9e6435264b34a5b20c6ef616836b54b8

Technology

Federal websites to get upgrade

US President Donald Trump's new design chief says he aims to improve government services to be as satisfying to use as the Apple App Store.

Trump has named Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia to spearhead the new National Design Studio that will seek to make digital services at federal agencies more efficient. 

Gebbia said on X he aims to make government websites beautifully designed and running on modern software with a great user experience.

"An experience that projects a level of excellence for our nation, and makes life less complicated for everyday Americans," he said.

Many US government websites were designed by lowest-cost bidders and are hard to use or have not been significantly updated for years. An executive order signed by Trump said the National Design Studio will improve the “usability and aesthetics” of federal digital services, adding that it will close in three years.

POPULAR ARTICLES

Odd Spot

USA

Teen hauls in hefty halibut

A New Hampshire teenager on a deep-sea fishing trip has hauled in a 177-pound (80kg) Atlantic halibut, a fish so big that it weighed more than him and could be a world record. Jackson Denio, a 13-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, was fishing about 100 miles (161km) off the New England Coast on Cashes Ledge earlier this week when he caught the fish. “I think I screamed, honestly,“ said Denio, who weighs around 120 pounds and is 5-foot-9-inches. 

AP

Court

Australia

Friend saw men hanging from plane amid skydive ‘chaos’

Staff at a rural airstrip stood on top of a car to try and rescue two skydivers snagged on a plane mid-air, as shocked friends and colleagues watched on, a court has been told. Instructor Stephen Hoare, 37, and his tandem passenger Alex Welling, 32, fell to their deaths while skydiving at Goulburn airport, in southern NSW, on June 27, 2021. SafeWork NSW has charged Goulburn Flight Training Centre and its sole director Attilio Giovanni Ferrara, also known as John Ferrara, with two counts each of breaching workplace safety duties.

AAP Newswire

Migration

USA

US-bound migrants turning back

More than 14,000 mainly Venezuelan migrants who hoped to reach the United States have reversed course and turned south since US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown began, according to a new report by the governments of Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. The phenomenon, known as “reverse flow” migration, is largely made up of Venezuelan migrants who fled their country’s long-running economic, social and political crises only to encounter US immigration policy no longer open to asylum-seekers.

AP

POPULAR ARTICLES

Odd Spot

Ticker

Teen hauls in hefty halibut

A New Hampshire teenager on a deep-sea fishing trip has hauled in a 177-pound (80kg) Atlantic halibut, a fish so big that it weighed more than him and could be a world record. Jackson Denio, a 13-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, was fishing about 100 miles (161km) off the New England Coast on Cashes Ledge earlier this week when he caught the fish. “I think I screamed, honestly,“ said Denio, who weighs around 120 pounds and is 5-foot-9-inches. 

AP

Russia

USA

Trump ready to up Russia sanctions

US President Donald Trump says he is ready to move to a second phase of sanctioning Russia, the closest he has come to suggesting he is on the verge of ramping up sanctions against Moscow or its oil buyers over the war in Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly threatened Moscow with further sanctions but withheld them as he pursued peace talks.

Reuters

Middle East

USA

Trump eyes Gaza deal ‘soon’

US President Donald Trump has suggested a Gaza deal could come soon to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas, after earlier issuing what he called his “last warning” to the Palestinian militant group. Speaking to reporters after landing in the Washington area after a brief trip to New York, Trump said he had been discussing the issue on the plane. “We’re working on a solution that may be very good,“ he said. 

Reuters