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Americans on Sunday mark five years since George Floyd was killed by a US police officer, as President Donald Trump backtracks on reforms designed to tackle racism.Floyd’s deadly arrest on May 25, 2020 helped launch the Black Lives Matter movement into a powerful force that sought to resolve America’s deeply rooted racial issues, from police violence to systemic inequality. But since Trump’s return to power in January –- he was serving his first term when Floyd died -– his administration has axed civil rights investigations and cracked down on diversity hiring initiatives.BLM, meanwhile, finds itself lacking the support it enjoyed when protesters sprawled across US cities during the Covid pandemic — with many now agreeing the movement achieved little of substance.An anniversary event is taking place in what has been named George Floyd Square, the area of Minneapolis where the 46-year-old took his final breath as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck during an arrest.A small junction in a residential part of the northern US city, the square is covered with protest art including a purple mural that reads “You Changed the World, George.”That optimistic message painted in 2020 is now, however, at odds with a president whose more extreme allies have suggested he pardon Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering Floyd and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.Some experts believe Trump’s re-election was partly a backlash to BLM activism, which included protests that turned to riots in some cities and calls to defund the police. Floyd’s family members told AFP in Minneapolis on Friday that they wanted people to continue pushing for reform despite the hostile political climate.”We don’t need an executive order to tell us that Black lives matter,” said his aunt Angela Harrelson, who wore a dark T-shirt depicting Floyd’s face.”We cannot let a setback be a holdback for the great comeback. Donald Trump just didn’t get the memo,” she added to nods from other relatives standing beside her.Paris Stevens, a Floyd cousin, agreed: “No one can silence us anymore.”- ‘Keep the memory going’ -The Floyd relatives, with around 50 other people, held a moment of silence on Friday afternoon before placing yellow roses on the roadside spot where Floyd’s fatal arrest was filmed and shared around the world.It was a moment of reflection –- others include a candlelight vigil on Sunday night –- during a weekend otherwise devoted to music, arts and dancing.Memorial events have been held annually since Floyd’s death and the theme for this one -– “The People Have Spoken” -– was suggested by Nelson Mandela’s grandson Nkosi when he visited the square, according to Harrelson.She said the defiant title was meant to reflect five years of protesting, adding that “even though it’s tiresome, we go on.”Visitors are expected to pay their respects through the weekend.Jill Foster, a physician from Minneapolis, told AFP at the square on Friday that she felt honoring Floyd’s legacy was partly a form of political resistance.”Under the Trump administration, everything is trying to be rewritten and a new reality created,” the 66-year-old said. “We have to keep the memory going and keep the information flowing.”Meanwhile, for Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend when he died, the anniversary weekend brings up powerful feelings of personal loss.”I miss him so much, I miss him by my side,” Ross, 49, told AFP, dressed in black and holding a bunch of yellow roses. “It’s beautiful to see all the people come out and celebrate him,” she added.”You see a unification that you don’t get a lot in this country lately, and people are celebrating a man who, you know, gave his life for us.”

Social media platform X was hit by a two-hour outage Saturday, prompting owner Elon Musk to say he needs to spend more time focusing on his companies.His statement echoed comments earlier this month suggesting he would reduce his role in US President Donald Trump’s administration.The world’s richest person has an extraordinarily full plate as owner/CEO of X, xAI (developer of the AI-powered chatbot Grok), electric-car maker Tesla and rocket builder SpaceX — not to mention his recent polarizing efforts to help Trump slash the size of the US federal government.As backlash to those cuts grew and Tesla share prices slipped, Musk began drawing away from the government role, confirming last week that he was down to one or two days a week at the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.”Still, the man who contributed more than $235 million to Trump’s election campaign remains a close advisor to the US president, attending an Oval Office meeting with the South African president on Wednesday.After the X outage on Saturday, Musk suggested that he may have been away from his companies for too long.”As evidenced by the X uptime issues this week, major operational improvements need to be made,” he said.”The failover redundancy should have worked, but did not.”X had largely returned to normal service by 11:00 am US Eastern time (1500 GMT) Saturday. The SITE Intelligence Group reported that hacker-activist group DieNet had claimed responsibility for the outage.DieNet, it said, had called the attack a “test” of its so-called Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) capabilities — flooding the system with online traffic to make it inaccessible to legitimate users. AFP was unable to independently verify DieNet’s claim of responsibility, and X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage.- ‘Super focused’ -“Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” Musk posted on X. “I must be super focused on X/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.” SpaceX announced Friday that it plans to attempt a new launch of its mega-rocket Starship next week. Still under development, Starship exploded in flight during two previous launches.Starship is key to Musk’s long-term plans to colonize Mars, and SpaceX has been betting on the launch of numerous Starship prototypes — despite the explosive failures — to quickly identify and address problems.The South African-born billionaire has for weeks been signaling that he would reduce his political role to refocus on his businesses.Early this month, Musk acknowledged that his ambitious effort to slash US federal spending did not fully reach its goals, despite tens of thousands of job cuts and drastic budget reductions.This week, he said he would pull back from spending his fortune on politics, although he did not rule out backing future causes “if I see a reason.”Of his recent political donations, he said: “I did what needed to be done.” 

