are government pledges on track?
are government pledges on track?
Rob England and Tom Edgington
BBC Verify
Getty Images
The prime minister has made tackling ******** immigration and “restoring order” to the asylum system a priority for the government.
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to “smash the gangs”. It follows predecessor Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”.
Yet small boat crossings have reached record levels for this point in the year.
Ahead of the release of the latest official numbers on Thursday, BBC Verify looks at key government pledges – from ending the use of asylum hotels to returning more failed asylum seekers.
‘End the use of asylum hotels’
Labour promised to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds” in its general election manifesto.
The government wants to fulfil this pledge by the end of this Parliament – meaning by 2029, unless an early election is called.
However, according to figures obtained by BBC Verify via a Freedom of Information request, the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers was higher in December than when Labour took office in July.
In July, 212 hotels were in use. By December, there were 218 – accommodating about 38,000 people.
Once someone applies for asylum, they gain legal protections while awaiting a decision – including accommodation if they cannot support themselves financially.
Almost everyone who arrives by small boat claims asylum – they made up a third of all asylum applications last year. Another large group of claimants were people already in the *** who had overstayed their visas.
The asylum process determines whether a person can remain in the *** because they have a “well-founded fear of persecution” in their home country.
Since 2020, the government has been increasingly reliant on hotels, partly because the supply of other types of asylum accommodation has not kept up with the numbers arriving in small boats.
But using asylum hotels is expensive – costing £8m per day in 2023-24.
‘Smash the gangs’
As of 14 May, 12,699 people had arrived in the *** in small boats – up by a third compared with this time last year.
To reduce the number of crossings, the government has pledged to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs behind them.
But it is unclear how the government plans to measure its progress, or when the goal will be met.
The Home Office told us data on actions taken by officials to disrupt criminal gangs was “being collected and may be published in the future”.
There is some information on efforts to prevent small boat crossings by French authorities – who, under a 2023 deal, are receiving £476m from the *** over three years.
They say about 17,379 people were prevented from crossing between July and December 2024. We do not know what happened to them or whether they tried to cross again.
There have been high-profile cases of ***-based smugglers being sentenced, including a man who helped smuggle more than 3,000 people and raids on the continent.
And at the recent ***-EU summit both sides pledged to work together on finding solutions to tackle ******** immigration.
******** migration includes people who arrive on small boats, or hidden in lorries, and people who remain in the *** after their legal visa expires.
The vast majority of *** immigration is legal – this includes people who have been granted permission to come to work, study, claim asylum or for other authorised purposes.
Last year, about 43,000 people entered the *** illegally – about 4% of the nearly one million people who came to the *** legally in 2024.
‘Clear the asylum backlog’
The government has also promised “to clear the asylum backlog“.
This refers to the backlog of claims by asylum seekers who are waiting to hear whether they will be granted refugee status and be allowed to remain in the ***.
Since last summer, there has been a 50% increase in decisions on asylum cases.
But despite this, the *** saw a record number of asylum applications across the year, meaning the overall backlog has actually risen since the election.
Under Labour, 41% of asylum claims were granted between October and December 2024.
Another backlog the government wants to clear is the mountain of court appeals from asylum seekers following rejected claims.
That backlog has also got worse since last summer’s election, according to the latest figures.
There were about 33,000 cases at the end of June, rising to nearly 42,000 in December – the highest total since at least 2015.
‘Increase returns’
The government has also promised to “increase returns” of people with no legal right to be in the ***. It said it would set up a new returns and enforcement unit with 1,000 extra staff.
The number of returns rose by around 2,000 – from just under 22,000 to 24,000 – between July 2024 and March 2025, year-on-year.
The government is meeting this pledge but it is worth noting that the majority of returns were “voluntary”, not “enforced”.
Just 6,339 people were forcibly removed, which could involve being escorted onto a plane by an immigration official.
Previous figures, up to December, show many of those who did leave voluntarily did so without government assistance or without its knowledge at the time, as BBC Verify has previously pointed out.
This is despite repeated claims from ministers that the government has “removed” or even “deported” this many people.
The Home Office says all returns outcomes are the result of collective efforts by the department.
BBC Verify has approached the Home Office on each of the pledges to ask how the government intends to meet them.
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‘I’m back’ – PacMan gloves up again for Vegas showdown
‘I’m back’ – PacMan gloves up again for Vegas showdown
Manny Pacquiao has announced he’s coming out of retirement to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship in Las Vegas.
The 46-year-old ********* boxing great, known as ‘PacMan’ for his non-stop appetite for sporting combat, is the only man to win world championships in a record eight weight divisions while he was also the oldest welterweight world champion in history at 40, back in 2019.
But six years on, he’s ready to take on WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Vegas on July 19.
A ********* senator from 2016 to 2022, Pacquiao had retired from boxing in 2021 while he also ran for president in 2022.
“I’m back,” he announced on Instagram.
The southpaw, who has 62 wins, eight losses and two draws in a 72-fight career, was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
Barrios, a ********-American boxer, has 29 wins in 32 bouts, winning 18 by knockout and losing twice.
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Trump confronts South African president in Oval Office with claims of 'white persecution'
Trump confronts South African president in Oval Office with claims of 'white persecution'
Trump confronts South African president in Oval Office with claims of ‘white persecution’
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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says tariffs haven’t dented consumer spending
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says tariffs haven’t dented consumer spending
Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, speaks during an unveiling event in New York on Feb. 26, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Wednesday that the company hasn’t seen any signs of consumers tightening their wallets in the face of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
Jassy’s comments came during Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually on Wednesday.
“We have not seen any attenuation of demand at this point,” Jassy said during a question-and-answer portion of the meeting. “We also haven’t yet seen any meaningful average selling price increases.”
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
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Trump tax bill faces fresh hurdles among House Republicans
Trump tax bill faces fresh hurdles among House Republicans
WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders faced a last-minute revolt Wednesday by members of the party’s hardline conservative faction, who opposed their latest attempt to win support from moderate members of the conference for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill.
As a pivotal meeting of the House Rules Committee entered its twelfth hour after starting at 1:00 a.m., members of the House Freedom Caucus reiterated their objection to Speaker Mike Johnson’s self-imposed Memorial Day deadline for passing the bill on the House floor.
“I don’t think it can be done today. I mean, the runway is short today. The leadership is going to have to figure out you know where to go from here,” House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris, R-Md., told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Another deficit hawk, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said conservative holdouts had been invited to the White House on Wednesday afternoon for a last-minute meeting with Trump.
“We’re going to work with the president today, we’re going to work with our colleagues to deliver, but there’s a long way to go,” Roy told reporters.
UNITED STATES – MAY 21: Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, left, and House Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., along with members of the House Freedom Caucus speak to reporters about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act reconciliation package in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Johnson’s narrow Republican majority means that he can only lose a handful of votes from his conference and still pass the bill on a straight party line vote.
Harris, Roy and the rest of the Freedom Caucus wield enough votes and influence that their continued opposition to passing the package all but guarantees that it wouldn’t pass in its current form.
Still, both Johnson and Trump remained hopeful on Wednesday that they could force the bill through the chamber before members leave for the holiday weekend.
“There is a chance for a vote today,” Johnson said early in the day.
Trump projected more confidence, saying he felt “very well” about the bill during brief remarks to reporters at the White House.
“We’re doing really well, it’s very close,” Trump said of the bill before a meeting with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.
Before the tax package can proceed to a vote on the House floor, Republicans on the Rules Committee must vote to adopt the specific slate of rules that will govern debate on the bill ahead of the actual vote.
Read more CNBC politics coverage
The bill seeks to deliver on Trump’s key campaign promises, and includes provisions to make permanent Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, raising the SALT cap and eliminate taxes on tips.
