The top adviser to the EU’s highest court has said it should annul a decision by the European Commission to unfreeze billions of euros of payments to Hungary that had been suspended because of serious concerns over corruption and the rule of law.
Tamara Ćapeta, the advocate general of the European court of justice, said on Thursday the commission should not have paid out the funds because Hungary had not actually carried out the judicial reforms that were a condition for their release.
The commission suspended payment of funds to the populist, illiberal government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, in 2022 over concerns about democratic backsliding, arguing it was failing to tackle corruption and ensure judicial independence.
A year later, it concluded Hungary had made sufficient changes to meet the requirements for the money to be released and lifted the suspension, making the country eligible to receive about €10bn from various EU funds.
The European parliament filed a complaint in 2024, claiming the EU’s executive had made “manifest errors”. Some MEPs said the commission’s decision, just before a key EU summit that needed Orbán’s support for aid to Ukraine, was politically motivated.
The advocate general’s opinions are not legally binding but are often followed by the court’s judges, who are expected to deliver their final decision in the parliament’s case against the commission in the coming months.
Ćapeta said the commission had failed to properly assess the reforms to Hungary’s judicial system and had “incorrectly applied the requirements on Hungary when it permitted, without any explanation, the disbursement of the budget”.
The executive had not been transparent in its decision-making, she added, concluding: “The commission may not disburse EU funds to a member state until the required legislative reforms are in force and are effectively being applied.”
Billions in additional EU funding remain suspended for Hungary, prompting Orbán, the bloc’s disruptor-in-chief, to regularly accuse the commission of interfering in his country’s internal affairs and using payments as a means of coercion.
EU law experts have said that if the court does side with parliament, the commission may have to recoup the money by reducing future funding. The ruling will in any event set an important precedent on the commission’s role in rule-of-law cases.
Orbán faces the biggest challenge of his 16 years in power in April from the centre-right challenger Péter Magyar and his Tisza party, who has promised to restore the rule of law and repair relations with the EU. Magyar is well ahead in most polls.
EXCLUSIVE: A trio of Republican senators are moving to overhaul how federal childcare funds are distributed after what they call “mass fraud” in Minnesota exposed a system that paid providers before verifying children were ever in the room.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., is introducing the Payment Integrity Act, legislation that would require states to distribute federally funded childcare dollars based on verified attendance — not enrollment claims.
“Programs in Minnesota for welfare and childcare were designed to channel resources into protecting vulnerable children, but were treated like an open ATM by criminals,” Cruz told Fox News Digital.
“The mass fraud in Minnesota shows that American taxpayers can no longer rely on local and state politicians to prevent abuses, because those politicians often have electoral and partisan incentives to look the other way. My legislation reduces the risk of the waste and fraud we’ve seen and ensures that resources are provided to children and families who need it.”
Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was found at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state.(Madelin Fuerste / Fox News Channel)
The bill would reverse a 2024 Biden administration rule requiring states to pay childcare providers before attendance verification. Under Cruz’s proposal, providers would be paid only after services are confirmed — shifting from enrollment-based payments to attendance-based billing.
Cruz’s bill comes as the outspoken Texan led a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on alleged Somali fraudsters last week. There, lawmakers heard directly from David Hoch — a journalist seen accompanying blogger Nick Shirley to addresses proclaimed to be Somali daycares.
“There are few crimes more morally repugnant than stealing from vulnerable children. Every dollar stolen is a meal not eaten, a doctor’s visit missed, and a future diminished,” Cruz said, adding that such fraud “plunders our children’s potential.”
Gesturing towards a photo of the “Quality Learing Center” in Minneapolis during the hearing, an allegedly fraudulent childcare provider Cruz called “emblematic” of the crisis, he said the fraud was occurring not in “some distant or lawless place, but in the heart of America’s Midwest.”
Co-sponsor Lee said that support for childcare should “go to real kids, not empty rooms.”
“Fake childcare operations are stealing funding from the ones who are actually taking care of America’s children in need. Our bill will address this massive fraud by granting funding based on actual attendance rather than reported enrollment, and allowing states to pay retroactively instead of in advance,” Lee said, adding such “diligence” should have been the law all along.