The Trump administration’s attempt to block Harvard University, with its global reputation for academic excellence, from enrolling international students adds to a growing list of measures that risk severely undercutting American “soft power.”A federal judge has placed a temporary hold on the Harvard ban.But the president’s move was just part of a wider ideological battle he has waged against dozens of long-established programs designed to promote diversity and cooperation at home and abroad — and to expand US influence in the process.Trump has ordered deep cuts in foreign aid, canceled or seriously scaled back university research programs — raising fears of a brain drain as top academics seek work abroad — and launched attacks on media, including by silencing the historic Voice of America.Then in early May, Trump threatened a 100 percent tariff on movies shown in the US but produced abroad.That would have, for instance, a devastating impact on films like Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” the biggest-budget American movie being shown at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It was filmed largely in Britain and South Africa.Trump has also attacked some of the country’s most august cultural institutions, from the Smithsonian museums in Washington — which the Republican president accuses of “ideological indoctrination” — to the capital’s prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he has appointed himself chairman.  The concept of “soft power” was first enunciated in the 1980s by the late political scientist Joseph Nye, who defined it as a country’s ability to achieve desired outcomes by attraction, not by coercion, payment or force. That, in the eyes of Trump’s critics, is exactly the opposite of what the US president has achieved. His constantly evolving trade wars and attacks on international alliances have damaged US prestige, even impacting the number of foreign tourists coming to the country.Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, sharply denounced Trump’s move against Harvard.”International students contribute to our economy, support US jobs and are among our most powerful tools of diplomacy and soft power,” she said in a statement.”This reckless action does lasting damage to our global influence,” she added.Harvard’s many prominent graduates include Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. While the judge’s suspension of the Harvard ban gave it some respite, Trump’s moves against the school have sent shivers through American academia, and beyond. – Huge foreign enrollment -Every year, American universities draw hundreds of thousands of foreign students, notably from Asia. International students account for one-fourth of Harvard’s enrollment, a major source of revenue.In the 2023-24 academic year, more than 1.1 million foreign students were enrolled at US campuses, a record number according to the Institute of International Education. They generally pay much more in tuition than US residents.The largest numbers, in descending order, come from India, China and South Korea, with the top fields of study being math, computer science and engineering.With the US and China locked in a fierce rivalry for global influence, Beijing was quick to react to the latest move against Harvard. “China has consistently opposed the politicization of educational collaboration,” the foreign ministry said in a statement Friday, adding that the US move would “only tarnish its own image and reputation in the world.”The Trump administration, for its part, insists American universities like Harvard have become breeding grounds for leftist extremism, and it asserts that they waste enormous amounts of money in uselessly promoting diversity and inclusion.”You’ve got a wonderful kid, he’s done very, very well, and then you send him to Harvard, and the kid comes home and you don’t even recognize them; and they’re definitely primed to be a fabulous left-wing activist, but they’re maybe not going to be able to get a job,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Thursday when asked about the issue.During a congressional hearing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the cuts in US foreign aid.The intent is “not to dismantle American foreign policy and it is not to withdraw us from the world,” he said, but rather to maximize aid in keeping with an “America First” approach.Nye, the soft-power theoretician and onetime assistant US secretary of defense, died early this month.But in an email exchange with AFP in February, he offered a blunt assessment of Trump’s approach. The president, he said, “only thinks in terms of coercion and payment.” That, he added, ignores a proven source of US influence. “Our success over the past eight decades,” Nye said, “has also been based on attractiveness.” 