A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates “that in general, resources would decrease for households in the lowest decile (tenth) of the income distribution, whereas resources would increase for households in the highest decile.”
Trump visited the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to personally advocate for the bill, issuing a stark warning to House Republicans to not “f— around with Medicaid.”
Some House Republicans want cuts to the massive Medicaid health-care coverage program, which covers primarily low-income people.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Timberwolves need Naz Reid and their bench to show up more than they did in Game 1 – The New York Times
Timberwolves need Naz Reid and their bench to show up more than they did in Game 1 – The New York Times
Timberwolves need Naz Reid and their bench to show up more than they did in Game 1 The New York TimesTimberwolves-Nuggets: 5 takeaways as OKC opens West Finals in dominant fashion NBA2025 NBA playoff bracket, schedule, scores, results: Knicks vs. Pacers, OKC vs. Wolves in conference finals CBS SportsHow the Thunder rallied to dismantle the Timberwolves in an important Game 1 – The Athletic The New York TimesReusse: Timberwolves see clearly that Oklahoma City is a cut above Star Tribune
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Carapaz special at Giro after Aussie breakway bid fails
Carapaz special at Giro after Aussie breakway bid fails
Luke Plapp’s bid in a breakaway to earn his second win at the Giro d’Italia has fallen short as former champion Richard Carapaz announced himself as a contender for the 2025 crown with a terrific late burst to capture the stage 11 honours.
*********** time trial champ Plapp, still on a high after his terrific solo victory on Saturday’s eighth stage, was this time at the heart of Wednesday’s five-man breakaway that looked set to contest the stage win after battling across the fiendish Alpe San Pellegrino climb with gradients of around 20 percent.
That was before points leader Mads Pedersen shook the sleeping peloton into life, leading a riveting pursuit and enabling them to catch the quintet on the final slopes of the third arduous climb of the challenging 186km route, from Viareggio to Castelnovo ne’ Monti.
“It’s been nearly a year since my last win, it’s very special, i’m very emotional.” – @RichardCarapazM (EFE)#GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/Igvre9Reqk— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 21, 2025
Then the Ecuadorian grand tour thoroughbred Carapaz stole the show in familiar fashion, powering away over the last nine kilometres after an explosive surge to take a solo victory by 10 seconds from the race leader Isaac del Toro, who won a sprint to the line for second to pad out his overall advantage with bonus seconds.
The young ******** del Toro is now 31 seconds ahead of his UAE Team Emirates colleague Juan Ayuso at the head of the general classification. The rest of the main GC contenders came home safely, with Primoz Roglic fifth, 1:24 behind, and top *********** hope Michael Storer 14th at 3:20 down.
But former Olympic champ Carapaz’s victory has reminded everyone that the man who was winning his first Giro stage since taking the overall race victory in 2019 is still a real threat at just 1:56 behind in sixth place.
No more breakaway as @RichardCarapazM goes on the attack!! The former Olympic Champ now has a 30″ lead on the group behind #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/82DbGUHEtN— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 21, 2025
The 31-year-old Carapaz hadn’t won in 308 days, since victory in last year’s Tour de France last year.
“It’s been a long time,” he said. “So this is very, very special for me, and extremely exciting as well, great work.
“And I want to dedicate it to my family and to my son. It’s his birthday today.”
There was good news about the recovery of Jai Hindley, the 2022 Giro champion who was forced to abandon after a ****** on stage six.
Another Aussie cycling great Robbie McEwen reported on Eurosport: “Jai had a light concussion, but he’s feeling okay.
“He told me his injury is to a transverse process (one of the bony projections by the side of a vertebra) and he’s got a very sore back, but he hopes to be back on the horse ASAP. “
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Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced Comes To PlayStation This Summer
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced Comes To PlayStation This Summer
Between Forza Horizon 5, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, Xbox’s exclusives aren’t so exclusive anymore, as all three games have made their way to the PlayStation 5 in the past few months. Today, we learned that Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, the harrowingly beautiful action game from Ninja Theory, will be joining their ranks, making its way onto Sony’s platform sometime this summer. You can hear it announced by the team itself in a new trailer below.
On the same day it comes to PS5, Hellblade II will get some “exciting new features” across all platforms as a free update. This new version is known as the “Enhanced” version, though it’s unclear how exactly the game will be improved. The newly published PlayStation Store page mentions “added features and immersive haptic feedback,” so we can probably expect some new features to tie in with the Dualsense controller.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II originally launched a year ago today on Xbox Series X/S and PC. Reviewer Marcus Stewart gave it a 9 out of 10, writing that, “gripping storytelling, refined gameplay, and a jaw-dropping presentation make for a more wholly satisfying sophomore outing.” For another of his Xbox reviews also on PlayStation, you can read (or watch) what he though about Doom: The Dark Ages.
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Browns stadium gets huge endorsement, while Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb softens stance
Browns stadium gets huge endorsement, while Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb softens stance
While Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne has dug in with respect to the Cleveland Browns domed stadium proposal, a high-profile organization has come out in support of the team’s move to Brook Park.
The Greater Cleveland Partnership, the area’s chamber of commerce, endorsed the plan from the Browns to build their $3.4 billion mixed-used development with a stadium and entertainment district as centerpieces.
“While a downtown dome is ideal, financial and development constraints have been challenging; the Brook Park option is more practical to move forward,” they wrote in a release on May 20. “The additional events, and expected growth in live entertainment, are an economic opportunity for the entire region. “
The move comes after Ronayne replied to a letter from the team that stated they was moving forward with the Brook Park project with or without help from the county. Ronayne’s reply welcomed them to do so. In his replay he referred to the project as a “boondoggle.”
“The $600 million in bonds requested from Cuyahoga County was never needed for this project, and we now clearly see that you have spent the last two years attempting to bully the public and fleece county taxpayers for HSG’s private gain,” Ronayne wrote.
There has been some softening on the part of Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb
In a Tuesday interview with the Fox 8 I-Team, Mayor Justin Bibb realigned the priorities regarding the team.
“There are more important priorities than the Cleveland Browns,” Mayor Justin Bibb told the I-Team during an interview Tuesday.
Developing Cleveland’s lakefront along with a proposed $1.1 billion remake of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport top that list.
“We gotta move on,” the mayor said. “If they go to Brook Park, God bless them, good luck. But, by hell or high water, we are going to develop a lakefront our residents can be proud of.”
Bibb was resolute, however, in suggesting there is likely a price to be paid.
“But, it’s important that the city of Cleveland is not left empty-handed,” Bibb said. “That we don’t have an abandoned stadium downtown.”
George M. Thomas covers a myriad of things including sports and pop culture, but mostly sports, he thinks, for the Beacon Journal.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns stadium fight continues with endorsement, new mayor’s stance
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Trump Qatar gift: Hegseth accepts Boeing jet
Trump Qatar gift: Hegseth accepts Boeing jet
In this February 15, 2025 a Boeing 747 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after US President Donald Trump toured the aircraft on February 15, 2025.
Roberto Schmidt | Afp | Getty Images
The Trump administration has formally accepted a Boeing 747 jet that was gifted to the U.S. by the government of Qatar, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accepted the luxury plane “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNBC.
The Department of Defense will work to ensure that the jet, which President Donald Trump wants to use as the new Air Force One, fulfills “proper security measures and functional-mission requirements,” Parnell said.
Boeing is currently working to convert two 747s into the next Air Force Ones in accordance with a deal struck during Trump’s first term as president. But the project is years behind schedule, and the planes may not be ready before the end of Trump’s second term.
Trump administration officials earlier this year said the president was frustrated with that pace and considering alternatives.
But it is far from clear if the 13-year-old Qatari jet, which has been valued at $400 million, could truly offer a quick fix.
Experts have said that converting that jet into an Air Force One could cost taxpayers over $1 billion and take years to complete.
