In The NEWS

The US State Department begins layoffs.

Over 1,300 domestic State Department employees were laid off yesterday as part of the Trump administration’s plans to downsize and reorganize the department. The firings come days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to undertake massive reductions to the federal workforce. A letter sent to Congress in May stated that the administration sought to cut the department’s domestic employees by almost ​​3,400 via layoffs and voluntary departures.



Trump announces 35% tariffs on Canadian imports.

The rate is set to go into effect Aug. 1 and exceeds the 25% tariffs imposed on Canadian goods in February. President Donald Trump cited Canada’s retaliatory tariffs and failure to control fentanyl smuggling to the US as the reason for the increase, though federal data shows relatively little of the drug enters via the northern border. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would continue trade negotiations while defending its national interest.



Son of 'El Chapo' pleads guilty in US drug trafficking case.

Ovidio Guzmán López, son of Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, pleaded guilty in a Chicago federal court Friday to drug trafficking, money laundering, and firearms charges related to leading a Sinaloa cartel faction that smuggled large amounts of fentanyl and other drugs into the US. As part of his plea, Guzmán López admitted to overseeing the production and distribution of narcotics that fueled the ongoing opioid crisis, though terms of his sentencing have not been disclosed. He is the first of the drug lord's sons to enter a plea deal.



Goldman Sachs to pilot an AI software engineer.

The global investment bank announced this week it will begin testing an autonomous software engineer created by Cognition, a $4B AI startup backed by venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale. The program, called Devin, will work alongside the firm’s 12,000 human developers to write code. Goldman's technology chief anticipates Devin, which will initially be supervised by humans, could boost worker productivity fourfold compared to previous AI tools. Goldman is the first major bank to deploy the technology.



Justin Bieber surprises fans with new album.

Canadian singer Justin Bieber released his seventh studio album, "Swag," at midnight yesterday, hours after teasing it on social media and billboards. The album marks the 31-year-old's first in four years. Bieber, who has taken several breaks from music to focus on his health, cut his last tour short in 2022 due to a battle with Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The new album cover appears to show him holding his son, Jack Blues, whom he welcomed last year with his wife, Hailey Rhode Bieber. See Billboard’s preliminary ranking of Bieber’s new songs here.



Dinosaur fossils found in Denver museum’s parking lot.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science, known for its dinosaur exhibits, announced this week the discovery of a dinosaur fossil beneath its parking lot. The bone was unearthed 763 feet below the surface during a construction project in January and is estimated to be nearly 70 million years old, making it the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever discovered within Denver’s city limits. It is currently on display in the museum’s “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibit.

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS