Children, a doctor: Some of the people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza
The Israeli military has been bombing across Gaza since the early hours of the morning, killing over 400 Palestinians and wounding more than 500 others. With many children and women among the dead, the casualty figures are only expected to rise. Entire families have once again been wiped out, and local authorities are appealing to the public for blood donations. Israel’s bombing campaign came without warning, countless Palestinians waking up to witness the extension of what the United Nations has called “hell on earth”. Dozens of videos circulating on Tuesday showed civilians searching for loved ones in morgues and under the rubble of destroyed homes. Here are some of the victims of Israel’s latest attacks: Family slaughtered in Gaza City Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, lost his sister and her entire family after their home was bombed in Gaza City in the northern part of the enclave at around 4:30am (2:30 GMT) He said Nesreen and her son and daughters, Ubaida, Omar and Lian, were all killed, along with Ubaida’s wife, Malak, and their small children, Siwar and Mohammed. Advertisement The family had survived many previous Israeli air strikes over several years and had their home and entire neighbourhood destroyed by Israeli bombs earlier in the war. Israel killed my sister and her children tonight, along with her entire family. Israel may kill us at will, burn us alive, and tear us apart, but it will never succeed in uprooting us from our land. Justice and accountability await—no matter how long it takes.Omer & Layan pic.twitter.com/aINB6AM2td — Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) March 18, 2025 “Israel may kill us at will, burn us alive, and tear us apart, but it will never succeed in uprooting us from our land,” Abdu wrote on his X account, calling for accountability. Also in Gaza City, footage broadcast by Palestinians on Instagram, verified by Al Jazeera, showed scenes of injured people on the ground as a result of an Israeli attack that hit a group of people near al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital. A doctor and her whole family killed Around half an hour after the killing of Abdu’s family in the north, a Gaza physician and her family were wiped out in the south. Dr Majda Abu Aker, who was an obstetrics-gynaecology specialist at an UNRWA clinic in Rafah, and more than a dozen others were massacred by an Israeli air strike on her house in al-Jenaina neighbourhood in Rafah. At least 10 of the killed Palestinians were members of the same family, including several women and their children. The youngest was a three-day-old infant girl. الشـ.. ـهيدة الدكتورة ماجدة أبو عكر https://t.co/A2xkA4w7dU pic.twitter.com/f5Pte7TjAq — ق.ض (@Qadeyah1) March 18, 2025 Advertisement Translation: The martyr, Dr Majda Abu Aker. The following martyrs were identified after the Aker family massacre in Rafah: Khaled Abu Riash (Abu Mohamed), Dr Majda Abu Aker, Kholoud Khaled Abu Riash and her children, Osama Abu Marzouq, Seham Abu Marzouq, Nour Osama Abu Marzouq and her three-day-old daughter, Dina Osama Abu Marzouq, Mohamed Osama Abu Marzouq. More civilians killed in attacks on south Gaza Another 15 people, most of them members of the Barhoum family, were named as being killed in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. The area had been designated a so-called “humanitarian zone” by the Israeli military during the war, but that didn’t stop Israeli warplanes from repeatedly attacking al-Mawasi to deadly effect. Nearby, in the city of Abasan located east of Khan Younis, a family of six was killed as they were fleeing the Israeli bombs. Their vehicle was directly hit and destroyed by an air strike, killing all six people, Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground reported. Also in Khan Younis in the south, another family was left shocked and bereaved after their two young children were killed by Israeli bombs. Heba al-Hindi, the children’s aunt, announced the news on Facebook. “Dear children, may God have mercy on you and give patience to your mother and father,” she wrote, mourning Bisan and her brother Ayman. Translation: Ayman and Bisan are martyrs, with God. Dear God grant us the strength, God grant you strength my sister, Soad, may he give you strength and patience. ‘My children died hungry’ A video from Khan Younis, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, showed a Palestinian woman collapsing in tears as she bids farewell to her children and husband. “My children died hungry, I swear to God they did not find food for suhoor, my daughter died fasting without suhoor,” the woman said, referring to the meal eaten before dawn during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. To Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she said, “I am a mother with a burning heart, may God burn your heart over your children”. Advertisement Family finds body after hours of searching In Jabalia in the north, families were forced to search for hours to find the remains of a loved one who was brutally killed by the devastating impact of an Israeli bomb. Gruesome footage verified by Al Jazeera showed destroyed buildings a large crater left by the bomb, and parts of a body being found flung onto a tree. Jabalia and its refugee camp have been subjected to some of the most destructive Israeli attacks since the start of the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023. In the weeks before the January 19 implementation of the ceasefire with Hamas that Israel has now shattered again, much of Jabalia was destroyed. The Israeli military has killed at least 48,577 Palestinians and wounded 112,041 others since the start of the war. Thousands more are missing or under the rubble and presumed dead, pushing the total to more than 61,000 dead. Adblock test (Why?)