Boeing’s CEO, Kelly Ortberg, told analysts on an April 23 quarterly call that “we continue to work with the customer to revise the program plan to allow for an earlier first delivery while maintaining our focus on safety and quality.”
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
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OpenAI buys iPhone designer Jony Ive device startup for $6.4 billion
OpenAI buys iPhone designer Jony Ive device startup for $6.4 billion
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman appears on screen during a talk with Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Build 2025, conference in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
OpenAI said on Wednesday that it’s buying Jony Ive’s AI devices startup io for $6.4 billion in an all-equity deal that includes its current stake in the company.
Ive is taking on “deep creative and design responsibilities across OpenAI and io,” OpenAI said in a statement. The company said that io is merging with OpenAI, while Ive and his “creative collective” called LoveFrom will stay independent.
News of the acquisition comes weeks after OpenAI agreed to pay about $3 billion to acquire Windsurf, an AI tool for coding help. Windsurf, formerly known as Codeium, competes with Cursor, another popular AI coding tool, as well as existing AI coding features from companies such as Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI itself.
The news also comes as OpenAI, which was recently valued at $300 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank, is rushing to stay ahead in the generative AI race, where competitors including Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI are investing heavily and regularly rolling out new products. And part of staying ahead in that race includes shoring up its hardware operations.
In November, OpenAI hired the former head of Meta’s Orion augmented reality glasses initiative to lead the its robotics and consumer hardware efforts.
Caitlin “CK” Kalinowski wrote in an announcement at the time that the role would “initially focus on OpenAI’s robotics work and partnerships to help bring AI into the physical world and unlock its benefits for humanity.”
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
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Trump tax bill faces fresh hurdles among House Republicans
Trump tax bill faces fresh hurdles among House Republicans
WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders faced a last-minute revolt Wednesday by members of the party’s hardline conservative faction, who opposed their latest attempt to win support from moderate members of the conference for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill.
As a pivotal meeting of the House Rules Committee entered its twelfth hour after starting at 1:00 a.m., members of the House Freedom Caucus reiterated their objection to Speaker Mike Johnson’s self-imposed Memorial Day deadline for passing the bill on the House floor.
“I don’t think it can be done today. I mean, the runway is short today. The leadership is going to have to figure out you know where to go from here,” House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris, R-Md., told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Another deficit hawk, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said conservative holdouts had been invited to the White House on Wednesday afternoon for a last-minute meeting with Trump.
“We’re going to work with the president today, we’re going to work with our colleagues to deliver, but there’s a long way to go,” Roy told reporters.
UNITED STATES – MAY 21: Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, left, and House Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., along with members of the House Freedom Caucus speak to reporters about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act reconciliation package in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Johnson’s narrow Republican majority means that he can only lose a handful of votes from his conference and still pass the bill on a straight party line vote.
Harris, Roy and the rest of the Freedom Caucus wield enough votes and influence that their continued opposition to passing the package all but guarantees that it wouldn’t pass in its current form.
Still, both Johnson and Trump remained hopeful on Wednesday that they could force the bill through the chamber before members leave for the holiday weekend.
“There is a chance for a vote today,” Johnson said early in the day.
Trump projected more confidence, saying he felt “very well” about the bill during brief remarks to reporters at the White House.
“We’re doing really well, it’s very close,” Trump said of the bill before a meeting with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.
Before the tax package can proceed to a vote on the House floor, Republicans on the Rules Committee must vote to adopt the specific slate of rules that will govern debate on the bill ahead of the actual vote.
Read more CNBC politics coverage
The bill seeks to deliver on Trump’s key campaign promises, and includes provisions to make permanent Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, raising the SALT cap and eliminate taxes on tips.
A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates “that in general, resources would decrease for households in the lowest decile (tenth) of the income distribution, whereas resources would increase for households in the highest decile.”
Trump visited the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to personally advocate for the bill, issuing a stark warning to House Republicans to not “f— around with Medicaid.”
Some House Republicans want cuts to the massive Medicaid health-care coverage program, which covers primarily low-income people.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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OpenAI buys iPhone designer Jony Ive device startup for $6.4 billion
OpenAI buys iPhone designer Jony Ive device startup for $6.4 billion
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman appears on screen during a talk with Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Build 2025, conference in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
OpenAI said on Wednesday that it’s buying Jony Ive’s AI devices startup io for $6.4 billion in an all-equity deal that includes its current stake in the company.
Ive is taking on “deep creative and design responsibilities across OpenAI and io,” OpenAI said in a statement. The company said that io is merging with OpenAI, while Ive and his “creative collective” called LoveFrom will stay independent.
The news comes as OpenAI is rushing to stay ahead in the generative AI race, where competitors including Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI are investing heavily and regularly rolling out new products. And part of staying ahead in that race includes shoring up its hardware operations.
OpenAI is backed by Microsoft and was recently valued at $300 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
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Seagate’s 24TB External HDD USB storage drive drops to $279 ahead of Memorial Day sales — that’s $11.60 per Terabyte
Seagate’s 24TB External HDD USB storage drive drops to $279 ahead of Memorial Day sales — that’s $11.60 per Terabyte
Storage enthusiasts should check out this deal on Seagate’s large 24TB External HDD drive. Arriving in these pre-Memorial Day deals, this large storage option works out as only $11.60 per Terabyte. The option is also there to “shuck” these drives if you feel comfortable doing so, and install them in a NAS or home server. This will obviously void any limited warranties, plus your mileage may vary on what drive is inside the enclosure.
Available from Best Buy, you can save $50 on the list price of the Seagate Expansion Desktop 24TB HDD, now only $279. The large 24TB capacity means more room for your files, and with the USB 3.0 bandwidth, the transfer speeds won’t be horrendous, although they will pale in comparison to more modern SSD speeds.
The Seagate Expansion external HDD comes in a rugged ****** plastic chassis measuring about 7x2x5 inches. The unit is designed to stand vertically, with small feet on the bottom and a power and USB cable connection on the rear. This unit needs external power to run, an AC power adapter is included in the packaging.
Everything you need to set up this drive is included in the box with the Seagate Expansion HDD. Packaged inside is an 18-inch USB 3.0 cable and a power cable, and a power adapter. Also, with the purchase of this Seagate external HDD, you have the option of using Seagate’s Rescue Data Recovery Services software for data backups.
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Trump administration formally accepts gift jet from Qatar
Trump administration formally accepts gift jet from Qatar
In this February 15, 2025 a Boeing 747 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after US President Donald Trump toured the aircraft on February 15, 2025.
Roberto Schmidt | Afp | Getty Images
The Trump administration has formally accepted a Boeing 747 jet that was gifted to the U.S. by the government of Qatar, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accepted the luxury plane “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNBC.
The Department of Defense will work to ensure that the jet, which President Donald Trump wants to use as the new Air Force One, fulfills “proper security measures and functional-mission requirements,” Parnell said.
Boeing is currently working to convert two 747s into the next Air Force Ones in accordance with a deal struck during Trump’s first term as president. But the project is years behind schedule, and the planes may not be ready before the end of Trump’s second term.
Trump administration officials earlier this year said the president was frustrated with that pace and considering alternatives.
Boeing’s CEO, Kelly Ortberg, told analysts on an April 23 quarterly call that “we continue to work with the customer to revise the program plan to allow for an earlier first delivery while maintaining our focus on safety and quality.”