The Payment Integrity Act also puts into law January rule from Health and Human Services that established attendance-based billing procedures
That rule, according to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s deputy Jim O’Neill was also spurred on by what has been happening in Minnesota.
“We’ve seen credible and widespread allegations of fraudulent daycare providers who were not caring for children at all. The reforms we are enacting will make fraud harder to perpetrate,” O’Neill said in a statement.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is seen during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.(Tom Brenner/AP)
The Payment Integrity Act officially amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act signed into law by President George Herbert Walker Bush, to include such “attendance-based billing.”
“Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to require a lead agency to make a payment to a child care provider prior to the provision of child care services,” the bill reads, a direct reversal of the pre-payment system Cruz says allowed fraud to flourish.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
A dog that remained beside his former owner’s grave for 10 years has now given his name to a new state law allowing pets to be buried alongside their loved ones in São Paulo.
The new law – already being informally referred to as the Bob Coveiro (the Gravedigger) Law, in tribute to its inspiration – was signed this week by the governor of Brazil’s most populous state, the conservative Tarcísio de Freitas.
The law “recognises the emotional bond between guardians and their pets”, according to the state government, and authorises dogs and cats to be buried in graves and family plots whose concessions belong to their owners’ families.
Bob’s former owner died in 2011. After her burial, the brown long-haired mixed-breed dog reportedly refused to leave her side at a cemetery in Taboão da Serra, a city of 285,000 inhabitants about 12 miles from the state capital, São Paulo.
Relatives are said to have tried several times to take the dog away, but he always returned and was eventually adopted by cemetery staff, who provided him with a kennel and regularly fed, bathed and vaccinated him.
Gravedigger Bob gained national fame for accompanying other funeral processions while reportedly carrying a small ball in his mouth, trying to play with visitors – something many saw as a gesture of comfort in moments of grief.
In 2021, after leaving the cemetery grounds, the dog was struck by a motorcycle and died.
There was widespread public commotion, and, as there was no legal provision at the time, the Taboão da Serra city council made an exception and allowed it to be buried alongside its former owner.
The NGO Patre, which works with stray animals, launched a crowdfunding campaign to install a statue in the cemetery, where it has stood since 2022. “Our tribute and gratitude for your lessons in love and loyalty,” reads the plaque beneath the statue, adding that “in the face of grief, [Bob] taught us to ‘offer little balls’ and attention when others need it most”.
One of the authors of the bill, Eduardo Nóbrega, the the conservative state deputy, posted that “anyone who has lost a pet knows: it’s not just an animal. It’s family.”
He said the law provides a “dignified and accessible” alternative to the previous requirement of cremation, whose high costs often led families to dispose of remains improperly.
São Paulo is not the first Brazilian state to authorise the burial of pets alongside their owners, which is already in force in Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina. A federal bill has also been pending in the lower house of congress since 2023.
In the city of Apucarana, in the state of Paraná, a similar law faced strong opposition in 2024, with city councillors arguing, for example, that it would be “inappropriate” because a cemetery is “sacred ground”, but it was ultimately approved.
A man caught on surveillance footage allegedly trespassing on a Tucson property only 20 minutes before doorbell camera footage showed a person at Nancy Guthrie‘s front door has sparked speculation about whether the subject of each video is the same person.
TMZ’s Harvey Levin says the FBI is taking seriously a video of a man caught on camera wearing two backpacks while strolling through what appears to be a car port and up to a back gate. The person, wearing a hooded coat and long pants, takes one backpack off his bag and attempts to toss it over what appears to be a gate to a backyard.
A man with two backpacks is seen on surveillance footage at a Tucson home on February 1, 2026. (Obtained by TMZ)
The attempt was unsuccessful, and the person then leaves the property.
According to TMZ, that surveillance footage taken at 1:53 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 1, at a house only five miles from Guthrie’s.
