core values like freedom, equality, and respect for human rights.”

Margaret Mitchell, who had previously co-led Google’s ethical AI team, told Bloomberg the removal of the ‘harm’ clause may suggest that the company will now work on “deploying technology directly that can kill people.”

According to The Washington Post, the tech giant has collaborated with the Israeli military since the early weeks of the Gaza war, competing with Amazon to provide artificial intelligence services. Shortly after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Google’s cloud division worked to grant the Israel Defense Forces access to AI tools, despite the company’s public assertions of limiting involvement to civilian government ministries, the paper reported last month, citing internal company documents.

Google’s reversal of its policy comes amid continued concerns over the dangers posed by AI to humanity. Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneering figure in AI and recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics, warned late last year that the technology could potentially lead to human extinction within the next three decades, a likelihood he sees as being up to 20%.

Hinton has warned that AI systems could eventually surpass human intelligence, escape human control and potentially cause catastrophic harm to humanity. He has urged significant resources be allocated towards AI safety and ethical use of the technology and that proactive measures be developed.

USAID closes headquarters – media

©Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has closed its main office in Washington DC, with most personnel told to stay away from the building, multiple US media outlets reported on Monday. The development comes after US President Donald Trump accused the agency’s leadership of being “radical lunatics” and proposed major changes to the organization.

Established in 1961, USAID is responsible for administering foreign aid and development programs abroad to promote American interests.

According to an email obtained and shared by CNN, USAID leadership directed that the “headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025.” 

“Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely tomorrow, with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership,” the letter said.

AP has confirmed the email, adding that more than 600 employees discovered overnight that they had been locked out of USAID’s computer systems.

The development comes after Trump blasted the agency, arguing that “it’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics.” “We’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision,” he said.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and a close ally of the US president, has also been a fierce critic of USAID. He described it as a “criminal organization” which he believes was financing bioweapon research, including projects that allegedly led to the emergence of Covid-19.

“It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm in it. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair,” Musk said.

He also revealed that he had spoken with Trump, claiming that the president had “agreed” that USAID should be shut down.

USAID run by ‘radical lunatics’ – Trump

US President Donald Trump has attacked the leadership of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), claiming the organization has been poorly managed by “radical lunatics.” The criticism came after two top USAID security officials were reportedly put on leave after trying to stop the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing its systems.

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump.
©Rebecca Noble / Getty Images

USAID is an organization tasked with promoting American interests abroad through various forms of assistance to foreign governments and international institutions.

When asked on Sunday about the agency, Trump said that “it’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision” on its future.

The comment followed reports that representatives of the Elon Musk-headed DOGE accessed USAID headquarters in Washington DC for an audit last week. Over the weekend, USAID’s official website went offline, and its X account vanished amid reports that the White House was considering merging the agency into the State Department.

Early on Monday, Musk revealed he had spoken with Trump, who “agreed” that USAID should be shut down.

Musk made the comments during an X Spaces stream overnight Sunday into Monday, where he discussed DOGE. He said he checked with Trump multiple times, asking, “are you sure?” to which the president confirmed “so we’re shutting it down.”

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO earlier accused USAID of financing bioweapon research, including projects that allegedly led to the emergence of Covid-19, branding the agency a “criminal organization.”

On Friday, a team of DOGE inspectors gained access to USAID’s internal systems, including its website and key databases, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Among the systems accessed were those containing reports on past and ongoing programs and also those used to track congressionally mandated and performance data for all USAID programs globally, according to the outlet.

The group also reportedly took control of a software system used by USAID for tracking and managing the agency’s budgeting, accounting, and financial transactions.

Two senior security officials at USAID were reportedly placed on forced leave after they tried to prevent DOGE staff from accessing classified documents during their effort to review the agency’s finances.

Last week, around 60 senior career officials at USAID were placed on administrative leave. The action followed Trump’s executive order initiating a 90-day suspension of most foreign aid in order to conduct a comprehensive spending review.

Musk accuses USAID of ‘covering up corruption

Two senior security officials with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have reportedly been placed on leave by President Donald Trump’s administration after attempting to prevent an audit by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

FILE PHOTO ©AP/Susan Walsh

A team of DOGE inspectors sought to review “classified material in restricted areas” at USAID on Saturday but were stopped by security officials, AP reported on Sunday. The inspectors were said to have lacked the necessary security clearance, and USAID security was “legally obligated” to deny them access to the requested data, according to the news agency.

“No, they tried to lie to cover up their corruption,” Musk wrote on X, dismissing allegations that the team lacked security clearance. Katie Miller, who serves on an advisory board for the DOGE, also said that “no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”

Eventually, the inspectors gained access to the requested materials, including personnel records and “intelligence reports,” according to AP. The USAID officials, identified as John Vorhees and his deputy, Brian McGill, were placed on leave.

The DOGE has yet to publish details of its review of USAID activities, but Musk attacked the agency in a series of fiery posts on Sunday.

“USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die,” Musk said, accusing the agency of “paying media organizations to publish their propaganda,” and even using US taxpayer dollars to fund “bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people.”

Over the weekend, the official USAID website went offline, and its X account disappeared amid reports that the White House considered merging the agency into the Department of State.