German parliament approves Merz’s spending boost
The legislation still has to go to the upper house of the parliament for approval. Germany’s parliament has approved plans for a massive spending surge, throwing off decades of fiscal conservatism in hopes of reviving economic growth and scaling up military spending for a new era of European collective defence. The approval of the plans in the Bundestag or parliament on Tuesday will hand the chancellor-in-waiting a windfall of hundreds of billions of euros to ramp up investment after two years of contraction in Europe’s largest economy. Germany and other European nations have been under pressure to shore up their defences in the face of a hostile Russia and shifts in US policy under President Donald Trump, which European leaders fear could leave the continent exposed. Merz’s conservatives and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who are in talks to form a centrist coalition after last month’s election, want to create a 500-billion-euro ($546bn) fund for infrastructure and to ease constitutionally enshrined borrowing rules to allow higher spending on security. “We have for at least a decade felt a false sense of security,” Merz told lawmakers ahead of the vote. Advertisement “The decision we are taking today on defence readiness … can be nothing less than the first major step towards a new European defence community,” he said. The legislation still has to go to the Bundestag upper house, which represents the governments of Germany’s 16 federal states. The main hurdle to passage there appeared to fall on Monday when the Bavarian Free Voters agreed to back the plans. The conservatives and SPD wanted to pass the legislation through the outgoing parliament for fear it could be blocked by an enlarged contingent of far-right and far-left lawmakers in the next Bundestag starting March 25. Merz has justified the tight timetable by citing the rapidly changing geopolitical situation. Europe today faces “an aggressive Russia” as well as “an unpredictable United States of America”, said Merz. “I want to make this clear: I am in favour of us doing everything we can to uphold transatlantic cooperation,” he added. “I consider it indispensable, but we must now do our homework in Europe. “We must become stronger. We must ensure our own security. That is our responsibility. Germany has a leading role to play in this, and I believe we should be prepared to assume this leadership responsibility.” Adblock test (Why?)
Children killed in strikes Israel says targeted Hamas ‘terror targets’
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Israeli strikes the military says were aimed at Hamas “terror targets” have killed and injured children across Gaza.
China, Hong Kong threaten to thwart sale of Panama Canal ports to America’s BlackRock
A deal for the U.S. to “reclaim” the Panama Canal is increasingly under fire from authorities in China and Hong Kong. Earlier this month, BlackRock announced a $23 billion deal with CK Hutchinson to take ownership of the Panamanian ports of Cristobal and Balboa, which are located at the Atlantic and Pacific ends of the canal, respectively. It would also take over Hutchinson’s controlling interest in 43 ports in 23 other countries. However, Hong Kong and Chinese leaders could seek to stand in the way. John Lee, the leader of Hong Kong, stated his concerns about the deal on Tuesday, saying it deserved “serious attention.” The agreement between the two conglomerates was seen as a solution to President Donald Trump’s threats to take back the canal after he argued that China was using it to “rip off” U.S. ships through entry fees. DEM SEEKS TO HALT TRUMP FROM ‘INVADING’ GREENLAND, CANADA AND PANAMA Trump touted the BlackRock deal as the U.S. “reclaiming” the port when it was first announced. Now, Beijing has opened up investigations into potential antitrust and national security concerns about the deal through various agencies, including its State Administration of Market Regulation, Bloomberg reported. “If Beijing stops this deal, that’s a direct challenge to the president of the United States on an issue which he really cares about,” said U.S.-China relations expert Gordon Chang. “That is not going to go down very well.” The lucrative waterway sees 5% of global maritime trade pass through. CK Hutchison’s stock price fell 3% on Tuesday after Lee’s comments, and the company canceled press and investor briefings that were scheduled for this week when it releases its financial report. CHINA SLAMS TRUMP-IMPOSED ‘ARBITRARY TARIFFS,’ VOWS RETALIATION AGAINST US “We oppose the abusive use of coercion or bullying tactics in international economic and trade relations,” Lee had said in an apparent jab at Trump. Commentaries published in Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper owned by the Chinese government, claimed the Hutchison-BlackRock agreement would allow the U.S. to “use [the canal] for political purposes and promote its own political agenda” and would make Chinese trade and shipping “subject to the United States.” CK Hutchison is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing. Lee has said any business transaction must comply with Hong Kong law, and the city will handle the deal according to law. “I suspect that the Hong Kong government is not going to take on Li Ka Shing and Hutchison, but you never know because the environment in Hong Kong is changing. It’s not getting better,” said Chang. PANAMA PLEDGES TO END KEY CANAL DEAL WITH CHINA, WORK WITH US AFTER RUBIO VISIT China’s presence in the canal zone allows it to block U.S. access at will. That could mean in the outbreak of war in the Indo-Pacific, it could prevent the U.S. Navy from surging ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the canal. However, the canal could also be used as leverage for China in its push for Trump to alleviate tariffs. Trump said Monday that Chinese President Xi Jinping would be visiting the U.S. in the “not too distant future.” Trump at first put a blanket 10% tariff on all Chinese goods. In March, he upped it to 20%, arguing China was still not doing enough to address fentanyl flowing from its country through U.S. borders. CK Hutchison’s ownership of the canal also faces a constitutional challenge in Panama, which could be a factor in its intent to sell. Panamanian Attorney General Kenia Isolda Porcell Díaz has filed a submission in support of two lawsuits against renewal of a 25-year contract for Hutchison to own the ports, arguing the contract is “unconstitutional” because it “improperly agree[s] to transfer exclusive rights of the Panamanian State.” When asked about the reports that China was investigating the sale, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the questions should be directed at other agencies. “I would like to stress that in principle, China has been firmly opposing infringing on or undermining other countries’ legitimate rights and interests with economic coercion and bullying,” she said. Last month, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said his nation would not renew its participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which funds infrastructure projects in nations across the globe in efforts to increase its influence.
Video: Fears of war returning as Israel resumes Gaza airstrikes
[unable to retrieve full-text content] A barrage of Israeli strikes have targeted the Gaza Strip as the ceasefire ends and the war on the enclave resumes.
USAID cuts: Immediate and devastating
We examine how USAID cuts are affecting millions of people worldwide. United States President Donald Trump has suspended nearly all operations of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for 90 days, leaving millions of people without critical support. HIV clinics shut down overnight, cutting off life-saving treatment, while diseases like cholera and malaria are set to spread. Food aid programmes from Venezuela to the Democratic Republic of the Congo have halted, and many students can no longer continue their education. USAID’s crucial work in healthcare, human rights and education is now frozen, disrupting thousands of global projects and lives. What will be the long-term impact of this decision? Adblock test (Why?)
Canada ‘rage room’ lets visitors smash Trump, Vance, Musk portraits to release tariff angst
Canadians upset with President Donald Trump’s tariffs now have an outlet for their anger – a “rage room” business now offers the ability to “smash” the U.S. leader; kind of. Rage Room: Halifax, in the Nova Scotian capital, announced on its website that “until the tariffs come off, we understand you might have a little extra rage that you want to let out.” The “Smash the Tariffs” promotion offers customers portraits of Trump to “smash,” discounts on other “smashables.” Customers who order any package of smashables at the business, about 600 miles northeast of Boston across the Bay of Fundy, receive a Trump portrait for free, and with a $5 donation to a Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, food bank, they can also smash likenesses of Vice President JD Vance and DOGE leader Elon Musk. STEVE MOORE: TARIFFS WILL BRING FREER AND FAIRER TRADE Efforts to reach Rage Room: Halifax were unsuccessful on Tuesday, as it was closed as scheduled. However, owner Terry LeBlanc told Vancouver-based national broadcaster Global News that his view is “we’re entertainment first.” “Normally, I don’t really get political. However, I feel with everything going on in the world and what’s happening these days … this is needed,” he told the network. If customers are able to relieve stress and be entertained, then it is a “win,” he said. A social media post advertising the new promotion invited Canadians “fed up with the chaos” and news cycle to come and enjoy the “perfect way to let it out.” In its report, CTV News described a 14-year-old boy placing a framed picture of Trump on a table, while bedecked in a mask for protection, as he leveled a baseball bat at the mogul’s portrait and “obliterated” it. HOW JACKSON-ERA TARIFFS ALMOST LED TO CAROLINA CONFLICT 30 YEARS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR The boy was asked by the outlet why he wanted to smash the portrait and responded, “it’s about how he’s treating this country (Canada),” as his sister soon smashed another Trump portrait with a golf club. The girl said Trump is “not a very smart man” and that the rage room allowed her to safely release frustrations. Typical smashable packages have descriptors such as “Anger Management” and “Parental Leave,” according to CTV. Customers are also regularly asked what their top smashable was during their visit. As of late, it has been Trump’s likeness. When asked about the rage room, White House spokesman Kush Desai said, “Fortunately, Canadians won’t have to worry about President Trump’s tariffs anymore when Canada becomes our 51st state.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Secret Service, which often probes issues regarding presidential protection, did not respond to a request for comment for the purposes of this story. Canadian news coverage has shown state stores removing American bourbon and other uniquely U.S. products from their shelves in response to Trump’s tariff actions. Liberal Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in recent public remarks “there is a limit given the relative size of our economies to the extent that we should match U.S. tariffs,” adding that the U.S. economy is 10:1 larger than Canada’s – before criticizing Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre for his plans to deal with the tariff matter. On Monday, Poilievre lamented that both U.S. and Canadian workers will be hurt by the tariffs and slammed Carney and predecessor Justin Trudeau for a “lost liberal decade.” “Let’s solve this problem,” Poilievre said while gathered with blue-collar workers in L’Orignal, Ont.
Vanderbilt Med Center ‘hiding’ DEI resources behind password-protected web pages: report
FIRST ON FOX: While some medical schools have taken steps to scrub their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commitments from their websites, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has been found to be hiding some of theirs behind password-protected web pages. The conservative nonprofit organization Consumers Research unveiled a campaign Tuesday titled, “What Is Vanderbilt University Medical Center Hiding?” after finding that VUMC was not just deleting some of its references to DEI commitments and resources, but also keeping some and hiding them from public view. The campaign includes a website, complete with screenshots and archived web links, showing the various web pages tied to DEI and climate activism that are now password-protected. The Consumers’ Research campaign also includes a mobile billboard that the nonprofit has deployed at the university to raise awareness about VUMC’s actions. UNIVERSITY DOCTOR BOASTS ABOUT FINDING LOOPHOLES TO SKIRT ANTI-DEI LAWS: ‘THAT’S WHAT WE DO’ “Vanderbilt University Medical Center is frantically trying to conceal its radical policies by password-protecting and deleting webpages highlighting its commitment to DEI and climate activism,” Will Hild, Consumers’ Research executive director, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Until recently, VUMC proudly touted its woke ideology, showcasing DEI policies and an activist climate agenda prominently throughout its website. But now, the health system is scrambling to hide the evidence. This seemingly nefarious behavior begs the question, what is Vanderbilt University Medical Center hiding?” While VUMC deleted several web pages related to DEI resources and programs that it offers within specific departments, VUMC’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion website allegedly remains active, only to be accessed with a username and password, according to the nonprofit. A VUMC Department of Medicine web page touting its commitment to recruit “a diverse resident and fellow population” and laying out resources for those “underrepresented in medicine” is now hidden as well. UNIVERSITIES FACING ‘IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION’ AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CRACKS DOWN ON DEI: REPORT Other web pages about prioritizing “climate care as health care” and other left-wing climate change initiatives have also become password-protected, Consumers’ Research found. In a statement to Fox News Digital, VUMC spokesperson John Howser said that in light of President Donald Trump’s recent executive actions mandating an end to DEI programs, particularly in educational institutions, VUMC “is undertaking a thorough review” of its programs to figure out “where revisions may be required to remain in compliance, including updating information on websites and other public platforms.” “While we undertake that review, we have elected to take down related websites to ensure current, accurate, and factual information,” Howser added. “VUMC remains committed to maintaining an environment in which all our employees, patients and visitors feel equally welcome, respected and valued.” UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON’S EX-DIVERSITY OFFICER SCRUTINIZED OVER SPENDING, JUDGMENT AMID DEI CRACKDOWN Included in the Consumers’ Research campaign is a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calling on HHS and the Department of Government Efficiency to investigate VUMC. “VUMC, a top research hospital in the United States, relies heavily on federal dollars,” the letter states. “Taxpayer dollars should be used to prioritize patient care, not political activism. Consumers’ Research stands ready to assist as needed to ensure accountability and protect consumers.” VUMC was investigated by Tennessee’s Attorney General’s Office in 2023 amid allegations that a doctor at VUMC was manipulating medical billing codes to evade insurance coverage-limitations for transgender treatments. The investigation followed a video released in 2022, which allegedly showed a VUMC doctor touting transgender surgeries for minors as “huge money makers” and telling anyone with a religious objection to providing them should quit.