Social media platform X was hit by a two-hour outage Saturday, prompting owner Elon Musk to say he needs to spend more time focusing on his companies.The billionaire has an extraordinarily full plate as owner/CEO of X, xAI (developer of the AI-powered chatbot Grok), electric-car maker Tesla and rocket builder SpaceX — not to mention his recent polarizing efforts to help Donald Trump slash thousands of US government jobs.As a backlash to those job cuts grew and Tesla share prices slipped, Musk began drawing away from the government role and returning to his original work. On Saturday, following the X outage, he suggested that he might have been away too long.”As evidenced by the X uptime issues this week, major operational improvements need to be made,” he said.”Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” the South African-born businessman posted on X.”I must be super focused on X/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.” Of the X outage, he said: “The failover redundancy should have worked, but did not.”X had largely returned to normal service by 11:00 am Saturday (1500 GMT). Contacted by AFP for comment, the company did not immediately reply.SpaceX announced Friday that it plans to attempt a new launch of its mega-rocket Starship next week. Still under development, Starship exploded in flight during two previous launches.Musk acknowledged early this month that his ambitious effort to slash US federal spending, led by his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), did not fully reach its goals despite tens of thousands of job cuts and drastic budget reductions.

Attendees at a graduation event for new US army officers Saturday tried to brush off inflammatory remarks by Donald Trump, but said they were unsurprised by the president’s rhetoric.Trump’s speech at the West Point Military Academy veered between attacks on transgender people and army diversity, equity and inclusion policies to slamming his predecessors.An infantry major who declined to give their name said that Trump “sure had them on their toes” with his speech, but when asked about the political content said: “it was my first commander-in-chief’s speech” — so had nothing with which to compare.Trump railed against past army efforts to promote integration and tolerance, claiming that after he dismantled such policies, troops were no longer forced to perform drag shows overseas.”(I) liberated our troops from divisive and demeaning political trainings,” he said.Cadet George Montras, 23, said that he enjoyed parts of Trump’s speech about “winning” — but did not take a view on the more overtly political content. “(Winning) really matters here, whether it is sport, academically, whatever,” he said.On whether the speech was unusually political, Montras insisted that “it was pretty on brand” for Trump and he was unsurprised.- ‘Unravelled’ -The event was a jarring mix of precision regimented military ceremony against a backdrop of Trump’s freewheeling remarks.Graduates threw their hats into the air and marched accompanied by a military band, while Trump wore a red “make America great again” cap and joked about incompetent senior officers.One non-military attendee said Trump’s rambling speech “was good then it just kind of unravelled.”General Stephane Richou, visiting with a delegation of other senior officers from France, described Trump’s speech to the graduating class as “interesting.””I was fascinated by the ceremony,” he told AFP describing the “link between the commander-in-chief and the army for these youngsters” as an advantage. A lieutenant colonel in the US army chaplain corps who declined to be named said that the day was about “the joy of serving.”Trump attended the New York Military Academy private school but avoided the Vietnam war draft through a medical exemption.Declining to comment on the more controversial elements of the speech, the chaplain said “it was very encouraging” to hear Trump emphasize the importance of the military and that “it was a good time to become an officer.” At one point, Trump baselessly alleged that former president Barack Obama had given hypersonic missile technology to Russia, which prompted a large jeer from the non-graduating cadets assembled to see their classmates graduate.- ‘Divisive’ policies -There was also enthusiastic applause and cheering in the crowd when Trump rehashed his objection to transgender people competing in women’s sport.”We will not have men playing in women’s sports if that’s OK,” he said after vowing to stamp out “divisive” inclusion policies in the military.A special forces lieutenant colonel in the stands laughed out loud when Trump suggested in an off-the-cuff remark that he wanted a West Point gold ring, reserved for alumni of the gruelling four-year course.Kahena Wilhite was supporting a friend who graduated despite racking up 286 hours of disciplinary punishment time.Describing Trump’s words unfavorably, the 22-year-old said a number of Black and indigenous people left the stands in protest during the speech, which included praise for Levittown housing developments that formerly excluded non-white owners.On whether it was a safe time to become an officer under Trump, Tom McGill, 75, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana said he was relieved that his grandson was going into an army support role.”He’s going into intelligence, I don’t know if they see any action,” he said, stressing that commentators have “got to give (Trump) a chance” on foreign policy.Cadets that did speak to AFP stressed that the day was meant to be apolitical, and that they were excited to support their classmates.”We’re here to support each other,” said a second-year cadet who gave his name as Torres and wore a pristine white uniform with a white peaked cap with gold trim.”It’s such an honor. The whole company is here to support the graduating class.” 

