US President Donald Trump said today (Thursday) that his administration will implement many things during the next two weeks.
Trump added to reporters at the White House: “You will see a lot of things over the next week or two.” We are preparing to implement many things.”
Regarding Iran, Trump continued: “A decision must be made whether to move forward with additional steps or ratify the agreement. Iran cannot do anything related to its nuclear program without obtaining US approval.”
He added, in response to a question about proposals presented by mediators to Iran regarding the future of its nuclear program, “They do nothing without our approval.”
Oval Office
Trump also said that he would prevent future changes to the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room after he redesigned them.
Trump added to reporters in the Oval Office: “We will make them a national monument, and no one will be allowed to touch them.”
Trump's signing of the declaration comes two days after voters, dissatisfied with his economic policies, removed dozens of Republicans from their positions, handing control of Congress to the Democrats.
It is also the third day in a row that the president, a real estate mogul, has made remarks focusing on his favorite projects in Washington, D.C., including the massive White House Ballroom and the famous reflecting fountain in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that he had decided to commute all death sentences in the state to life imprisonment, in a move that includes 548 people.
“It is my decision to use my constitutional clemency powers to commute all California death sentences to life without parole,” Newsom wrote in a letter addressed “to all Californians.”
California, the most populous state in the United States, has not carried out any death sentence for two decades, while its courts still impose this punishment on those convicted of murder or other serious crimes.
“My decision today comes after nearly three decades during which, as an elected official, I have been vocal in my opposition to executions,” said Newsom, who will leave office in a few months and is widely expected to run for the White House in 2028.
He added: “Today I act according to my long-established conviction that we are stronger, as individuals and as a society, when we reject state-sanctioned killing.”
The United States warned in a statement issued on Thursday of a “persistent cyber threat” to refrigeration systems in various sectors, saying that every organization that relies on cold storage should assume that it may be vulnerable to being targeted by cyber hackers.
The statement, which came after a series of cyber attacks targeting refrigeration equipment in the United States and Europe, indicated that unidentified “malicious cyber actors” were targeting vulnerabilities in electronic temperature control and cooling devices connected to the Internet in grocery stores and cold storage facilities.
Despite the lack of details about the aforementioned hackers, the statement stated that the threat targeting companies' cooling devices continues.
The statement, which was issued jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the US Departments of Health, Transportation, and Agriculture, added: “If they succeed in exploiting these vulnerabilities, actors can change the temperature and potentially cause physical effects such as fire risks, loss of inventory, and changes in the lifespan of the (cooling) system.”
“Every organization that relies on cooling and monitoring systems should assume they are a potential target,” said Chris Butera, acting associate executive director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The government called on operators of cooling control systems in various sectors to disconnect their devices from the public Internet, isolate them from their company networks, and apply software updates immediately.
Companies' refrigerators and freezers have been subjected to at least three waves of cyber attacks over the past few months. Reuters reported last week that Pentagon investigators are treating a series of mysterious malfunctions that targeted refrigeration units in food stores on US military bases in August as a possible cyberattack.
Large-scale cyber attacks on French cooling systems last month caused damage estimated at tens of millions of euros, while a second wave of cyber attacks affected more than 100 stores across Europe on Monday.
These attacks raised concerns about the ability of electronic hackers to remotely manipulate refrigerators and other vital devices.