A source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital that the video likely surfaced as a result of ongoing canvassing for clues in the Guthrie case. The source confirmed that authorities would like to speak with the man, but only because he’s dressed similarly and wearing a backpack, like the person who approached Guthrie’s home only a short while later, but that he is not a suspect or person of interest.
The FBI on Tuesday released video footage and still images of a person wearing a backpack approaching Guthrie’s front door, also early on Sunday morning. TMZ says it confirmed with federal law enforcement that the time of that footage was 2:12 a.m.
This image released by the FBI shows an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance in Tucson, Arizona, Sunday, February 1, 2026.(Provided by FBI)
Given the proximity to the home, there have been public suggestions, including from TMZ, that the person in the footage could have left the property, driven the five miles to Guthrie’s home, donned clothing to conceal his identity and approached Guthrie’s front door, all in the 19-minute span between 1:53 a.m. and 2:12 a.m.
However, former FBI supervisory special agent Jason Pack cautioned against jumping to conclusions.
“I always always always caution on reading too much into one tip at first, as we’ve seen they oftentimes wash out, but the bureau will take it seriously and try to find what context it belongs, if any, in the investigation,” he said.
“Having worked these types of cases as an FBI Supervisory Special Agent, I can tell you that this individual was identified as part of the extensive video canvass that has been underway since agents and deputies began searching the neighborhood for clues. This kind of work is painstaking and laborious, but it does yield leads just like this one,” he said.
A member of the Pima County sheriff’s office remains outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 in Tucson, Ariz.(Ty ONeil/AP Photo)
“The individual seen in the video still appears to be similarly dressed to descriptions in this case, wearing a backpack, jeans, and a shirt. I would not call this person a suspect or a person of interest at this time. They are simply someone identified through the canvass who needs to be fully identified in order to determine whether there is any involvement or not. No doubt the FBI wants to speak with this individual.”
Nancy Guthrie disappearance timeline: January 31, 2026 • Between 9:30–9:45 p.m. – Family drops Nancy off at home • 9:50 p.m. – Garage door closes (per authorities) February 1, 2026 • 1:47 a.m. – Doorbell camera disconnects • 2:12 a.m. – Security camera detects motion • 2:28 a.m. – Pacemaker disconnects from phone application • 11:56 a.m. – Family checks on Nancy after she misses weekly church livestream gathering • 12:03 p.m. — 911 called • 12:15 p.m. — sheriff’s deputies arrive at home
Peter D’Abrosca is a reporter at Fox News Digital covering campus extremism in higher education.
Follow Peter on X at @pmd_reports. Send story tips to peter.dabrosca@fox.com.
Political rhetoric regarding the India-US trade agreement has intensified. Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal termed the allegations of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi as baseless and misleading and said that this agreement completely protects the interests of farmers.
Piyush Goyal said, ‘Rahul Gandhi is a habitual liar. In a video released today, he has broken all records of lying and making baseless allegations. They are misleading our farmers with their false statements and trying to provoke them.
PM Modi always kept the interests of farmers paramount: Goyal
In a statement issued on social media platform According to Goyal, this agreement will increase agricultural exports, increase demand and farmers will get better prices.
He clarified that under this agreement, US duty on Indian exports has been reduced from 50 percent to 18 percent, while dairy and other sensitive agricultural sectors have been kept out of it. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that this agreement is against food security and the interests of farmers. He said that the government has opened the agricultural market under American pressure.
Rahul Gandhi is a liar: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan also criticized Rahul Gandhi’s allegations and said that the interests of farmers are completely protected in the agreement. He said, ‘Rahul Gandhi is a liar and has nothing to do with the interests of farmers. They constantly speak against the interests of the nation. He has broken all records of lying. They want to mislead the nation.
According to a joint statement by India and the US, this agreement was reached after negotiations lasting from February 2025, under which India will benefit from lower US duties on textiles, leather, chemicals, plastics, handicrafts and some machinery products, while India will cut duties on some US industrial and select agricultural products.
More than 30 malicious Chrome extensions installed by at least 260,000 users purport to be helpful AI assistants, but they steal users’ API keys, email messages, and other personal data. Even worse: many of these are still available on the Chrome Web Store as of this writing.
