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Hard Numbers: Moscow swarmed with Ukrainian drones, 9/11 first responder deaths rise, Argentinians head to the bank, Australia eyes age restrictions for social media
370: The number of 9/11 FDNY first responders killed from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero has risen to 370 – surpassing the number of department members who died on the day of the terror attacks 23 years ago. In the past year, 28 more members of the FDNY have died from 9/11-related illness. Meanwhile, federal funding is on the verge of drying out by 2028, when the program is expected to start turning away new applicants unless a proposed extension bill is passed.
700 million: Argentines are declaring hundreds of millions of previously hidden savings under a new tax amnesty program that President Javier Milei hopes will boost the country’s lagging economy. The program, which lasts until the end of the month, has fueled over $700 million of previously squirreled away cash to be deposited into banks in both July and August. Milei hopes the program will recoup $40 billion of the roughly $258 billion in undeclared funds that Argentines currently keep in mattresses, overseas, or otherwise outside its financial system.
16: The Australian government has set out to establish a minimum social media age, with the government expected to propose federal legislation later this year. Although the exact age limit has not been established, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he favors an age limit as high as 16 years old. The proposal has support across the political spectrum, but it is not clear that the technology exists to reliably enforce such a ban.
How Ukrainians learn to pilot kamikaze drones that destroy tanks
First-person view (FPV) drones are cheap and effective on the battlefield in Ukraine, but the army urgently needs to train pilots how to fly them.
Over two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with ammo running low and ongoing military aid from the West at risk of drying up completely, the Ukrainian army is turning to a small piece of technology that’s having a surprisingly big impact on the battlefield: first person view (FPV drones), Alex Kliment reports for GZERO World with Ian Bremmer.
Originally invented for drone racing, FPVs have cameras that transmit what they “see” in real time to a pilot wearing goggles on the ground. FPVs are fast, hard to track and target, fit into spaces traditional artillery can’t, and can be fitted with explosives to use in kamaze-style attacks. Most importantly, they only cost around $500.
The biggest hurdle to scaling up Ukraine’s use of FPV drones is that they’re really hard to fly. So schools are opening nationwide to teach soldiers how to fly and incorporate them into battlefield tactics. Last fall, Adnan “Audi” Rana, a former marine who runs a non-profit called Aerial Relief Group, visited a drone school on the outskirts of Kyiv to check out the training program and see first-hand how well Ukraine’s efforts to incorporate the technology into its military is going. He found a DIY, ad-hoc effort run entirely by volunteers representing Ukraine’s best chance of holding back Russian troops until fresh military aid arrives from the West.
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