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
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Target stumbles as tariffs hit earnings and sales fall amid DEI backlash – The Washington Post
Target stumbles as tariffs hit earnings and sales fall amid DEI backlash – The Washington Post
Target stumbles as tariffs hit earnings and sales fall amid DEI backlash The Washington PostTarget cuts sales outlook as retailer blames tariff uncertainty and backlash to DEI rollback CNBCTarget’s problems are escalating CNNTarget sales hit as Trump tariffs take effect BBCTarget cuts annual forecast as tariffs, boycotts weigh on sales Al Jazeera
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Miyamoto Can’t Get This Nintendo Movie Idea Out Of His Head
Miyamoto Can’t Get This Nintendo Movie Idea Out Of His Head
Nintendo’s Pikmin series might not be as well-known as Mario or Zelda, but that hasn’t stopped Shigeru Miyamoto from wanting to bring the sprite-sized characters to the big screen. While Miyamoto did work on some Pikmin shorts a decade ago, he wants to try his hand at a feature-length movie or even a television series.
In a recent interview with IGN, Miyamoto discussed the collaboration process with Universal for the Super Nintendo World expansion as part of Epic Universe. The park has many details, such as Pikmin hidden all around, which the iconic game director wants to make as notable as his other creations, especially if that involves adapting it into other media.
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“I spent a lot of time the past five, six years really wanting to grow Pikmin. Obviously, a lot of that is focused around Pikmin Bloom, and there was also new Pikmin titles that released. But I wanted to see if there’s other ways that we can have people engage and get to know Pikmin that’s outside of the population that plays video games, for example,” he said.
“I think Pikmin has a lot of potential to be used in many different occasions. When you’re looking at small kids, they have a certain appeal for things that are cute, and when they grow older, maybe in their twenties, they start to lose appeal for that,” Miyamoto added. “But I think Pikmin has this unique ability to have appeal across a broad range in that it’s still appealing for both younger audiences and older audiences, and in Japan. And so I’m hoping that we can expand that globally. So, whether it’s some kind of a movie or show, things like that would be really fun.”
With the massive success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and the sequel on the way, which will be followed by the highly anticipated Legend of Zelda, maybe Universal and Illumination could make room for the tiny adventurers down the road.
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iPhones just got Google’s best AI feature for free – and it could genuinely make me switch back from Android
iPhones just got Google’s best AI feature for free – and it could genuinely make me switch back from Android
I’ve never owned another smartphone apart from an iPhone up until this year. However, as AI makes its way onto every tech product on the planet, I needed to try Android to understand the differences between artificial intelligence in the two ecosystems.
After using a Samsung Galaxy S25 for a few weeks, I returned to my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Not because it was better, but because the ecosystem you’ve built your life in equates to the deciding factor when it comes to choosing between flagship smartphones.
Once back on iOS, I found myself missing one specific AI feature more than others, and without access on iPhone, I quickly defaulted back to living with an Android device.
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That AI feature I’m talking about is Gemini Live, and while you could access it on iOS, the experience was dumbed down. That was until yesterday, at Google I/O 2025, when Google announced that all of Gemini Live’s capabilities are rolling out on iPhone, and at no cost.
Here’s why Gemini Live is the best AI tool I’ve ever used, and how adding all of its capabilities to iPhone means I’m ready to jump back to Apple.
What Visual Intelligence wanted to be
(Image credit: Apple)
Gemini Live already existed in the Gemini app on iOS, but it lacked two crucial elements that make the Android version that much better. Firstly, Gemini Live on iOS was unable to access your iPhone’s camera, and secondly, it couldn’t see what you were doing on your screen. I/O 2025 changed all that.
Now, iPhone users can give Gemini Live access to their camera and screen, allowing for new ways to interact with AI that we’ve not really seen on iOS before.
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Gemini’s camera ability is single-handedly one of, if not the, best AI tool I’ve used to date, and I’m thrilled iPhone users can now experience it.
What is Gemini Live’s camera feature? Well, imagine a better version of what Apple wanted Visual Intelligence to be. You can simply show Gemini whatever you’re looking at and ask questions without needing to describe the subject.
I’ve found Gemini Live’s camera functionality thrives in situations like cooking. I used it last week to make Birria Tacos, and not only was I given advice every step of the way, but it was also able to see everything I was doing and help direct me towards a delicious dinner.
Not only did propping my S25 on a stand give Gemini Live the perfect angle, but because it can connect to Google apps, I could ask it to get information on a recipe directly from the content creator’s video. No need to constantly touch your phone with dirty hands in the kitchen, and no need to even check a recipe anymore. Gemini Live can do it all.
An AI companion every step of the way
Screen sharing allows Gemini Live to see what’s on your display at any time, allowing you to ask questions related to imagery, something you’re working on, or even how to complete a puzzle in a game. It’s seriously cool, similar to Apple Intelligence-powered Siri we were promised but never received back at WWDC 2024.
Gemini Live’s full free rollout has just started, so we’re yet to see how this functionality will work on iOS. That said, if it works half as well as it does on Android, this will be a feature I could see a lot of people falling in love with.
Gemini Live and its multiple ways of interacting with the world completely unlock AI on a smartphone, and now that iPhone users can access it too, I have no reason not to return to the Apple ecosystem.
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Lowe’s Stock Uptrend Can Continue for These 2 Reasons
Lowe’s Stock Uptrend Can Continue for These 2 Reasons
Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:) uptrend can continue because the company reaffirmed its 2025 and capital return outlooks. The first includes tepid results but steady business, with strengths in the professional and online businesses offsetting spotty weakness in the consumer. The second includes reduced share buybacks relative to the prior years, positive cash flow, debt reduction, and a shrinking shareholder deficit.
The shareholder deficit is a critical factor, related to debt and aggressive share repurchases in prior years, and it fell nearly 10% in the last year.
Based on the balance sheet, cash flow, guidance, and declining debt load, the pace of debt and deficit reduction could accelerate as the year progresses, adding momentum to the rebound sparked by the Q1 2025 earnings release and guidance.
Lowe’s Stock Price Uptrend Is Intact Following Guidance Update
Lowe’s stock price has been in an uptrend for years and remains so following the guidance update. Price action confirmed support at a critical moving average before the release, and upward momentum persisted afterward. The market will likely continue to rise in May and late Q2, provided it can clear resistance targets near $240.
Lowe’s Advances on Mixed Results: Margin Is a Factor
Lowe’s didn’t have a stellar quarter with revenue contracting by 2.2% compared to last year and missing the consensus estimate, but the results could have been worse. Comps fell by 1.7% on weather and consumer-related weaknesses, offset by growth in the pro and online segments.
The critical detail is the margin and guidance, which were better-than-expected and reaffirmed. The net result for Q1 is that GAAP earnings contracted slightly faster than revenue. Still, the $2.92 reported is a nickel ahead of MarketBeat’s reported consensus and plays into the guidance.
Like competitor Home Depot (NYSE:), Lowe’s reaffirmed its outlook for 2025 despite macroeconomic uncertainty, tariffs, and headwinds in the housing market. It forecasts revenue in a range of $83.5 to $84.5 billion, putting the midpoint slightly below the consensus forecast, and the margin will remain strong.
is forecast in a range with the midpoint well above the consensus estimate, and the forecast may be cautious. More favorable weather in Q2 will likely lead consumers back into the stores for seasonal and home improvement supplies.
Lowe’s capital return is attractive and a driving force for the share price. The dividend yields about 2.0%, with shares near May lows. The distribution is growing, and share repurchases compound it. The pace of repurchases has slowed from recent peaks but remained sufficient to offset share-based compensation in Q1, resulting in a net 2% decline in shares relative to last year.
The pace of distribution growth has also slowed, but remains healthy for a Dividend King. It ran in the mid-single-digit range in 2025 and is likely to continue at that pace for years to come. The payout ratio is low, only about 40% of the 2025 earnings forecast, including a 5% increase to the 2024 payment.
Institutions and Analysts Buy in Q2, But Analysts May Cap Gains
The analysts and institutional activity in Q1 and Q2 2025 are bullish for Lowe’s stock, but recent price target reductions from some analysts may cap gains. The critical details are that the coverage remains firm with 25 analysts rating the stock, the consensus is a Moderate Buy with bullish bias, and the price target forecasts a 20% upside relative to the pre-release closing price.