Some of these extensions impersonate specific chatbots such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, while others claim to be more generic AI assistant tools to help users summarize documents, write messages, and provide Gmail assistance.
Despite different names and extension IDs, they all use the same underlying codebase and permissions, and all 32 extensions communicate with infrastructure under the tapnetic[.]pro domain, according to LayerX Security, which uncovered the campaign and named it AiFrame.
Some of them were published under new IDs after earlier versions were removed. For example, AI Sidebar (gghdfkafnhfpaooiolhncejnlgglhkhe), which had 50,000 users at the time of LayerX Security’s report, appeared after the earlier Gemini AI Sidebar (fppbiomdkfbhgjjdmojlogeceejinadg), which had 80,000 users, was removed from the Chrome Web Store. The Register found that the re-uploaded extension (gghdfkafnhfpaooiolhncejnlgglhkhe) is now listed with 70,000 users as of publication.
Google did not immediately respond to The Register‘s inquiries about the malicious extensions.
All 32 extension IDs are listed in LayerX’s report, so be sure to check it out before adding any AI assistant extension to your browser.
Another extension that is still available at the time of this writing is called AI Assistant (nlhpidbjmmffhoogcennoiopekbiglbp) and has 60,000 users. This one, which garnered the “Featured” badge on the Chrome Web Store, points users to a remote domain (claude.tapnetic.pro).
It has an iframe overlay that visually appears as the extension’s interface, and this iframe allows the operator to load remote content, changing the UI and logic, and silently adding new capabilities at any time without any Chrome Web Store update required.
“When instructed by the iframe, the extension queries the active tab and invokes a content script that extracts readable article content using Mozilla’s Readability library,” LayerX Security researcher Natalie Zargarov wrote. “The extracted data includes titles, text content, excerpts, and site metadata.”
The extension then sends this data – including authentication details for any page the user is viewing – back to the remote iframe.
In addition to snarfing up all sorts of page content from every website a user visits, this particular extension also supports speech recognition. It transcribes the user’s words and sends them back to the remote page for the operator to read.
Interestingly, nearly half of the extensions target Gmail and share the same Gmail integration codebase. This allows the extension to read visible email content directly from the DOM and extract message text via textContent from Gmail’s conversation view. This includes email thread content and even draft or compose-related text, which is then sent to remote servers.
“The campaign exploits the conversational nature of AI interactions, which has conditioned users to share detailed information,” Zargarov said in an email. “By injecting iframes that mimic trusted AI interfaces, they’ve created a nearly invisible man-in-the-middle attack that intercepts everything from API keys to personal data before it ever reaches the legitimate service.” ®
Protesters have taken to the streets of cities across Venezuela in the latest sign of an embryonic political shift after Nicolás Maduro’s recent downfall.
Student demonstrators gathered on the campus of the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas on Thursday to demand the release of all of the country’s political prisoners, the return of exiled activists and a full transition to democracy. “Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!” they shouted.
“I refuse to live in a country without freedom of expression,” said Angel Gutiérrez, a literature student who was one of hundreds to attend the peaceful march – a public show of dissent unthinkable just a few weeks ago, before US special forces seized Venezuela’s 63-year-old dictator.
As the crowd grew, 27-year-old Gutiérrez complained that throughout his entire adult life the will of the people had been ignored. “I’m here because I refuse to continue to accept my country carrying on under these conditions … A young person without hope is dead,” he said.
The student-led demonstrations in Caracas were publicised on a national television network. Photograph: Maxwell Briceno/Reuters
In another hint of a possible thaw, the protest was publicised by Venezuelan television networks including Venevisión, which for years have been forbidden from covering such events. Rallies were also held in cities including Barquisimeto, Ciudad Guayana, Maracaibo and Mérida.
“It’s incredible that we are back in the streets. They should know that they will never silence us,” said John Pérez, an international relations student, who joined the march in Venezuela’s capital.
The student-led demonstrations were the latest – and largest – of a series to take place since US troops abducted Maduro on 3 January and partially transformed Venezuela’s authoritarian political landscape.