President Donald Trump lambasted previous US leaders and policies in a campaign-style speech Saturday to graduating Army officers, underscoring his determination to remold the apolitical military to his right-wing ideology.The address to newly minted junior officers at the famed West Point academy in New York featured the annual event’s traditional shout-outs to top students, jokes, and praise for the cadets’ sporting achievements.However, the 78-year-old Republican, who has used the first four months of his second term to attack critics and concentrate power in the White House, quickly turned to edgier topics.The blistering rhetoric got only muted applause from the rows of grey-uniformed cadets.Justifying his isolationist policies and mistrust of historic US alliances, Trump said that for at least two decades, US leaders have “dragged our military into missions…, wasting our time, money and souls.”Troops were “led by leaders who didn’t have a clue in distant lands.”Trump also focused on his decision to rid the military of so-called DEI policies, which are meant to encourage participation by racial and sexual minorities in the ranks, including women.The drive to rid the armed forces of what Trump derides as “woke” initiatives has also seen the removal from military academy bookshelves of scores of books that cover the painful US history of racism.Trump told graduating cadets that his predecessors had been “abusing our soldiers with absurd ideological experiments.””They subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended,” he said.”All of that’s ended. You know that,” Trump said. “They’re not even allowed to think about it anymore.””The job of the US armed forces is not to host drag shows,” he said. “The military’s job is to dominate any foe, to annihilate any threat to America, anywhere.”- Criticism of US allies -Trump has successfully channeled disillusionment among Americans after the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq triggered by the September 11, 2001, attacks. He vowed at West Point that the United States will not attempt to “spread democracy… at the point of a gun.”But his post-9/11-era reset also includes unprecedented scorn for US allies in Europe and Asia, which he again said on Saturday had been cheating the United States.”They don’t rip us off anymore,” he boasted.Adding to the partisan tone of the speech, Trump wore one of his red election campaign hats throughout and talked up his November victory as a “great mandate” which “gives us the right to do what we want to do.”Army officers are not allowed to engage in politics and even when Trump paused for applause, the clapping from the cadets was often sporadic. Those invited to speak briefly at Trump’s podium kept their messages strictly personal — not so much as referring to the president.However, the refashioning of the Pentagon, led by Trump’s ultra-loyal defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has caused open unease in some quarters.Graham Parsons, a professor of philosophy at West Point, resigned this month, saying that the academy had “abandoned its core principles” to comply with White House ideological demands and that he was “ashamed.”New teaching guidelines on shunning discussion of racism or sexism, while insisting on promoting the idea of America as a constant force for good, “were brazen demands to indoctrinate, not educate,” Parsons wrote in The New York Times.

The six people onboard a small plane that crashlanded on a California neighborhood amid dense fog were all killed, according to investigating authorities.The Cessna 550 Citation, which federal records show belonged to music agent Dave Shapiro, plummeted into a residential area of San Diego at 3:47 am (1047 GMT) on Thursday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).It was not immediately clear what caused the Cessna to come plunging into the Murphy Canyon neighborhood, about two miles (3.2 kilometres) from the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport where the aircraft was headed.In an audio recording posted to air traffic website liveatc.net, the pilot can be heard asking about weather conditions prior to descent, while indicating that visibility was down to a minimum.”Doesn’t sound great, but we’ll give it a go,” the pilot said.As the plane came down, it clipped a power line and the impact of the crash set several nearby houses and vehicles alight, jolting families awake before dawn.”The pilot and passengers were fatally injured,” NTSB investigator Dan Baker told a press conference on Friday. He added that no one on the ground had been seriously hurt.While Baker did not specify the number of fatalities, the US Federal Aviation Administration previously said the private plane had six people onboard.The San Diego County medical examiner’s office named three of the victims as Shapiro, 42, Emma Huke, 25, and Celina Kenyon, 36.Music veteran Shapiro was a co-founder of Sound Talent Group, which counts artists Hanson, Sum 41, Modern Baseball and Vanessa Carlton on its roster. The company told US media that two other members of its staff, booking assistants Huke and Kendall Fortner, were also killed in the crash.”We are devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends. Our hearts go out to their families and to everyone impacted,” Sound Talent Group said in a statement.NBC7 identified the other victims as software engineer Dominic Damian and Daniel Williams, a former drummer for metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada.”No words. We owe you everything. Love you forever,” the band wrote in a tribute to Williams on Instagram.Kenyon was a professional photographer and mother, according to her social media. Her father, Bryan Charles Feldman, told NBC7 she had chosen to fly home early with friends after a photo shoot rather than take a commercial plane so she could take her daughter to school the next day. At least 10 homes in San Diego’s Murphy Canyon neighborhood were hit by debris, while the street was littered with charred remnants, scattered fiberglass and jet fuel.Eight people were treated for minor injuries, according to responding police and firefighters.The NTSB said the pilot had not reported any problems to air traffic control or declared an emergency before trying to land.The regional Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport was experiencing several glitches at the time, with its runway approach lights and an automated weather reporting system not operational, according to the NTSB’s Baker.The plane was not equipped with a flight data recorder.”We are trying to determine at this time if the airplane was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder,” Baker said.The NTSB said its preliminary investigation would take several weeks to complete.