Ongoing institutional buying throughout the year, coupled with the potential for analysts to reaffirm or raise price targets after the Q1 release, could provide a bullish catalyst for Lowe’s.
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Wealthy gain, low-income people lose from GOP megabill, analysis finds
Wealthy gain, low-income people lose from GOP megabill, analysis finds
Tax cuts in House Republicans’ megabill would lead to increased assets for the richest Americans, while reducing them for the lowest-income households through cuts to federal spending on Medicaid and food aid, according to a new preliminary analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.
The analysis, requested by top Democrats, gives fuel to Democrats’ attacks on the bill that it would lead to gains for wealthy Americans while taking away benefits for lower-income people.
“This is what Republicans are fighting for — lining the pockets of their billionaire donors while children go hungry and families get kicked off their health care,” Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement.
Republicans have defended the megabill, arguing it protects Medicaid for those who need it most and makes the program more sustainable, while averting tax hikes for millions of Americans and leading to substantial economic growth.
The analysis, which weighed the impact of the legislation’s tax, Medicaid and SNAP food aid policies and how they could influence states’ finances, found that household resources would fall by about 2 percent of income for the lowest-income 10 percent of households by 2027, and 4 percent by 2033. That’s largely due to changes to Medicaid and SNAP policy that would lead to nearly a trillion dollars less in federal spending on those programs.
But the top 10 percent of households would see their household resources rise 4 percent by 2027 and 2 percent in 2033, “mainly because of reductions in the taxes they owe,” CBO said.
House Republicans’ package has trillions in tax cuts, along with some targeted tax hikes intended to help offset some of the cost. It also would make major changes to Medicaid, including new work requirements and other policies that CBO has estimated would lead to millions losing coverage.
House leaders are pushing for a final vote on the bill as soon as Wednesday.
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Yartapuulti (Port Adelaide) set to make at least four changes for clash with Walyalup (Fremantle) on Saturday
Yartapuulti (Port Adelaide) set to make at least four changes for clash with Walyalup (Fremantle) on Saturday
Yartapuulti (Port Adelaide) are bracing for mass change ahead of their clash with Walyalup (Fremantle) at Optus Stadium on Saturday night.
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Lies of P’s expansion will allow players to replay old bosses, and introduces a boss rush mode
Lies of P’s expansion will allow players to replay old bosses, and introduces a boss rush mode
Lies of P: Overture will introduce the ability to replay boss fights, and a new boss rush mode, it’s been confirmed.
Players will be able to progress through five tiers of difficulty. Initially, the bosses can be played on tiers 1, 2, and 3, with tiers 4 and 5 only being unlocked when a player completes the previous level. Bosses in the Battle Memories mode will also have unique stats that change based on the tier.
Lies of P: Overture will also introduce Death March, a new mode that will see players attempt to take down as many bosses as they can using a limited pool of health and items. There will be bespoke rewards for both of these modes. However, these haven’t yet been announced.
The expansion is planned for release this Summer on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.
Lies of P: Overture will also introduce difficulty levels to the series for the first time.
VGC recently got the chance to play Lies of P: Overture, as well as the new Battle Memories mode.
“A sequel to Lies of P is currently in development, and Lies of P: Overture serves as a great intermission between the two acts,” reads our preview.
“The zoo is a great location for an expansion, and extremely well designed, and the new additions to the enemy roster will give players dozens of new patterns to learn and attacks to dodge.
“Lies of P’s new difficulty system is perhaps the most interesting addition of the whole package, and one that has the potential to bring a new audience to a beloved genre. At the same time, the harder difficulty levels of the new Battle Memories mode will give players a chance to sharpen their skills before the full sequel to the game arrives.”
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Ancient Greeks Spoke of ‘Laws of Nature’ Long Before Newton, New Study Finds
Ancient Greeks Spoke of ‘Laws of Nature’ Long Before Newton, New Study Finds
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; the Socratic philosophers in ancient Greece. Credit: S. Perquin / CC BY-SA 4.0
Long before Newton and Descartes shaped our modern view of science, ancient Greek philosophers were already thinking about the laws that govern the natural world. Contrary to what many scholars believed for decades, new research shows that several ancient Greek philosophers not only described such laws, but they even called them “laws of nature.”
Jacqueline Feke, a philosopher at the University of Waterloo, led a detailed investigation into writings by ancient philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Philo of Alexandria, Nicomachus of Gerasa, and Galen. Her study challenges the long-standing belief that the idea of natural laws first emerged in early modern Europe.
Historians often traced the concept of natural laws to Christian philosophers of the 17th century. These laws were seen as decrees of a divine lawgiver, God, acting freely and without limits. This thinking, it was argued, could not have existed in pagan Greek philosophy. But Feke’s findings paint a different picture.
Challenging the traditional timeline of natural law
She found that some Greek philosophers clearly used the phrase “laws of nature,” especially in discussions tied to mathematics and medicine. Their works suggest a belief in consistent, universal patterns in nature — the very traits that later became the foundation for modern science.
One of the earliest examples comes from Plato. In his dialogue Timaeus, he links human disease to violations of what he calls the “laws of nature.”
Ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Credit: lentina_x. / CC BY 2.0
Blood, he explains, must be nourished properly. If it isn’t, harmful substances spread through the body, disrupting its natural balance. In this case, the law of nature is not fixed or unbreakable — it can be violated, leading to illness.
Plato’s student Aristotle also mentions “laws of nature.” He attributes the idea to the Pythagoreans, a group known for their mystical belief in numbers. Aristotle describes how the number three — representing a beginning, middle, and end — was seen as a kind of natural law shaping the universe.
Philo and Nicomachus extend the tradition
Later philosophers built on these ideas. Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher influenced by Greek philosophy, wrote that the universe was created in line with unchangeable laws of nature. He described a world shaped not by chance, but by divine reason and order.
Nicomachus of Gerasa, a philosopher from the second century, took the concept even further. His work, ‘Introduction to Arithmetic,’ describes natural laws in mathematical terms.
Illustration of Nicomachus and Plato depicted as inventors of music. Credits: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
These laws, he says, govern numbers and the universe itself. He called them “natural” because they were not invented by humans but revealed through reason and observation.
Feke explained that Nicomachus’ laws were mathematical, universal, and necessary — the same qualities that define the scientific laws we know today.
Galen and the medical view of natural law
Even the physician Galen, famous for his medical writings, used the term “law of nature.” For him, it described the body’s healthy function. When that natural order was disrupted, disease followed.
Feke’s research suggests that these ideas did not arise in isolation. Many of the philosophers she studied drew from the Platonic and Pythagorean traditions. Both schools of thought saw order and harmony as central to the universe, beliefs that paved the way for thinking in terms of rules or laws.
Galen, the pioneering Greek physician who influenced Western medicine through the 1700s. Portrait by Pierre-Roch Vigneron. Credit: Public Domain
This rediscovery matters because it shifts our understanding of intellectual history. The belief that nature operates by fixed principles may not have begun with modern science. It may have roots reaching back to the very origins of Western philosophy.
Whether these early ideas directly influenced later scientists like Kepler and Newton remains a question for further study. But Feke’s work makes one thing clear: the ancient Greek philosophers were not strangers to the idea of laws in nature — they were early architects of it.
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Northern Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly dies at 75
Northern Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly dies at 75
Gerry Connolly, a longtime Democratic member of Congress from Northern Virginia known for his advocacy of the federal workforce, died Wednesday. He was 75 years old.
The longtime lawmaker’s death was announced by his family via a statement from his congressional office.
“We were fortunate to share Gerry with Northern Virginia for nearly 40 years because that was his joy, his purpose, and his passion,” the family said in its statement. “His absence will leave a hole in our hearts, but we are proud that his life’s work will endure for future generations.”
