Troubled G7 leaders focus on Ukraine war, China in Italian summit

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he expects Elon Musk to find billions of dollars of fraud and abuse at the Pentagon during an audit that the billionaire will lead.
“I’m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. ... Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military,” Trump said in a Super Bowl interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier, an excerpt of which was aired on Sunday morning.
“We’re going to find billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse,” Trump said of the largest federal department.
The Pentagon’s budget is approaching $1 trillion per year. In December, then-President Joe Biden signed a bill authorizing $895 billion in defense spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Musk, who the White House says is a special government employee, has been tasked by Trump to lead an effort to slash the size of the US federal workforce. As part of that initiative, Musk aides have sought access to confidential information in computer systems at various government agencies.
Critics say the efforts are likely illegal, risk exposing classified information and in practice are gutting entire agencies without congressional approval.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz suggested in a separate interview on Sunday that the Pentagon’s shipbuilding processes could be an area of particular interest for the Department of Government Efficiency, and he characterized the Pentagon in general as full of unnecessary bloat.
“Everything there seems to cost too much, take too long and deliver too little to the soldiers... We do need business leaders to go in there and absolutely reform the Pentagon’s acquisition process,” Waltz said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“There is plenty to look into in shipbuilding, which is an absolute mess,” Waltz added.
Leaders from across the political spectrum have long criticized waste and inefficiency at the Pentagon. But Democrats and civil service unions say Musk’ Department of Government Efficiency lacks the expertise to restructure the Pentagon, and their efforts risk exposing classified programs.
Musk’s companies also hold major contracts with the Pentagon, which has raised significant conflict of interest concerns.

New Delhi: At least 31 Maoist rebels and two Indian commandos were killed in a gunfight in the dense jungles of central India Sunday, as security forces ramp up efforts to crush the long-running insurgency.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized Indigenous people.

“31 rebels and two security personnel are dead and two other security personnel are injured,” senior police officer Sundarraj P. told AFP.

The official said the toll could be even higher as the police continue to carry out search operations in the area.

“Additional forces have been rushed to the encounter site,” he said.

Police have recovered automatic weapons and grenade launchers from the scene, a police statement said.

The gunfight broke in the forested areas of Bijapur district in the state of Chhattisgarh, considered the heartland of the insurgency.

“This is a big success in the direction of achieving a Naxal-free India,” said Amit Shah, India’s home minister, who last year said the government expected to crush the rebellion by 2026.

A crackdown by security forces has killed some 287 rebels in the past year, an overwhelming majority in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.

The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents.

They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s.

New Delhi then deployed tens of thousands of troops in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”

The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces. A roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops last month.