00:01Friendly fire? The military shoots down a border patrol drone in Texas. Now lawmakers are demanding action.
00:08Plus, access denied. Anthropic rejects a Pentagon ultimatum. How the fight over AI just escalated in a big way.
00:17And shots on the water. A speedboat clash with Cuban authorities turns deadly. At least one American killed.
00:26The stories that matter. Clear and credible. From across the country to around the world.
00:32These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:38Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli. This morning the federal government is promising better communication
00:43after the U.S. military shot down a drone that turned out to belong to Customs and Border Protection.
00:49The incident happened Thursday over Fort Hancock, about 50 miles southeast of El Paso, Texas.
00:54In a joint statement, the Defense Department, FAA, and CBP said the military targeted what it called a seemingly threatening
01:02drone.
01:03But it wasn't until congressional Democrats spoke out that it became clear the drone was actually operated by CBP.
01:11Democrats accused the Trump administration of incompetence, saying a lack of coordination led to the shootdown.
01:17They also criticized the administration for sidestepping a bipartisan bill designed to train drone operators
01:24and improve communication between the Pentagon, FAA, and Homeland Security.
01:29The incident comes just two weeks after a separate laser response near Fort Bliss,
01:34where sources told NBC News the target turned out to be party balloons.
01:39In that case, Customs and Border Protection did not notify the FAA,
01:43triggering a temporary closure of El Paso airspace and flight cancellations.
01:49Now, Senator Tammy Duckworth, the ranking member on the Senate Aviation Subcommittee,
01:53is calling for an independent investigation, saying on X, quote,
01:58it's this kind of failure to communicate between DOD and FAA that led to the tragic loss of life above
02:04DCA.
02:05She's referring to the January 2025 mid-air collision between an airliner and a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport
02:13that killed 67 people.
02:14The NTSB later found the FAA and the Army had failed to share safety data about repeated close calls in
02:22that airspace
02:23and did not address the risks.
02:25This morning, Anthropics CEO says his company will not give the Pentagon unrestricted access to its AI model, Claude.
02:34Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the company a deadline of today to grant access or face consequences.
02:42Those consequences include canceling Anthropics' $200 million Defense Department contract,
02:48labeling the company a supply chain risk, and invoking the Defense Production Act.
02:53In a statement, CEO Dario Amadei called that approach inherently contradictory.
02:58He writes,
03:00One labels us a security risk.
03:02The other labels Claude as essential to national security.
03:05And he added,
03:07These threats do not change our position.
03:09We cannot in good conscience accede to their request.
03:13Amadei says Anthropic will not drop its safeguards.
03:17The company is seeking assurances that Claude would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance.
03:24The Pentagon has not agreed to those terms, though it notes that spying on Americans is illegal.
03:29Talks are continuing.
03:31But according to Axios, the Pentagon on Wednesday asked Boeing and Lockheed Martin to detail how much they rely on
03:37Claude,
03:38a move seen as a first step toward formally designating Anthropic a supply chain risk.
03:44New details this morning in that deadly shootout off Cuba involving a speedboat.
03:49We now know at least one of the people killed was an American.
03:53Cuba's Interior Ministry says 10 people were on board a Florida-registered speedboat near the island's north coast.
04:00Havana says its forces approached the boat and those on board opened fire, wounding a Cuban patrol commander.
04:07Four people were killed in the exchange of gunfire.
04:09Six were wounded and detained.
04:11U.S. officials confirm at least one of the dead is an American.
04:15Some of the others may be lawful permanent U.S. residents,
04:19including one person with a K-1 fiancé visa.
04:23Cuba calls it a terrorist infiltration attempt, saying weapons recovered included assault rifles, handguns, and Molotov cocktails.
04:31Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States is working to independently verify what happened
04:36and is now relying on information from Cuban authorities.
04:40Cuba's deputy foreign minister says two people on the boat were on prior lists shared with American officials
04:46The Justice Department says it is now reviewing whether FBI files that include allegations against President Donald Trump
05:00were improperly withheld from its massive Epstein document release.
05:05The issue centers on missing FBI interview summaries tied to a woman who accused both Jeffrey Epstein and Trump of
05:12sexual assault decades ago.
05:14Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
05:16When the DOJ released millions of pages under the Epstein Files Transparency Act,
05:21an index showed the FBI interviewed the woman four times in 2019.
05:26Only one of those interview summaries was made public.
05:29The other three interview summaries were not included in the public release.