On April 28, Connolly said he would not seek reelection in 2026 and also said he would step down from his role as the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, saying his esophageal ******* had returned.
“The sun is setting on my time in public service, and this will be my last term in Congress,” he said in an email to his constituents, adding: “You all have been a joy to serve.”
Connolly had first revealed in November 2024 that he was being treated for *******. But only weeks later, he won the nod to be the ranking Democrat on the Oversight panel, defeating Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in a closed door caucus vote.
The former chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors represented a Virginia district that was heavy on government workers, and he never flagged in his support for them.
“I also have one of the highest education levels of any district in the United States,” he said when seeking reelection in 2010. “They know how they’re employed; they know what generates economic activity. And it isn’t to say we embrace big bad government, not at all. We care about the deficit. I’m a deficit hawk. We believe the budget ought to come closer to balance — but not with a meat cleaver, with a scalpel.”
With President Donald Trump in office, the always expressive Connolly became one of the leading defenders of those who worked for the U.S. government. “Since day one,” he said in May 2025, “Trump and DOGE have wasted no time attacking the federal workforce, mercilessly slashing funding for life-saving services, and ripping away Americans’ access to basic necessities.”
Another area of interest was the world at large, all parts of it.
From 1979 to 1989, Connolly had served as staffer on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, publishing reports on American policy around the globe. In Congress, he served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and in multiple congressional caucuses focused on relations with specific nations. In 2024, he was elected acting president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an organization meant to respond to problems faced by member states of the transatlantic alliance.
“He has been relentless in his pursuit of establishing a Centre for Democratic Resilience at NATO headquarters, which will recognize the importance of strengthening democratic institutions across NATO allies and partner nations,” said Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a former NATO Parliamentary Assembly president, in April 2025.
Gerald Edward Connolly was born March 30, 1950, in Boston; like many Bostonians, his family had connections to the Kennedys.
“My dad was many things,” Connolly said when his father died in 2016, “a Boston Democratic ward committeeman and a delegate to the 1962 state convention that nominated Ted Kennedy to the U.S. Senate, which instilled a passion for politics and public service that remains with his family.”
The younger Connolly considered the priesthood, studying for several years at a seminary. “I wanted to be a priest. I grew up in an Irish Catholic home and was the product of a Catholic education. I liked the message of the church and wanted to help other people,” he said in a 2012 interview.
But, Connolly said, he came to believe the church was not political enough on the big issues of the day (including the Vietnam War), so he charted a new course. Connolly studied literature at Maryknoll College in Illinois, then headed to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
At the time of the 2012 interview, Connolly seemed to think he’d taken the right path.
“I’ve never lost an election,” he told James Cullum, “and that’s everything from being the president of my high school, president of my college, president of my graduate school at Harvard, a twice-elected national delegate, president of my freshman class in Congress and I’ve won eight elections. This will be my ninth. But I’m very wonkish. I really love public policy.”
Among those elections were the 1995 one that got elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the 2003 one that elevated him to the chair of the board and his 2008 race for an open House seat in which he defeated Republican Keith Fimian.
In a rematch in 2010, he barely beat Fimian in one of the closest races in the nation. “While trees were falling all over the woods, this one didn’t,” Connolly said after Fimian conceded.
Though Connolly won, that 2010 election did bring a new Republican House majority — and battles over cutting federal spending at least partially through reductions in the size of the government workforce. “The other side has decided they’re an easy punching bag, and it is outrageous on many, many scores,” he said in March 2012.
“He’s always been somebody that we could lean on,” Doreen P. Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, told The Washington Post at the time Connolly announced he was retiring.
Those fights over the size of the government would continue during the non-consecutive Trump presidencies. Connolly personally was not a fan of Trump. “I mean no disrespect,” he said of his decision to skip the 2017 inauguration. “This is about his behavior and his words that have caused so much harm.”
Connolly supported both the 2019 and 2021 efforts to impeach Trump.
“To extort a foreign country to investigate your political opponent is an unconstitutional abuse of power,” he said in December 2019. “To solicit foreign interference in an American election is an unconstitutional abuse of power.”
After Trump won a second term in 2024, Connolly was elected by his fellow House Democrats as their leader on the Oversight Committee. He promised to respond to whatever Republicans threw at them.
“He’s bright, he’s witty,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) at the time. “I’ve seen him on the Foreign Affairs committee, taking charge of the issue, particularly when the Republicans are overstepping, etc., as well as doing it in a way that brings us all together.”
While strongly partisan, Connolly drew praise not only from Democrats but from those on the other side of the aisle.
“We don’t always agree, but I will tell you, I think he is a tremendous legislator,” said committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) when Connolly announced his ******* had returned. “I think that Ranking Member Connolly is a role model for what a good member of Congress should be.”
For his part, Connolly advocated civility as an important element of life on Capitol Hill.
“Others may see political advantage in shouting, denigrating, and bitter ad hominem attacks. But they damage this House — the people’s House — when they do,” Connolly advised newly elected lawmakers in November 2010. “Civility and humor are all too often in short supply, but they have more positive staying powers.”
Two years later, he said his life in the public eye had transformed him from an introvert to “much more on the extroverted side.” Connolly seemed fine with that.
“I’m a big believer of what Teddy Roosevelt talked about — always being in the arena, not being one of those timid souls on the sidelines,” he said.
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Bluesky CEO Jay Graber On Building A Better Social Ecosystem
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber On Building A Better Social Ecosystem
Wired Senior Writer Katie Knibbs interviews Bluesky CEO Jay Graber about the burgeoning social platform and its future. Director: Justin Wolfson Director of Photography: Mark Simon Editor: Richard Trammell; Louis Lalire Host: Kate Knibbs Guest: Jay Graber Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen Associate Producer: Brandon White Production Manager: Peter Brunette Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark Camera Operator: Howard Shack Sound Mixer: Jim Sander Production Assistant: Dexter Shack Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin Post Production Coordinator: Stella Shortino Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Video Transcript
– Bluesky’s for everyone.
When we think that over time the broader public conversation needs to be on an open protocol, which is what we’re built on.
– I’m Wired senior writer Kate Nibs.
Today I sat down with Bluesky, CEO Jay Graber.
We discuss how influencers are joining the platform, Bluesky’s relationship with news media and whether she would welcome President Trump to Bluesky.
This is “The Big Interview.”
[upbeat music] Jay, thank you so much for joining me today.
– Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
– So last time we talked in December, I believe Bluesky had just surpassed 24, 25 million users.
Where are you today?
– 34.6 million users.
– What milestones are you hoping to hit by the end of 2025?
– There’s a lot of new features that we’re launching and we’re excited to expand a lot.
I think getting in some of the things we’ve been talking about for a long time.
Like communities.
– Or what does that look like?
– Yeah, communities is a way that people are already using feeds.
A lot of people don’t realize that Bluesky is a bit like Reddit and Twitter at the same time because you can build feeds that are essentially communities like the science feed is run by scientists, moderated by scientists and has its own rules.
And so this is something that you can do, but you have to go outside the app to do it right now.
And so we’ve talked to people who are running these feeds and they would like better tooling for making these into communities in the app.
And so that’s the big idea, which is essentially just making it easier to create and run a custom feed, which is an interface you can install into the app that’s like your own timeline and run that like a community of your own.
– When you say you have to go outside of the app, what does that mean?
– There’s third party services that have built feed builders services like Sky Feeds or Grays.
They let you create feeds without knowing how to code and you can say, I want this list of people to contribute to my feed.
You can post into it with this hashtag or this emoji and then you run it essentially like it’s a service that you’re providing other people, other people can install it, subscribe to it, pin it to the homepage of their app.
– Any timeline for when this is coming?
