INTERNACIONAL
A look inside program giving future Nat Sec experts 5-year head start amid evolving threats: ‘Ready day one’
As the United States confronts increasingly complex threats from China, foreign influence, artificial intelligence and geopolitical flashpoints around the world, one Seton Hall University program is giving graduate students hands-on experience tackling real national security challenges before they enter the workforce at a rate its founder says proves the program’s importance.
The National Security Graduate Fellowship at Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations pairs students with government agencies seeking research and analysis on pressing foreign policy and national security issues and has an 80% placement rate, with graduates going on to work at the NSA, CIA, Secret Service, military and defense contracting companies, according to founder Mohamad Mirghahari.
«My goal for my students is they’re ready day one if they get hired,» Mirghahari told Digital.
Mirghahari, a Seton Hall graduate and national security expert who spent 14 years in key Department of Defense leadership roles supporting counterterrorism initiatives around the globe, later served as a presidential appointee and senior advisor to the Transportation Security Administration’s chief of staff and remains a special advisor to the Defense Department.
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«Our program is unlike any other in the nation because our graduate students are actually tackling real-world national security challenges and issues from government agencies,» Mirghahari explained. «As we know, most government agencies have a lot of things going on and they don’t have enough resources, but what our graduate students are able to do is support those government agencies, answering and doing research for real-world requirements in the national security field.»
Mirghahari says the program is also unique due to the practitioners from «across the United States government» that serve as guest lecturers and professors giving students a necessary insight into experiences in the field, particularly given the changing landscape and variety of threats facing the nation compared to 10 or 20 years ago.
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«Part of what makes our program so unique is that we address the real-world issues of today,» Mirghahari said. «History is very important, and you learn from history, but we also want to be the classes that can support the government in real time. We have done projects on China, India and Pakistan, as well as the South China Sea.»
The fellowship’s work has included projects for the State Department on how the U.S. could re-engage with the Taliban if the group returned to power in Afghanistan. Mirghahari said the research remained relevant for years, with the papers later recirculated within the government.
«That’s part of what we do, provide that real-time research,» he said.
The program also focuses on emerging national security challenges involving artificial intelligence, data and foreign influence. Mirghahari said younger students often bring valuable technological expertise and perspectives that government agencies may not have previously considered.
«Artificial intelligence, data and all these different things impacting our national security play a major role in our work,» he said.
On the artificial intelligence front, which has changed how the United States deals with cyber threats along with how it conducts cyber operations, Mirghahari says it has become a «force multiplier» for his students.
«We examine foreign influence, including how data is mined and distributed, and we use tools such as artificial intelligence, graph theory and other analytical methods to examine large datasets,» he said. «We’re giving students an awareness of these technologies and how they can be used across the government.
Mirghahari added, «Our students can sift through large amounts of information and extract what is relevant to support their research. That process is extremely time-consuming, so we’re helping government clients bring the information together in one place and examine it more thoroughly.»
Mirghahari told Digital he believes students would need to work for five years in a national security position to be able to learn the on the job skills they learn at the Seton Hall program and explained that now, perhaps more than ever, hitting the ground running is critically important.
«Some of the feedback we’ve received from agencies is, ‘Your students are well-equipped. They’re better than some of the people who have been here for five to 10 years,’» Mirghahari said.
national security, politics, education, china, artificial intelligence
INTERNACIONAL
Newsom breaks with socialists over billionaire tax, and California voters appear poised to reject it
In the lead-up to the November midterms, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) put its support behind California’s Proposition 40, a measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires in the state.
Although the secretary of state’s election results show it on the path to defeat as of Wednesday afternoon, the DSA’s support for the policy has created a flashpoint for larger discussions about socialism’s redistributive aims and the capital flight critics say could follow.
«In their mind, every tax they do is some attempt to get money from people who create wealth and move it to the state,» Richard Stern, an economics scholar with Advancing American Freedom (AAF), said in an interview with Digital.
The DSA’s stance on Proposition 40 has also brought it into conflict with other Democratic figures, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who opposed it.
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The proposition would have applied a 5% tax on assets like businesses, securities, art, collectibles and intellectual property while excluding select pensions, real estate and retirement accounts.
To prevent billionaires from simply leaving the state, Proposition 40 was designed to retroactively apply to billionaires who were residents of California on Jan. 1, 2026.
On the website for its California chapter, the group offered a PowerPoint slideshow supporters could use to argue its merits.
«We have the money in California to pay for the quality schools and healthcare that we need. It just needs to be transferred from the wrong pockets to the right ones. We can do that by taxing the rich,» the slideshow reads.
The DSA argued the policy would help cover up to a projected $100 billion shortfall in federal funding for the state’s Medi-Cal program that provides health insurance for low-income individuals, seniors and people with disabilities. The proposition also outlined that 90% of the generated revenue would go to healthcare, while the remaining 10% would be set aside for education, food assistance and administration of the tax.
