The Daily Populous

Tuesday January 28th, 2025 evening edition

image for White House pauses all federal grants, sowing alarm

Democrats express 'extreme alarm' after White House halts federal grants.

US President Donald Trump has paused grants, loans and other federal assistance, according to a leaked government memo verified by the BBC's US partner, CBS News.

The two-page memo, from the acting head of the White House budget office, instructs agencies to "temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance".

The directive could paralyse billions of dollars meant for federal programmes, from disaster relief to cancer research, though Medicare and social security benefits will not be affected.

In a letter to the White House, top Democratics expressed "extreme alarm".

The memo suggests that the federal government spent $10tn (£8tn) in fiscal year 2024, more than $3tn of which went to federal financial assistance.

The White House has not yet commented officially on the leaked document. »

Poland urges Tesla boycott after Musk’s call to ‘move past’ Nazi guilt

Authored by politico.eu
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His remarks came two days before the 80th anniversary of the the liberation of the Nazi camp at Auschwitz.

Poland lost around 6 million people in the war — half of them Jews, many of whom died in Nazi camps like Auschwitz that were sited on its territory.

Musk will be addressing financial analysts on Wednesday in the U.S. during his first Tesla earnings call since Trump took office. »

Scientists trick cancer cells into self-destructing through genetic editing

Authored by techspot.com
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However, a group of scientists has now devised a clever new strategy that turns cancer cells suicidal, forcing them to turn against each other.

The first switch enables engineered cells to outgrow and dominate the rest of the cancer cell population when exposed to a particular drug.

Applying erlotinib to a mix of modified and unmodified cancer cells allowed the edited cells to quickly become the dominant population in the tumor sample. »

Trump administration denies it is pausing all federal grants after sweeping memo to government agencies

Authored by cnn.com
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The White House budget office ordered a pause on federal grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum sent Monday, unleashing confusion and worry from charities and educators even as the White House said it was not as sweeping an order as it first appeared.

The order sent chills through organizations, both public and private, that rely on federal grants and loans for their operations, but the White House insisted the concern was misplaced.

“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in her first White House briefing. »