– Well, you asked about the end of the year, so I think that’s the, the most concrete timeline we can give at the moment.
– And I know that you recently rolled out video as a feature, which we’re very excited about.
I think a lot of people already conceptualize Bluesky as sort of a X competitor, but now are you gunning for TikTok too?
– We are, as you know, built on an open protocol and so other apps are starting to fill in these open spaces.
There is an app called Skylight that has just gotten 150,000 users and this is more of a straight TikTok alternative.
It lets you post short form videos, you know, edit them in app, create them.
There’s these other apps springing up now on the same protocol like Skylight, like flashes for photos that do different things.
And the great thing about this being an open protocol means that you can move from Bluesky over to Skylight Social and keep your followers.
So they go with you across these applications.
– So when you say they go with me, if I’m going to port my followers over or even just join these new apps, how would I do that?
Like do I actually go into the app store and download something new or how does it work?
– Yeah, you download Skylight from the app store and then you log in with your Bluesky username if you wanna link them together.
If you don’t want to link them, you can create a new account, but if you link them, you have the same number of followers and the photos or videos that you post to Skylight will also show up in Bluesky or vice versa.
And like over time the apps can decide is everything going to, you know, be shared across or is there gonna be some stuff that’s separate?
But right now it’s sort of just a shared data layer where you can have people seeing your videos on Bluesky, even if they’re posted on Skylight.
– And so does the Bluesky team have anything to do with the development of Skylight or is it totally separate?
– It’s totally separate.
– Do you know know who developed it at all?
Like what are your relationships like with the people who are developing different apps on the protocol?
– There was recently a conference called the Atmosphere Conference.
We call the atmosphere the broader ecosystem of applications around the AT protocol, which is the layer Bluesky is built on.
And we met a lot of folks there who are building even apps we didn’t know were being built.
So there’s private messengers being built, new forms of moderation tools.
There’s a lot of ones out there that are innovating on new forms of social built on this shared layer because they can immediately tap into the Bluesky user base and just add features on rather than having to start from zero.
So that’s the benefit to developers of building in an open ecosystem.
You don’t have to start from zero each time you start over and now you have 34.6 million users to tap into.
– So I know there’s Bluesky the app and then it’s built on this app protocol and that’s how all of these people are developing these new cool video and photo apps and everything.
So the teams are separate.
As the CEO of Bluesky, like if one of the video apps were to go mega viral and surpass Bluesky wildly, et cetera, would that help you or would it just sort of be a wash for you?
– It would help us because these are shared backends if you recall.
So that means that all those videos would be being able to be viewed on Bluesky too.
It’d probably change the way that people could interact over on Bluesky because all this content would be coming in from another application, just like all the content created on Bluesky can be borrowed over there.
We can borrow from the other apps as well.
And then it means that, you know, if they’re building on our services over time, one of the pathways to monetization we’ve mentioned is developer services.
So building out infrastructure for new apps to get started.
Sort of like a fire base for social, if you will, where you get new apps off the ground and then you know, provide infrastructure to them.
– So I’ve noticed that there has been sort of an influx of big creators onto Bluesky, but right now there’s no direct way for creators to monetize their work on Bluesky in the way that there is on say YouTube.
Are you working on ways to change that?
– Yeah, one things that we’ve seen is that we’re not giving creators money but we’re giving them really great traffic and that can convert to money because if you are a YouTube creator or you have a Patreon and you’re posting your Patreon link, one big thing is we don’t down rank links and so you’re getting higher link traffic on Bluesky, even with a smaller follower count.
This is true of small creators and even news organizations have been reporting this difference in engagement and click-through numbers.
We’ve heard from large news organizations that Bluesky is giving better click-throughs and subscription rates and so this converts to money once you get people onto your site.
So I think this is one of the big benefits we’re leaning into right now is just giving people that direct traffic, that direct relationship with their audience and giving them the ability to monetize however they want.
Down the road we might introduce other mechanisms, but right now it’s just about being the best platform to serve creators needs in terms of giving them attention, giving them engagement and giving them the ability to move with their followers right?
So as I mentioned before, if you’re a video creator and you do some content on Bluesky to build up a following and then you download Skylight and you start posting different kinds of content over there, you can have that follow graph just go with you and start building on it.
So it’s cumulative rather than also as a creator starting from scratch each app you move to.
– I love that as someone who’s jumped from app to app in the past, that sounds very helpful.
And when you were talking about traffic for traditional news organizations, I know that traditionally the news media and social media have had sort of an antagonistic relationship.
Like it’s been obviously a huge driver of traffic for news outlets, but then they’re sort of beholden to people like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk and what they wanna do to the news.
Do you have a broader vision for how you want Bluesky to interact with like the information ecosystem or the news media?
– Yeah, we want to create a more direct relationship again and be the place where we make those relationships happen.
And so rather than being the single feed that all user attention passes through where small algorithm changes can affect how much traffic a news organization is getting, we want to give direct traffic to news orgs and even let them do things like build their own feeds or link their domain directly as their username, clicking that just clicks you directly through to your site.
You can also right now create verified news feeds.
Some people have been building these in the community and so users can just scroll through all the news articles being posted.
This means that you’re getting direct traffic because you’re not depending on the algorithm, which might be at any given moment showing more or less news to a given user.
If the users are interested they can just subscribe to a newsfeed and see all the articles being published on Bluesky in one place.
– So recently there’s been a pretty noticeable influx of ******* name celebrities on the app, including some of the biggest names in democratic politics like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton just joined for instance.
Are you doing anything to court the celebrities or really famous influencers?
– We’re doing some community outreach.
We’ve had a very community driven growth strategy and so we’re seeing a lot of growth in sectors with maybe not as big celebrities, but a lot of traction in areas like you know, sports media.
For example, Mina Kimes, a sports reporter came on and she created a starter pack which got a lot of follows very quickly because when you create starter packs, which are essentially lists of accounts that bundle together everyone in a given field, when new people come on through that link, they’re following all of them at once.
So that’s been a way that communities have been onboarding outside of, you know, politics or like even large celebrities, we have game devs, we have sports, we have science.
Lots of these different interests are kind of starting with people building custom starter packs and then bringing on folks directly into their community.
– Some of these ******* name people who are joining, you know, they do tend to be liberal politicians when they’re politicians.
I’m wondering, would you welcome President Trump if he was debating joining Bluesky?
– Yeah, Bluesky’s for everyone, you know, and we think that over time the broader public conversation needs to be on an open protocol, which is what we’re built on because that lets people choose their own moderation preferences.
It lets people choose their own feed preferences and things can evolve without it being a binary choice, which is like everyone has to adhere to this set of moderation rules or that one you can have customization both within the app and outside of it.
Right now, you know, it’s people who feel that there’s more direct benefits to being on here if you are a creator or somebody who wants to have a direct relationship with your audience.
But over time the benefit of this protocol based approach I think will extend to all sorts of social media users.
– So right now we’re in this moment where free speech is under threat and free speech on the internet is under threat.
I’m wondering how you envision Bluesky’s relationship to speech, including political speech and what your obligations are to your users and I guess to the internet at large.
– I think building on an open protocol like we’ve done is the most enduring foundation for speech because what we’re doing is creating a digital commons of user data where you really get to control your own identity and your data.
And then we’re building, you know, infrastructure that I hope stays around for a really long time because Bluesky, the app is just one site where speech can happen and all these other apps are showing that you can have an ecosystem of a lot of different applications.
This is like the web itself.
Early on we had AOL and accessing the internet happen through AOL and if the AOL web portal wasn’t showing you something, it would be a lot harder to find and then more unopinionated browsers came along and these just linked you out to the broader internet and now anyone can put up a blog and host their own views online.
And then there’s larger websites if you want to, you know, be on Substack or Medium, but you can either self-host or choose one of these, this is the kind of ecosystem we’re building, anyone can self-host.