While much of Maduro’s regime remains in place, led by his vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, the country’s new leaders have been forced to make a series of important concessions, including freeing more than 430 political prisoners, proposing an amnesty, tolerating a growing number of protests and rewriting energy laws to allow the greater involvement of foreign oil firms. A small number of foreign journalists were also allowed into the country this week.
“It’s a really weird moment because we are not really in a transition to democracy. We don’t have a date for a fair and free election. The same regime is in power,” said Jesús Armas, a prominent opposition leader who was released on Sunday after 14 months behind bars and attended the university protest.
“But at the same time, because of the pressure of the United States, we are starting to see things like the freedom of political prisoners and the people are starting to lose [their] fear,” Armassaid, adding: “But of course the regime is the same.”
The demonstration coincided with a national holiday that marks a pivotal 1814 battle during Venezuela’s war of independence. Photograph: Miguel Gutiérrez/EPA
Yerwin Torrealba, a youth leader from the mid-western state of Yaracuy who was released from prison last month, said he had been astonished to attend a recent protest without being molested by the police. “Two months ago, you couldn’t do this,” said Torrealba, 26, an activist for the movement led by the exiled Nobel laureate María Corina Machado.
“[Before] you’d post a photo [on social media] and they’d issue an arrest warrant just for doing that,” added Torrealba. Now, he felt things were changing. Many activists who went underground after Maduro was accused of stealing the 2024 presidential election from Machado’s surrogate were coming out of hiding.
“This is a big step forwards. People are becoming active in the streets once again,” said Torrealba, voicing confidence that Venezuela was entering a new, less authoritarian era. “It’s still moving a little slowly, but the transition is steadily playing out.”
Thursday’s rallies came one day after the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, landed in Caracas promising “a flood of investment” in the economically distressed South American nation.
Chris Wright, left, and Delcy Rodríguez at the Miraflores palace in Caracas. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
In more scenes that would have been unimaginable just a few weeks ago given the toxic state of US-Venezuela ties, Trump’s envoy was serenaded by a group of young Venezuelan musicians with maracas and harps.
Speaking to reporters on the steps of the Miraflores presidential palace, Wright said: “I bring today a message from President Trump: he is passionately committed to absolutely transforming the relationship between the United States and Venezuela, part of a broader agenda to make the Americas great again.”
Delcy Rodríguez told her North American guest: “We are sure this first visit will open the door to many more.”
Little more than a month earlier, Rodríguez had accused Trump’s administration of using military action to “capture” Venezuela’s natural resources, which include the largest known oil reserves in the world. Venezuela’s acting president struck a more diplomatic note in a rare interview with NBC News on Thursday, announcing that she was considering accepting an invitation to visit the US. If such a visit materialises it would be the first of its kind since 1999, the year Maduro’s mentor, Hugo Chávez, took power.
Observers remain skeptical about the degree to which Rodríguez’s interim administration will be willing to cede control and warn limited signs of democratic reform could easily be reversed.
On Sunday, the opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa was taken back into detention by armed men just hours after being released from an eight-month stint in prison and later placed under house arrest. Hundreds of political prisoners remain behind bars.
Speaking to a pro-Trump television network last weekend, Rodríguez’s brother, the national assembly president, Jorge Rodríguez, ruled out holding fresh elections in the “immediate” future, while the country was being “stabilised”.
Many view their concessions to the White House as a ploy to remain in power, by delaying a vote until after the next US presidential election, in 2028.
“I think if they’re smart, they’re going to be stringing the Trump administration along until the Trump administration is no longer in office – and then hope that everyone just kind of forgets about things,” said Michael Paarlberg, a former Latin America adviser to Bernie Sanders.
“I think Trump has already largely forgotten about Venezuela,” Paarlberg added.
It took 23 hours but Manchester United did distance themselves from Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s rhetoric on immigration.
Without naming the part-owner, a statement insisting they “remain deeply committed” to “equality, diversity and inclusion” was effectively a public rebuke.
Remember, Sir Jim only owns just under 30% of the club, despite the investment gaining control of football operations two years ago and the INEOS billionaire becoming the face of decision-making.
