Category: 2. World

The White House has instructed the General Services Administration (GSA) to fast-track the approval of Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot for federal procurement.

The internal emails obtained by WIRED authenticates the news. 

In emails, officials used a directive “ASAP” that signals a sudden reversal after the Grok was removed earlier due to consideration for espousing antisemitic content.

The Federal Acquisition Service commissioner, Josh Gruenbaum, wrote in the email, “Team: Grok/xAI needs to go back on the schedule ASAP per the WH. Can someone get with Carahsoft on this immediately and please confirm?”

It highlights that the staff is instructed to coordinate with government contractor Carahsoft to add Grok to the GSA Advantage Marketplace.

“Should be all of their products we had previously (3 & 4),” the email continued.

The GSA Advantage Marketplace is an online portal for federal agencies to purchase goods and services. On Friday, August 19, 2025, the products were listed and available for government purchase.

The move came months after a planned partnership with xAI collapsed. The primary reason for the cancellation of the deal was Musk’s social platform X (formerly known as Twitter) was reported to have praised Adolf Hilter and promoted other antisemitic beliefs.

Considering this, GSA officials removed Grok from its list of approved vendors.

The sudden shift in decision has raised eyebrows among the federal workers, given the chatbot’s history of erratic behaviour.

It also confirms the persistent influence of Musk’s associates within Trump administration specially in the Department of Government Efficiency (DODGE), which supports the AI-first agenda considering it a cost-cutting solution. 

On August 30, 2025, the hashtag #TrumpIsDead began trending across social media platforms, particularly X, causing widespread speculation about the health of US President Donald Trump.

The trend coincided with an unexpected outage of the White House’s official live stream, which displayed a message stating, “Stay tuned – we’ll be live again shortly.”

_{-The White House}

This technical issue added fuel to the growing rumors, with some users interpreting it as a sign of concern over the president’s well-being.

The speculation intensified after President Trump maintained an unusually low public profile, breaking from his typical pattern of frequent appearances.

Social media users began sharing unverified claims and videos, while remarks by Vice President JD Vance in an interview with USA today, intended as routine comments on presidential succession, were misinterpreted as confirmation of the rumors.

As of now, there has been no official statement from the White House or President Trump addressing the rumors.

The lack of public appearances and the temporary live stream outage have contributed to speculation, but there is no credible evidence confirming the president’s death.

The online reaction has ranged from concern and disbelief to criticism of the rapid spread of misinformation.

DONALD TRUMP’S beloved tariffs have been dealt a blow. On August 29th, a month after the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals voiced scepticism about the president’s authority to refashion America’s trade policy, a majority of that court upheld a three-judge panel’s judgment that Mr Trump cannot single-handedly rejig America’s tariff schedules. Does this mean the president will be forced to back down?

India will not “bow down” and instead focus on capturing new markets, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in his first public remarks since Washington imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods.

The 50 per cent levies on many Indian imports into the United States took effect this week as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of US efforts to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.

Since his return to the White House this year, US President Donald Trump has wielded tariffs as a wide-ranging policy tool, with the levies upending global trade.

Speaking at a construction industry event in New Delhi on Friday, Goyal said India was “always ready if anyone wants to have a free trade agreement with us”.

But, the trade minister added, India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak”. “We will continue to move together and capture new markets.”

The latest tariffs salvo from Trump has strained US-India ties, with New Delhi earlier criticising the levies as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

Trade talks between the two countries have stumbled over agriculture and dairy markets.

Trump wants greater US access, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is determined to shield India’s farmers, a huge voter bloc.

The US was India’s top export destination in 2024, with shipments worth $87.3 billion.

But analysts have cautioned that a 50pc duty is akin to a trade embargo and is likely to harm smaller firms.

Exporters of textiles, seafood and jewelry have already reported cancelled US orders and losses to rivals such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, raising fears of heavy job cuts.

Goyal said the government would be coming out with several measures in the coming days to support every sector and boost exports.

“I can say with confidence that India’s exports this year will exceed 2024-25 numbers,” he said.

India will not “bow down” and instead focus on capturing new markets, trade minister Piyush Goyal said in his first public remarks since Washington imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods.

The 50% levies on many Indian imports into the United States took effect this week as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of US efforts to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.

Since his return to the White House this year, US President Donald Trump has wielded tariffs as a wide-ranging policy tool, with the levies upending global trade.

Speaking at a construction industry event in New Delhi on Friday, Goyal said India was “always ready if anyone wants to have a free trade agreement with us”.

But, he added, India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak”.

“We will continue to move together and capture new markets.”

The latest tariffs salvo from Trump has strained US-India ties, with New Delhi earlier criticising the levies as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

Trade talks between the two countries have stumbled over agriculture and dairy markets.

Trump wants greater US access, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is determined to shield India’s farmers, a huge voter bloc.

The US was India’s top export destination in 2024, with shipments worth $87.3 billion.

But analysts have cautioned that a 50% duty is akin to a trade embargo and is likely to harm smaller firms.

Exporters of textiles, seafood and jewelry have already reported cancelled US orders and losses to rivals such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, raising fears of heavy job cuts.

Goyal said the government would be coming out with several measures in the coming days to support every sector and boost exports.

“I can say with confidence that India´s exports this year will exceed 2024-25 numbers,” he said.

NEW DELHI: India will not “bow down” and instead focus on capturing new markets, trade minister Piyush Goyal said in his first public remarks since Washington imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods.

The 50-percent levies on many Indian imports into the United States took effect this week as punishment for New Delhi’s massive purchases of Russian oil, part of US efforts to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.

Since his return to the White House this year, US President Donald Trump has wielded tariffs as a wide-ranging policy tool, with the levies upending global trade.

Speaking at a construction industry event in New Delhi on Friday, Goyal said India was “always ready if anyone wants to have a free trade agreement with us”.

India says knock-on impact of US tariffs poses economic challenges

But, he added, India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak”.

“We will continue to move together and capture new markets.”

The latest tariffs salvo from Trump has strained US-India ties, with New Delhi earlier criticising the levies as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

Trade talks between the two countries have stumbled over agriculture and dairy markets.

Trump wants greater US access, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is determined to shield India’s farmers, a huge voter bloc.

The US was India’s top export destination in 2024, with shipments worth $87.3 billion.

India’s economy unexpectedly picks up steam despite Trump’s tariff threats

But analysts have cautioned that a 50-percent duty is akin to a trade embargo and is likely to harm smaller firms.

Exporters of textiles, seafood and jewelry have already reported cancelled US orders and losses to rivals such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, raising fears of heavy job cuts.

Goyal said the government would be coming out with several measures in the coming days to support every sector and boost exports.

“I can say with confidence that India’s exports this year will exceed 2024-25 numbers,” he said.