The DOGE was created by Trump as a presidential advisory commission dedicated to reducing government spending. Its goal is to cut at least $1 trillion in federal spending by July 2026. In late January, the DOGE claimed that it had already cutting federal spending by $1 billion per day. It has reportedly saved over $1 billion solely by eliminating contracts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Musk’s department has also been granted full access to the US Treasury Department’s payment system, which is considered sensitive and was previously restricted to a small group of career civil servants.

US-made Abrams tank destroyed in Russia’s Kursk Region - Video

Moscow’s forces have successfully struck a US-produced M1 Abrams tank operated by the Ukrainian military, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday, releasing a video showing the disabled armor piece. The tank was hit with a kamikaze drone in Russia’s Kursk border region, according to the report.

A short clip released by the ministry shows the tank in an improvised ditch on the side of what appears to be a dirt road. Grey smoke can be seen coming out of its turret. There are no signs of the crew in the video. According to the ministry, the tank was hit near the village of Viktorovka located just a few kilometers from Russia’s border with Ukraine.

US lawmakers previously approved the transfer of 31 stripped down M1 Abrams tanks to Kiev, worth $400 million as part of the Western effort to bolster the Ukrainian army before its 2023 “counteroffensive” against Russian forces. The operation failed to produce any significant gains.

The tank was hit with a Lancet unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the ministry said. Also known as loitering munitions, the Lancet drone family are kamikaze UAVs normally deployed by Russian forces against high-value armored targets. Earlier this week, a similar drone was used to destroy a US-made Paladin self-propelled howitzer.

According to the ministry, Kiev’s forces have lost a total of three tanks as well as almost 200 soldiers to the fighting in the Kursk Region over the past 24 hours alone. Other losses suffered by the Ukrainian military in the area over the same period included three armored personnel carriers, five armored combat vehicles, and a US-made M777 howitzer, according to the ministry.

Ukraine launched its incursion into the Kursk Region in early August 2024 in an unsuccessful effort to divert Moscow’s resources from its successful offensive in Donbass. Kiev also claimed it wanted leverage for possible peace talks with Moscow. Russia then stated that, although it had never ruled out negotiations with Ukraine, it could only be possible after all Ukrainian forces had left Russian territory.

Kiev’s forces made some initial progress in the early days of their incursion into the Kursk Region, taking up positions in the border area, but their advance was quickly contained by Moscow’s forces. Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said that more than 63% of the territories in the region initially occupied by Ukrainian forces have been retaken.

Kiev lost more than 54,000 troops and over 300 tanks since the start of its incursion into the Russian border region, according to the Russian ministry’s data.

NATO F-16 Instructor Jeppe Hansen killed in Russian strike

Danish instructor Jepp Hansen, who was training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, has allegedly been killed in a Russian missile strike in Ukraine, TASS reported on Saturday.

Sources within Russian law enforcement have reportedly told the agency that Hansen died during an attack on a training center in the city of Krivoy Rog in Dnepropetrovsk Region in central Ukraine.

Previously, the Russian newspaper Gazeta had said that Russian forces used an Iskander missile to destroy a closed university building in the city which the Ukrainian military had converted into barracks. The upper part of the four-story building was almost completely destroyed, according to reports, while the facade of the building sustained heavy damage.

According to Russian media reports, citing a post by Hansen’s friend on social media, the Dane had significant experience in flying F-16 jets and had trained “hundreds of Ukrainians” to operate the planes.

Neither Denmark nor the Russian Defense Ministry has officially commented on the reports.

Last year, the Netherlands and Denmark delivered 20 F-16s to Ukraine and have vowed to send more throughout 2025. Norway, Belgium and Greece have also pledged to send a number of the fighter jets to Kiev.

Moscow has denounced the Western arms shipments, warning that they will only prolong the conflict without changing the outcome. It has also said that F-16 deliveries represent an escalation of hostilities.

In August 2024, one of the F-16 fighter jets sent from Nato allies to Ukraine has been destroyed, a Ukrainian military source has told the BBC.

The aircraft went down amid a barrage of Russian missiles on Monday, killing pilot Oleksiy Mes, Ukraine's military said. It marks the first loss of its kind since the planes were delivered earlier this month.

The cause of the crash was not a direct result of an enemy missile strike, the Ukrainian military claims.

It said the pilot destroyed three cruise missiles and one drone in Russia's largest aerial attack to date.

Russian forces liberate Vremevka, Petropavlovka in DPR

Russian units have liberated the villages of Vremevka and Petropavlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Russian Defense Ministry said.

©Alexey Konovalov/TASS

The ministry added that Petropavlovka was liberated due to successful advancing actions by Russia’s Battlegroup Center. According to the ministry, as a result of the battlegroup’s actions, "the adversary lost up to 585 troops, three armored combat vehicles, four motor vehicles and four artillery guns."

In addition to liberating Vremevka, Battlegroup East has carried out strikes on Ukrainian brigades near Konstantinopol and Velikaya Novoselka in the DPR over the past 24 hours. "Ukrainian losses have amounted up to 135 troops, two armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles and five foreign-made field guns. An ammo depot was eliminated," the Russian Defense Ministry said.