As part of its argument in favor of the policy, the DSA framed it as a scaled-up version of something that already exists: a progressive tax, a kind of tax that scales relative to income.
«It calls for a temporary 5% wealth tax on just 250 Californians — the very richest people in the state — who together own $2 trillion in wealth,» its materials explain.
«Let’s be clear: if the Billionaire Tax passes, none of the billionaires will actually lose money. They have been averaging a growth rate of 7 or 8 percent per year in their wealth. Thus, a 5% hit doesn’t even cut into what they have; it just slightly slows down the growth of that wealth.»
But to experts like Stern, the AAF economist, the policy reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of wealth.
«The left looks at a billionaire, and they assume that they’re sitting on $10 billion, $100 billion in cash. I hate to break it to them: There’s no cash,» Stern said.
«They have no idea that we’re talking about a trillion-dollar company, we’re talking about a trillion dollars’ worth of factories and warehouses and delivery trucks and machinery.»
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Notably, Newsom has said he is opposed to the measure, arguing it would put California at a competitive disadvantage.
In an interview with Digital, Newsom cited opposition from a number of different groups.
«The firefighters opposed it. The teachers opposed it. Planned Parenthood opposed it. The vast majority of labor opposes it. I think the majority of Californians oppose it. So, we all have our reasons why,» Newsom said ahead of the election.
«I don’t think it’s a good idea to do [it] at a state level. It’s a badly written initiative. It focuses just on one part of the state’s budget. It’s one-time money and the impact is already being felt. People have left the state.»
Instead, Newsom called on voters to adopt a poison pill countermeasure. Proposition 42 was designed to prohibit new state taxes on personal property and restrict certain retroactive taxes. That measure looks to be on track to succeed.
Even so, Newsom noted that his views on a 5% tax might change if implemented at the federal level.
«Looking at that from a national prism, very different conversation than a state-by-state prism. That’s been the debate in California. I think the majority of Californians see that distinction even though they absolutely believe that we need a new tax bracket in this country,» Newsom said.
Stern noted that Newsom’s openness to considering such a policy nationally comes with many of the same difficulties, but on an international scale.
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«You can more easily leave California, but you could give up American citizenship and move abroad,» Stern said.
«[It] gets back to the old half-joke about communism and the wall in Berlin, which is, as Reagan said, they build walls that keep people in where normally we build walls to keep people out.»
When asked what distinguishes Proposition 40 from a simple tax increase, Stern pointed back to the policy’s implications for businesses, in his view, the main source of most billionaires’ wealth.
«We’re taking the means of production out of the hands of people that built those businesses, that manage those businesses, and giving them to Bernie Sanders and AOC and politicians to run them,» Stern said, referring to two of the country’s most well-known congressional figures who have received backing from the DSA in the past.
«That’s socialism.»
politics, socialism, california, gavin newsom, taxes
Wave of bomb threats disrupts, diverts flights across Europe
Fox News foreign correspondent Jeff Paul reports on a series of bomb threats forcing multiple commercial flights to divert or make emergency landings across Europe. Paul details incidents involving Aer Lingus, Finnair and Wizz Air flights alongside previous security warnings that government authorities classified as hoaxes.
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Multiple planes across Europe were diverted and forced to make emergency landings Thursday because of bomb threats that have turned out to be unfounded.
At least 11 planes, originating from cities including Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw, have been affected. The source of the threats was not immediately clear.
These incidents came after several flights in Europe received similar warnings on Tuesday that the U.K. government described as «malicious hoax threats.»
«Upon receiving a threat regarding the placement of an improvised explosive device on board 4 aircraft heading to Prague, we are preparing with colleagues from Prague Airport for their landing. We assess the relevance of the threats as low,» Czech Police wrote on X, before adding that inspections of the planes yielded «negative results.»
The threats come at a time when European officials have been blaming Russia and Iran for «hybrid attacks» and acts of sabotage, which both Moscow and Tehran deny, Reuters reported.
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A Ryanair plane sits at Sofia Airport after flights from Copenhagen and Madrid landed there, according to the Bulgarian interior minister, as bomb threats forced unplanned landings across Europe on Nov. 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Earlier, a flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a military air base in western France because of a bomb threat, according to French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office. That flight landed safely at the base in Evreux in Normandy, with all 151 passengers and six crew members disembarking, the office said.
A LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed at its destination, where inspections found no hazardous or suspicious items, the airline said.
A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Bucharest landed safely in Bucharest following a bomb threat, according to airport spokesperson Teo Postelnicu.
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A police officer and a sniffer dog inspect a Ryanair airplane and its baggage after Ryanair’s operations center reported a bomb threat received during a flight from Manchester to Murcia, according to Guardia Civil, in Murcia, Spain, on Nov. 3, 2026. (Reuters)
Finnair said that Flight 1761 from Helsinki to Rome was targeted by a bomb threat, but nothing was found after it landed in the Italian capital.
Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, had to make emergency landings because of bomb threats on board.
A Finnair aircraft sits on the tarmac at Fiumicino Airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, Italy, on Nov. 5, 2026, after a Finnair flight from Helsinki was escorted to its scheduled landing by Italian Air Force jets following bomb threats that forced airliners to make unplanned landings across Europe. (Reuters)
Two of the flights — one from Copenhagen, Denmark, and the other from Madrid — landed safely at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport, airport officials told reporters. The third Sofia-bound flight, from London’s Stansted Airport to Sofia, had been diverted and landed safely at the airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city, Plovdiv Airport CEO Krassimir Peshev said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
airlines, europe, france, italy, world
La Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE) contabiliza alrededor de 2.500 usuarios residenciales beneficiados con la condonación de sus deudas y cerca de 250 personas y empresas que acudieron voluntariamente a regularizar irregularidades en sus sistemas de medición del consumo eléctrico, como parte de las medidas impulsadas para ordenar las finanzas.
Las cifras fueron dadas a conocer por el gerente general de la ENEE, Guillermo Peña Panting, quien explicó que ambos procesos muestran un incremento en la participación de los usuarios que buscan resolver sus compromisos pendientes con la estatal y corregir anomalías en la medición de la energía que consumen.
Según el funcionario, este mecanismo está orientado a personas que mantenían obligaciones pendientes con la institución y que pueden acogerse a las disposiciones establecidas para el alivio de sus deudas.
En paralelo, la ENEE registra cerca de 250 regularizaciones voluntarias de personas naturales y empresas que presentaban algún tipo de irregularidad en sus sistemas de medición eléctrica.
Panting explicó que quienes se presentan voluntariamente pueden corregir su situación sin recibir castigos ni multas, por lo que instó a los usuarios que todavía tienen anomalías en sus instalaciones o equipos de medición a aprovechar el período habilitado por la normativa.
La diferencia entre ambos procedimientos radica en que la condonación está dirigida a usuarios residenciales con deudas pendientes, mientras que las regularizaciones voluntarias buscan corregir irregularidades en los sistemas de medición del servicio eléctrico.
Reducir irregularidades
Uno de los componentes del proceso impulsado por la ENEE apunta a la identificación y corrección de anomalías en los equipos utilizados para registrar el consumo de electricidad.
Estas irregularidades pueden estar vinculadas con sistemas de medición que no reflejan correctamente la energía utilizada por los abonados.
La institución busca incentivar que los usuarios se acerquen por iniciativa propia para solucionar cualquier situación pendiente, en lugar de esperar a que se desarrollen procesos de inspección o detección de anomalías.
El funcionarionreiteró que el plazo para acogerse a este beneficio se mantiene vigente hasta finales de 2026. Durante ese período, las personas y empresas que tengan problemas con sus sistemas de medición podrán presentarse ante la estatal para regularizar su condición sin exponerse a multas ni castigos.
El llamado también busca que los abonados mantengan actualizada su situación ante la empresa eléctrica y contribuyan a mejorar los registros de consumo, un aspecto relevante para la facturación y la administración de los recursos del sistema energético.
La participación voluntaria es uno de los elementos que la ENEE busca fortalecer, dado que las diferencias entre la energía suministrada, la registrada por los medidores y la facturada inciden en los resultados financieros de la institución.
Ordenamiento de la medición
Otro de los procesos anunciados por Panting corresponde a la revisión y ordenamiento de los sistemas de medición eléctrica de 215 alcaldías del país.
El funcionario indicó que los trabajos ya comenzaron y comprenden municipalidades ubicadas en las categorías C y D contempladas en la legislación vigente.
Esta iniciativa se desarrolla mediante la coordinación de la ENEE con la Secretaría de Gobernación y Justicia y la Asociación de Municipios de Honduras (AMHON), con el propósito de avanzar en la revisión de las condiciones de medición del servicio eléctrico en las corporaciones municipales.
La incorporación de las alcaldías al proceso representa otro componente del ordenamiento que la estatal pretende extender a distintos sectores de sus usuarios, incluyendo instituciones públicas y consumidores residenciales y empresariales.
En el ámbito institucional, Panting destacó la aprobación anticipada del reglamento del Comité de Conducción, un instrumento relacionado con el proceso de reorganización del sector eléctrico.
Según explicó, este avance se concretó antes de los plazos previstos en la ley, lo que permite desarrollar las siguientes etapas del proceso con mayor planificación y precisión.
La aprobación del reglamento constituye uno de los pasos administrativos para orientar las acciones de ordenamiento, establecer mecanismos de coordinación y dar seguimiento a las medidas que se ejecutan en el sector energético.
La recuperación financiera de la ENEE constituye uno de los principales desafíos de este proceso, debido a la necesidad de mejorar sus ingresos, reducir las pérdidas y fortalecer la administración de los recursos provenientes de la prestación del servicio eléctrico.
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