The majority owners are still the six Glazer siblings, whose grandparents were Lithuanian Jewish immigrants to the United States.
We haven’t heard from them directly, but the statement issued on the club website is as close as we can get to detecting their view of Sir Jim’s complaint in a Sky News interview that “the UK has been colonised by immigrants”.
Unitedhighlighted how Manchester is a city “anyone can call home”, extolling how the club boasts a “diverse group of players, staff and global community of supporters”.
Sir Jim’s own apology statement made no mention of diversity and inclusion.
More on Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘sorry’ for language
Only 20 words were spent apologising – “I am sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe and caused concern” – another 90 words were used to reassert the need for curbs on immigration.
That is a concern shared by three leading parties – Reform, Labourand the Conservatives – but it is demonising immigrants, claiming they have colonised the country, that has proved so inflammatory.
We don’t know if Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has accepted Sir Jim’s apology – and how it impacts their work on the Old Trafford redevelopment project – but the day began with him denouncing “portraying those who come here as a hostile invading force”.
Sir Jim could yet face an FA charge for bringing the game into disrepute as the governing body looks into his outburst and whether the language was discriminatory.
While the bulk of the interview focused on business and economic interests, Sir Jim did bring it back to his football role when expressing concerns about the levels of immigration.
“I’ve been very unpopular at Manchester United because we’ve made lots of changes,” he said, adding: “You’ve got all the same issues with the country. If you really want to deal with the major issues of immigration.”
Ed Conway analyses Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘colonising’ claim
Piara Powar, executive director of the FARE network, told Sky News that Sir Jim’s language risks “escalating hate”.
The leading football anti-racism activist told Sky News: “He’s now using his platform as a co-owner of Manchester United to put that out there, and that’s a very dangerous precedent.
“So if the FA don’t look at it very seriously… that then leads us into a dangerous road with owners using the purchase of football clubs as a political platform.”
And what about the fans, particularly those from diverse communities, who can fear discrimination still at matches?
Image:File pic: Reuters
Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club chair Asif Mahmud is concerned about those threatening minority communities now feeling more empowered.
He asked: “Will comments like what Sir Jim has said give power and strength to those who feel we don’t belong here?”
For Preetam Singh of the Stretford Sikhs fans’ group, Sir Jim still has more work to do demonstrating any contrition.
He said: “It was a very half-hearted apology, more of a justification of what he said yesterday. So I would expect, and I would hope, he and the club would maybe come out and make a statement with a proper apology.”
Fans are still waiting. And this goes beyond reputational damage for Manchester United.
It is about how welcome players, wider staff and fans from all backgrounds feel at the club now, knowing the true views of a leader inside Old Trafford can seem so dehumanising.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Wednesday that it has officially closed a major loophole that allowed unqualified drivers, including illegal immigrants, to operate commercial trucks, following several fatal crashes last year involving non-domiciled drivers.
“For far too long, America has allowed dangerous foreign drivers to abuse our truck licensing systems – wreaking havoc on our roadways. This safety loophole ends today,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said. “Moving forward, unqualified foreign drivers will be unable to get a license to operate an 80,000-pound big rig.”
Officials said foreigners who hold only a work permit will no longer be able to obtain a commercial trucking license, as Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) do not provide information about a driver’s previous traffic violations, accidents or license suspensions in other countries.
The reform, which formally codifies the policy into federal regulations, follows Duffy’s emergency action last September to end the issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to truckers with unverified driving histories.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks to reporters at a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Federal regulators have stepped up enforcement of trucker licensing rules after a surge of deadly crashes involving non-domiciled drivers last summer. In 2025, at least 30 people died in 17 crashes caused by non-domiciled drivers, according to the DOT. Regulators added that at least 30 states have issued commercial driver’s licenses to drivers deemed ineligible.
The DOT clarified that while states can screen U.S. drivers through national databases for past violations, such as Driving Under the Influence or crash history, they lack the ability to access records of foreigners and illegal immigrants.