05:33The Justice Department now says it is reviewing whether anything was improperly tagged or withheld.
05:39A spokesperson says, quote, should any document be found to have been improperly tagged in the review process
05:46and is responsive to the act, the department will, of course, publish it, consistent with the law.
05:51The woman alleged Epstein introduced her to Trump in the 1980s and that Trump assaulted her.
05:57No public evidence has corroborated that claim, and Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
06:03Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is accusing the department of deliberately omitting the information.
06:08Let me be blunt.
06:10There is a massive cover-up going on in the Justice Department to protect Donald Trump
06:15and people associated with Jeffrey Epstein.
06:19Schumer says Senate Democrats will review unredacted files in the coming days,
06:23and they are demanding preservation of all internal records tied to the release.
06:28The Justice Department insists it complied with the law.
06:31This morning, a Columbia University student detained by federal agents is now back home
06:37after a day of outrage, protests, and political pressure.
06:41Elmina, or Ellie Agayeva, was taken into custody early Thursday morning
06:45after Homeland Security agents entered a Columbia-owned residence hall.
06:50University officials say agents misrepresented themselves,
06:53claiming they were searching for a missing person to gain entry.
06:56Manhattan Borough President Brad Holman Siegel said in a post on X that ICE agents posed as NYPD officers
07:04using fake badges and a phony missing child bulletin, calling the civil rights implications staggering.
07:10The Department of Homeland Security confirmed ICE arrested Agayeva, a student from Azerbaijan,
07:16outside the university residential building, saying her student visa was terminated in 2016
07:21and that she has no pending appeals.
07:24While in custody, Agayeva posted a photo from the back of what appeared to be an ICE vehicle,
07:29writing,
07:30DHS illegally arrested me. Please help.
07:32Her lawyer filed an emergency petition in federal court,
07:35and by mid-afternoon, New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani said after speaking with President Trump,
07:41she would be released.
07:43Agayeva later posted on Instagram,
07:54Incident sparked protests on campus and revives tensions after last year's high-profile ICE arrest
08:00of Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil.
08:03Columbia says it is reviewing its policies and reminded staff that a judicial warrant,
08:08not an administrative warrant, is required for access to private university housing.
08:14Finally this morning, some say writing is a lost art in the age of computers.
08:18But how did we learn to write in the first place?
08:22The answer may go back 40,000 years.
08:25Researchers in Germany have been studying about 250 Stone Age artifacts,
08:31rocks, stones, and carved figurines like this one right here,
08:35all etched with repeating symbols.
08:37The markings, including lines, crosses, and other simple signs.
08:42Scholars now believe they weren't random.
08:44They may have tracked hunting counts or even followed lunar cycles,
08:49forming an early sign system with real structure and meaning.
08:52One scientist says there is a clear logic to the symbols,
08:56a pattern that suggests intentional communication.
09:00Researchers add the complexity of these marks is comparable to protocuneiform,
09:04the earliest known writing system, which emerged in Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago.
09:11In other words, humans may have been laying the groundwork for writing tens of thousands of years earlier than we
09:17thought.
09:18This kind of reminds me of when I worked in Albuquerque, New Mexico, between 2000 and 2004.
09:23On the West Mesa was this real gem called the Petroglyph National Monuments.
09:29There were all these designs and symbols carved into volcanic rocks done by Native Americans and Spanish settlers hundreds upon
09:37hundreds of years ago.
09:38It's really a fascinating place.
09:40If you ever visit the Southwest in New Mexico, keep that in mind.
09:43The Petroglyph National Monument.
09:46Fascinating place.
09:47All right, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
09:50At 10, NASA holds a news conference after rolling back its Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle
09:57Assembly Building.
09:58A check-in on the Moon mission timeline.
10:00At 10.30, House Oversight Republicans hold a closed-door deposition for Bill Clinton in the Epstein probe,
10:06with Chairman James Comer expected to speak afterwards.
10:10At 3 o'clock, President Trump delivers a speech on energy at the port of Corpus Christi in Texas.
10:15Tonight in South Carolina, former President Joe Biden returns to mark his 2020 primary win,
10:22a state that reshaped that Democratic race and a state that wants to remain early in the 2028 presidential calendar.
10:29No noise, no sides, just the story.
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10:39We give you the facts first, without the spin.
10:41Those are your unbiased updates for this Friday.
10:43We'll see you back here at Monday.
10:45For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DiGrelli.
10:47Have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend.
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