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State-owned airline Qatar Airways has signed an agreement to buy 210 aircraft from United States manufacturer Boeing, coinciding with President Donald Trump’s visit to Qatar as part of his tour of the Gulf region. Trump and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, witnessed the signing ceremony in Doha on Wednesday. The White House said that the deal for the Boeing 777X and 787 planes with GE Aerospace engines was worth $96bn. Trump said Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who signed the deal with Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer next to Trump and the emir, told him: “It’s…

BOSTON (AP) — A Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher, who was already facing deportation back to Russia, was charged Wednesday with trying to smuggle frog embryos into the country.Kseniia Petrova, 30, was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her February arrest. She continues to await a judge’s decision on whether she will be deported to Russia, where she fears she will be imprisoned or worse. A hearing on her case was held Wednesday in Vermont.But in the case’s latest twist, federal prosecutors charged her with one count of smuggling goods into the United…

OpenAI is releasing its GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini AI models in ChatGPT, the company announced in a post on X Wednesday. The GPT-4.1 models should help software engineers who are using ChatGPT to write or debug code, OpenAI spokesperson Shaokyi Amdo told TechCrunch. GPT-4.1 excels at coding and instruction following compared to GPT-4o, according to OpenAI, but is faster than its o-series of reasoning models. The company says it’s now rolling out GPT-4.1 to subscribers to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team. Meanwhile, OpenAI is releasing GPT-4.1 mini for free and paying users of ChatGPT. As a result of this update,…

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s only public historically Black university could soon be run by an ally of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has restricted the teaching of African American history and banned public colleges from using taxpayer money on diversity programs. Marva Johnson, a lobbyist and executive for the telecom company Charter Communications and a former member of the state Board of Education, has been named one of the four finalists to be the next president of Florida A&M University. Students rallied against her candidacy on campus Wednesday, while she was interviewed by the school’s board of trustees. A…

Google is baking its most aggressive security settings yet into Android 16, rolling out an ‘Advanced Protection’ mode aimed at blocking mobile malware exploits from commercial spyware vendors and scammers. The setting, which resembles Apple’s iOS Lockdown Mode, bundles multiple safeguards under a single toggle and is aimed at journalists, officials and other high-risk users who have become prime targets for mobile malware implants. Once enabled, Google said the new Advanced Protection will enforce mandatory Verified Boot, exploit-mitigating Memory Tagging, automatic blocking of risky USB connections and 2G-only networks, and a blanket ban on sideloading or disabling Play Protect while…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday told Congress the Trump administration would not cut funding for Head Start, after layoffs at the agency and funding freezes raised fears the six-decade-old program would be radically downsized.In an appearance before a Senate subcommittee, Kennedy said the administration would “emphasize healthy eating in Head Start, and ensure the program continues to serve its 750,000 children and parents effectively.”The early education program, which serves children from low-income and homeless families around the country, grapples with staffing shortages and many centers operate in a perpetual state of…

Donald Trump has continued his tour of the Middle East with a stop in Qatar, marking the first time a United States president has made an official state visit to the Gulf country. But just before he boarded Air Force One to fly into the Qatari capital of Doha, Trump made history in another way: He took his first-ever meeting with Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. Wednesday marked the halfway point in Trump’s four-day trip, which included an opening stop in Saudi Arabia and will conclude in the United Arab Emirates. And as with his other stops, Trump underscored warming…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University is putting up $250 million of its own money to continue research efforts amid a federal funding freeze imposed by the Trump administration, but the school’s president warns of “difficult decisions and sacrifices” to come.The university joins a growing number of colleges moving to self-fund research as a way to compensate for at least some of the money lost to federal funding cuts. Johns Hopkins University has started offering grants of up to $150,000 a year to faculty facing “unexpected federal research funding disruptions.” Northwestern University said it’s covering the cost of research projects that…

Hitachi ZeroCarbon has announced a strategic partnership with global banking group MUFG to accelerate the electrification of commercial vehicle fleets by combining technological innovation with financial strength.The collaboration aims to eliminate the two most significant barriers to widespread EV adoption—upfront capital investment and operational complexity.The joint initiative targets fleet operators under pressure to decarbonise within tight regulatory and environmental deadlines. Transitioning from diesel-powered vehicles to electric fleets is a capital-intensive process, requiring investments in new vehicles, charging infrastructure, and workforce training. Many businesses face delays in embracing the EV shift due to these financial and operational challenges.By joining forces, Hitachi…

The UK’s carbon credit industry has the potential to become a key pillar of the country’s economy, with a new report suggesting it could support 135,000 skilled jobs and generate £1bn in tax revenue by 2035.According to BeZero Carbon, a global carbon ratings agency, the emerging market could also attract £10bn in private capital annually, rivaling the UK Government’s current international aid spending.The findings were published in BeZero Carbon’s latest paper, From risk to reward: Making the UK the carbon markets capital of the world. Released as the UK Government continues its consultation on the future of carbon and nature…