And then the question of, you know, freedom of speech not reach is made very tangible because then the sites like the sort of mediums of the world that host a lot of blogs get to choose their moderation rules, but if individuals are unhappy with that, they can start a new site or host their own blog.
– For people who might not be familiar with the phrase freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.
Could you explain it?
– Yeah, this was a principle that old Twitter talked about early on and when we were spinning out of Twitter, I never worked for Twitter, but we opened up this new design space around Bluesky, which was how do we embed that into a protocol layer?
So the freedom of speech is embedded in the protocol.
Anyone can do the equivalent of standing up a new blog and then the sites like Bluesky, which are the applications, get to decide, you know, how are we going to prioritize reach, you know, we do have a default algorithm but you can choose any other algorithm you want.
And so we don’t necessarily show everything in the algorithm or the default service, but if you want to find something elsewhere, you can go elsewhere in the ecosystem to find it.
That means that you have the pathways that the apps are deciding what is going to be most accessible and then if you want to change the rules you can build another thing and that’s guarantee of freedom of speech is being always able to build your own thing or find your own space that serves you the most.
– So as you’re scaling up, I know that you hired additional moderators to tackle some of the necessary moderation challenges like CSAM.
How challenging is it as as you’re scaling up to sort of balance offering this level of customization with just the sort of basic things you need to do as a social network for everyone?
Like you know, keep ************ off for example?
– Yeah, I mean we’re running a foundational moderation service, so we get to choose the rules within the Bluesky app and like I said, you can fork off do your own thing, but within the parameters of Bluesky we’re setting what the rules are and so we employ moderation team to do this.
We face some of the same challenges as centralized social apps because to run a centralized moderation team you’re doing a lot of the same kinds of work.
And so I would say it’s, it’s very similar at the base layer and then we have this extra options that we’ve layered on top for users to choose their own spaces.
And in some cases that means that users are able to resolve things more locally.
So for example, within the feeds that run a bit like communities, you can moderate things, resolve things locally, but still it’s a broader Bluesky application has its own set of rules.
– How many countries are you operating in right now or do you have users everywhere?
– We have a lot of users in different countries.
Some of the biggest are the US of course, Japan, Brazil, and various countries in the EU.
– Are there unique challenges in certain locations and if so, what are they?
– Each place has their own regulatory guidelines and you know, we try to be in compliance and that’s part of being a global company is just learning to operate in different places.
I think over the long run there will be applications just like Skylight is targeted towards video, maybe there’s applications targeted towards different markets.
Early on we saw several Japanese users build Japan focused applications before we had gotten internationalization into the app.
So you know, different languages depending on where you’re based, people built their own apps to do that.
So that’s an example of how you can customize things to your own local market.
– Speaking of local markets, we’re in Seattle, which is where you are based, but is Bluesky currently remote forward workspace?
How are you guys set up?
– We’re a fully remote team and part of the reason for this is we wanted to hire people who care deeply about the mission and are really aligned in what we’re doing.
Have some of the experience in social, have experience in open protocols and that combination is rare and hard to find.
So if we tried to hire all in one city, we wouldn’t be getting the best people out there.
But as it is, we’ve hired from several different countries all over the United States because there’s people all over that are interested in the vision of what we’re building.
– And what brought you to Seattle originally?
– I moved here during the pandemic.
I was previously in San Francisco and it’s a really nice city.
I mean the nature, the water, the mountains, it’s a place where nature is really accessible and I really like that.
– And I understand that you have a background in crypto.
I know that the largest investor in Bluesky is a venture capital firm that sort of specializes in crypto investing.
Does Bluesky have more in common with a crypto startup than one might like originally suspect?
– Well the term Web3 got very associated with cryptocurrency, so it’s not a good word to use for what we’re doing anymore because there isn’t a blockchain or a cryptocurrency involved.
But if you wanna think about Web3 as evolving the social Web2 version forward, that kind of is what we’re doing.
We’re evolving forward social media that was based in centralized companies into something that is open and distributed and that was some of the goals underlying the Web3 movement that had a lot of blockchains involved.
We just didn’t build on that technical foundation of a blockchain because we didn’t need it.
You can achieve a lot of the same things using open web principles and more Web 1.0 kinds of technology, which is, for example, our identity system let’s you use a domain name as your username so you can be like wired.com as your username.
That’s just a web 1.0 technology brought into a social media sphere.
And so I think our investors really saw that vision and they’re also excited about building out the broader dev ecosystem, which is something we really wanted alignment on.
We want investors who care about seeing this entire world of social media come to life, not just one application Bluesky succeeding.
– Yeah.
What would building out the dev ecosystem look like?
– It’s starting to happen.
So the Atmosphere Conference, which I mentioned was started and run by the community.
We heard about it partway through and sponsored it, but they found other sponsors as well.
And it’s something that’s taking off sort of as a movement of people to reclaim social and Bluesky and the Open Protocol is a great place to do a lot of this building.
People are getting in and starting to build different applications, starting to propose new ways the protocol could be evolved.
Private data for example, is not something that we have in Bluesky at the moment as part of the protocol, but people are proposing new ways to do private data for their applications that they’re building.
And so moving forward the app protocol, I don’t think all the development will just be within the Bluesky company.
It’ll be other people building their own applications and then modifying the protocol and suggesting changes that meet the needs of what they’re trying to do.
– And when you say the Bluesky company, like would you be the CEO of all of this or just the platform?
– I am just the CEO of Bluesky Social.
So we have built out the app protocol and we maintain the Bluesky application.
So we’ll always maintain the Bluesky app, but the app protocol is going to take on a life of its own.
Pieces of it are going to be standardized, pieces of it are going to be stewarded by the community and it’s going to evolve in different directions as the new people who are getting involved shape it.
– Right now you do have some investor money.
Is your stance on advertising still the same?
Where are you with subscriptions?
Basically this is me asking you how are you planning to make money?
– Yeah, subscriptions are actually coming soon as well.
So that got delayed for a few months last year doing our growth spurt, but we’re re-approaching how we’re gonna do them and I think the next steps down the road are also to look into what kind of marketplaces can we build that span some of these different applications.
There’s other apps in the ecosystem that are experimenting with say, you know, placing sponsored posts in feeds and things like that.
I’ve mentioned before, I think ads eventually in some form work their way into an attention economy, but we’re not gonna do ads the way traditional social apps did because we don’t have a single feed and the traditional ad model is usually getting everyone to spend as much time engaged on a single feed as possible and then putting ads in there.
Since we have lots of different feeds.
Even if we did that, you could switch away and use a different feed because this one has too many ads.
And so it kind of constrains the open model of what we’ve done, constraints what we can do.
We’ll just let people experiment and see what comes out of it.
– Some people watching this video might not be super familiar with Bluesky.
What do you want people to know about this platform?
– I’d want them to know this is a choose your own adventure game so you can get in there and customize the experience as much as you want.
And if you’re not finding what you want within the Bluesky app, there might be another app out there that is still part of the Bluesky at protocol ecosystem that will give you what you want.
Like if it’s you know, videos or images or maybe a different kind of feed experience, like let’s say the Discover Feed isn’t giving you what you want, you can install a different one and find the stuff you want and if you can’t find it, you can build it.
And so the options are really endless.
I think it takes some time to get in there and really set things up the way that you like it, but then once you do, it’s a great place to be because you don’t get this level of control anywhere else.
– I mean you’ve kind of sold me on becoming an app developer for this protocol.
I might be making a career pivot soon, so thank you.
– Yeah, I think there’s lots of technical folks who watch, you know, Wired interviews as well and I would just love for them to know that this is an open field to build on.
This is like early social era where you can build anything on fully open APIs.
– Well thank you again for joining us.
– Thank you.
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