Under the reforms, officials will prevent State Driver’s Licensing Agencies (SDLAs) from issuing CDLs to foreign drivers without verifying their driving history, and will end reliance on EADs, which the DOT said has led to more than 30 states to illegally issue tens of thousands of licenses to ineligible drivers.
Emergency crews responded to a multi-vehicle crash involving semi-trucks on the I-10 Freeway in San Bernardino County, Calif., on Oct. 21, 2025.(@BillMelugin via X)
While EADs will no longer be accepted as proof of eligibility, applicants seeking a CDL must present an unexpired foreign passport along with the appropriate Form I‑94, the document used to track a noncitizen’s entry and exit from the United States.
In addition, states must verify the lawful immigration status of every applicant by checking the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system.
Photo of Dalilah Coleman, provided by DHS. She was five years old when she was injured in a 2024 California crash and lives with lasting injuries.(DHS)
The DOT emphasized that the crackdown on roadway safety came in response to a string of harrowing crashes, in which truckers holding non-domiciled CDLs engaged in reckless and dangerously negligent driving.
In August, a driver attempting an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike reportedly triggered a crash that killed three people. In October, another driver failed to stop at a California highway, causing an eight-vehicle collision that also claimed three lives, according to the DOT. Last December in Ontario, California, a truck reportedly collided with a train at a marked crossing, killing a crew member.
“This is for Dalilah Coleman and all the Americans killed or hurt in crashes caused by UNQUALIFIED foreign truck drivers,” Duffy said in a post on X, referring to the 5-year-old girl who suffered life-altering injuries after an illegal immigrant driving an 18-wheeler reportedly slammed into her family last September.
“These trucker drivers should NEVER have received a commercial driver’s license. And this rule makes sure that it won’t happen again.”
The final rule is expected to take effect in one month, around March 15.
Duffy praised the reform as one of several steps the Trump administration is taking to bolster transportation safety, including enforcing English-language standards for drivers.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are putting the safety of the driving public first,” Duffy added. “From enforcing English language standards to holding fraudulent carriers accountable, we will continue to attack this crisis on our roads head on.”
In May, Secretary Duffy signed an order establishing new guidelines to strengthen English-language enforcement for commercial truck operators. Under the standards, commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who fail English proficiency tests will be placed out of service.
Bonny Chu is a Digital Production Assistant at Fox News Digital.
The artificial intelligence company Anthropic said on Thursday it raised $30bn in its latest funding round that values the Claude maker and OpenAI rival at $380bn, underscoring the breakneck pace of AI investments.
The round, led by the Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and hedge fund Coatue Management, is among the largest private fundraising deals on record and comes just five months after Anthropic closed its previous round at a $183bn valuation – meaning the company has more than doubled in value since September.
“Anthropic is the clear category leader in enterprise AI,” said Choo Yong Cheen, chief investment officer of private equity at GIC.
Anthropic said its annualized revenue had reached $14bn, having grown more than tenfold in each of the past three years. A significant driver of recent growth has been Claude Code, the company’s AI-powered coding tool that became generally available in May 2025.
Anthropic’s rival OpenAI, backed by Microsoft and SoftBank, has been assembling what is reportedly a far larger round of up to $100bn that would value the ChatGPT maker at roughly $830bn.
The staggering sums being raised reflect equally staggering burn rates, with the companies spending cash to cover their huge costs of computing and attracting researcher talent.
Anthropic has forecast reducing its cash burn to roughly a third of revenue in 2026 and just 9% by 2027, with a break-even target of 2028 – two years ahead of its rival, according to reports. Both companies are widely expected to pursue initial public offerings in the second half of 2026.
Founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, both former executives at OpenAI, Anthropic has positioned itself as a safety-focused alternative in the AI race.
The funding round also comes shortly after Anthropic aired its first television commercials during Super Bowl LX, using the campaign to emphasize that its products remain ad-free. The ads took an apparent jab at OpenAI, which has begun to introduce advertising into the free version of ChatGPT.
Anthropic’s earlier backers include Amazon, which has invested $8bn and serves as a primary cloud partner, as well as Google, which invested $2bn in 2023.