Alleged MS-13 leader on FBI most wanted list being extradited to US, Patel says
An alleged MS-13 senior gang leader on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list is being extradited to the U.S. after his arrest in Mexico, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Tuesday. Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales was arrested on Monday in the mountains of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz by Mexican soldiers and federal agents. The FBI was offering a $250,000 reward for information on Bardales prior to his arrest. “I can now confirm that last night, working with the Justice Department and other interagency partners, the FBI has extradited one of our ‘Ten Most Wanted’ from Mexico — one we believe to be a key senior leader of MS-13, Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales,” Patel announced in a statement. “He was arrested in Mexico and is being transported within the U.S. as we speak, where he will face American justice. This is a major victory both for our law enforcement partners and for a safer America. Thank you to our brave personnel for executing the mission. And thank you to Mexico’s SSPC and FGE teams for their support of the FBI in this investigation and arrest,” he added. TRUMP STATE DEPARTMENT DECLARES TREN DE ARAGUA, MS-13, MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS AS FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS The FBI said Bardales faces charges in the Eastern District of New York relating to “several offenses for his alleged role in ordering numerous acts of violence against civilians and rival gang members, as well as his role in drug distribution and extortion schemes in the United States and El Salvador.” The Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, was one of eight Latin American criminal organizations declared foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration last month. Bardales’ transfer comes nearly a month after Mexican authorities extradited another drug cartel member to the U.S. in late February. Jesus Ricardo Patron Sanchez, 39, faces charges relating to drug trafficking in New York City for the H-2 cartel, according to federal prosecutors. The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said last year that the U.S. is facing the “most dangerous and deadly drug crisis” in its history with fentanyl and methamphetamine flowing across the border — and that the “Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels are at the heart of this crisis.” POLICE LEAD TREN DE ARAGUA CRACKDOWNS AS EXCLUSIVE FOX NATION RIDE-ALONG EXPOSES VENEZUELA’S DEADLIEST GANG Prosecutors allege that under the direction of Sanchez, H-2 transported cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into the U.S. on a monthly basis from June 2013 to December 2016. The cartel used multiple distribution cells throughout the country, including New York, Las Vegas, North Carolina, Ohio and Los Angeles, to traffic “large quantities” of drugs, officials said. “As alleged in the indictment and court filings, Sanchez was one of the principal leaders of the H-2 Drug Trafficking Organization, a brutally violent transnational criminal organization that flooded American streets with dangerous drugs and protected its operations through murder and corruption,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said. Sanchez also directed members of the cartel to kill members of other drug trafficking organizations and additional perceived rivals, according to prosecutors. Monday’s arrest and swift handover came just weeks after Mexico handed over 29 drug cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was allegedly behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985. Mexico has also stepped up operations against the Sinaloa Cartel, a main trafficker of fentanyl to the United States. President Claudia Sheinbaum has worked to show President Donald Trump that Mexico is a reliable partner on security and immigration. The results have so far kept most of Trump’s tariffs at bay. The Trump administration sent two other top members of MS-13 to El Salvador over the weekend, along with hundreds of Venezuelans. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Vance knocks globalization’s ‘cheap labor’ and lauds ‘America’s great industrial comeback’ at AI summit
WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance knocked recent globalization efforts that use “cheap labor as a crutch” while simultaneously hampering innovation on the global scale during a Tuesday tech and artificial intelligence speech. “Our workers, the populists, on the one hand, the tech optimists on the other, have been failed by this government,” he said. “Not just the government of the last administration, but the government in some ways of the last 40 years, because there were two conceits that our leadership class had when it came to globalization.” Vance explained that recent globalization efforts falsely assumed that world leaders could “separate the making of things from the design of things,” citing the belief was that poorer nations would create goods such as cellphones, while wealthier nations would move “further up the value change.” “Now, we assume that other nations will always trail us in the value chain, but it turns out that as they got better at the low end of the value chain, they also started catching up on the higher end. We were squeezed from both ends. Now, that was the first conceit of globalization,” he said. ‘DEREGULATORY FLAVOR’: JD VANCE LAYS OUT VISION IN PARIS FOR THE FUTURE OF AI UNDER TRUMP Vance said the efforts have led to an addiction to cheap labor that has halted innovation. “Cheap labor is fundamentally a crutch, and it’s a crutch that inhibits innovation,” he said. “I might even say that it’s a drug that too many American firms got addicted to. Now, if you can make a product more cheaply, it’s far too easy to do that rather than to innovate. And whether we were offshoring factories to cheap labor economies or importing cheap labor through our immigration system, cheap labor became the drug of Western economies. “And I’d say that if you look in nearly every country, from Canada to the UK that imported large amounts of cheap labor, you’ve seen productivity stagnate,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s that’s not a total happenstance. I think that the connection is very direct.” Vance argued that “innovation is key to winning the worldwide manufacturing competition, to giving our workers a fair deal and to reclaiming our heritage via America’s great industrial comeback.” The American Dynamism Summit is an annual tech summit hosted by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The event, which is in its third year, acts as a bridge between California’s Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. Vance headlined the event at the Waldorf Astoria and was joined by other notable speakers during the summit, such as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, General Bryan P. Fenton, who serves as U.S. Special Operations Command commander, and Democratic New York Rep. Ritchie Torres. AMERICAN AI FREEDOM STILL UNDER THREAT FROM BIDEN’S LEFTOVER DIRECTIVES Vance also spoke out against industry and world leaders who are championing strict regulations on AI due to concerns over the tech, saying their worries are based “on a faulty premise.” “This idea that tech-forward people and the populists are somehow inevitably going to come to a loggerheads is wrong,” he said. “I think the reality is that in any dynamic society, technology is going to advance.” The vice president compared the rise of AI to the proliferation of ATMs in the 1970s, which sparked concern that bank tellers would be obliterated, similarly to how some workers are concerned AI could push them out of their jobs. “I think there’s too much fear that AI will simply replace jobs rather than augmenting so many of the things that we do now,” he said. “In the 1970s, if you go back a little ways, many feared that the automated teller machine, what we call the ATM, would replace bank tellers. In reality, the advent of the ATM made bank tellers more productive, and you have more people today working in customer service in the financial sector than you had when the ATM was created.” ELON MUSK AND TECH LEADER SAM ALTMAN GET INTO WAR OF WORDS OVER AI INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT “Now they’re doing slightly different jobs, of course. Yes, they’re doing more interesting tasks also,” he continued. “And importantly, they’re making more money than they were in the 1970s.” Vance attended a separate tech summit in February in Paris, called the AI Action Summit, where he railed against Europe’s “trepidation” of artificial intelligence, and regulation of it as hampering the future of innovation and jobs. “Now, at this moment, we face the extraordinary prospect of a new industrial revolution, one on par with the invention of the steam engine or Bessemer steel,” he said in the Paris speech. “But it will never come to pass if overregulation deters innovators from taking the risks necessary to advance the ball, nor will it occur if we allow AI to become dominated by massive players looking to use the tech to censor or control users’ thoughts. “And as AI creates new jobs and industries, our government, businesses and labor organizations have an obligation to work together to empower the workers not just of the United States but … all over the world,” he added. “To that end, for all major AI policy decisions coming from the federal government, the Trump Administration will guarantee American workers a seat at the table, and we’re very proud of that.” VANCE TELLS WORLD LEADERS AI MUST BE ‘FREE FROM IDEOLOGICAL BIAS,’ AMERICAN TECH WON’T BE CENSORSHIP TOOL President Donald Trump announced a massive artificial intelligence infrastructure plan on his second day in office in January, explaining that tech firms Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle joined forces for a project called Stargate, which is working to build U.S.-based data centers to power artificial intelligence. There was an initial $100 billion investment in the project, with plans to expand to $500 billion across the next four years. Trump additionally signed an executive order on his third day in office called, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” The executive order rescinded previous Biden-era AI