The six people onboard a small plane that crashlanded in a California neighborhood amid dense fog were all killed, according to investigating authorities.The Cessna 550 Citation, which federal records show belonged to music agent Dave Shapiro, struck a power line before plummeting into a residential area of San Diego at 3:47 am (1047 GMT) on Thursday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).”The pilot and passengers were fatally injured,” NTSB investigator Dan Baker told a press conference on Friday. He added that no one on the ground had been seriously hurt.While Baker did not specify the number of fatalities, the US Federal Aviation Administration previously said the private plane had six people onboard.The San Diego County medical examiner’s office named three of the victims as Shapiro, 42, Emma Huke, 25, and Celina Kenyon, 36.Music veteran Shapiro was a co-founder of Sound Talent Group, which has represented artists including Sum 41 and Vanessa Carlton. The company told US media that two other members of its staff, booking assistants Huke and Kendall Fortner, were also killed in the crash.”We are devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends. Our hearts go out to their families and to everyone impacted,” Sound Talent Group said in a statement.Kenyon was a professional photographer and mother, according to her social media. Her father, Bryan Charles Feldman, told NBC7 she had chosen to fly home early with friends after a photo shoot rather than take a commercial plane so she could take her daughter to school the next day. NBC7 identified the other victims as software engineer Dominic Damian and Daniel Williams, a former drummer for metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada.”No words. We owe you everything. Love you forever,” the band wrote in a tribute to Williams on Instagram.In San Diego’s Murphy Canyon neighborhood, at least 10 homes were hit by debris, while the site of the fiery crash was littered with charred remnants of cars and scattered fiberglass.It was not immediately clear what caused the Cessna to come plunging into the bloc, setting several houses alight. The NTSB said the pilot had not reported any problems to air traffic control or declared an emergency.Runway approach lights and an automated weather reporting system were not operational at the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport at the time, according to the NTSB’s Baker.”We are trying to determine at this time if the airplane was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder,” Baker said.The NTSB said its preliminary investigation would take several weeks to complete.

Police beefed up security at schools and religious buildings across Washington Friday as the US capital reeled from the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum.The 31-year-old Chicago man accused of Wednesday’s attack shouted “Free Palestine” as he was taken away by police — exacerbating fears over rising anti-Semitism since Israel’s invasion of Gaza following the unprecedented October 2023 Hamas attack.”Around DC, you will see an increased presence of law enforcement officers around the community, you will find us around our faith-based organizations,” Metropolitan Police (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith told reporters.”You will see an increased presence around our schools and places like the DC Jewish Community Center. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish community.”Authorities in Washington said they were investigating the shooting “as an act of terrorism and as a hate crime” ahead of a preliminary court hearing set for alleged killer Elias Rodriguez on June 18.President Donald Trump — who spoke with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — posted on social media that the attack was clearly anti-Semitic.The shooting, just a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the White House, triggered international outrage as Israel blamed European criticism of its Gaza offensive, which came in response to the Hamas attack.The victims of Wednesday’s attack, Israeli citizen Yaron Lischinsky and American Sarah Lynn Milgrim, had been planning to marry.- ‘Crazy’ -Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser gathered her interfaith council, local Jewish leaders, city councillors and law enforcement officials on Thursday to coordinate the community response.”We have a long history, and a lot of practice in our city, of working with Jewish organizations around safety and around protection,” she told a news conference.Aaron Hiller, head of the board of the Hill Havurah synagogue, who was organizing a vigil for the victims in Washington late Friday, said the attack was “unfortunately … not unexpected.””Both acts of anti-Semitism and acts of violence are all too common,” Hiller said, though insisting the community was “very safe.””I walk to work and from work very late at night (and) my kids roam the neighborhood freely,” he said.But “particularly since the events of October 7th, we are taking steps to enhance our security here and elsewhere.”Daniel Ben Chitrit, who was at the vigil, said he was deeply shaken by Wednesday’s killings, adding that he was supposed to have been at the Jewish Museum that evening.”I didn’t know the victims, but I’ve met the victims at previous events,” he said.He insisted there had been no way for the shooter to know the couple worked at the Israeli embassy.”All he knew is that they were coming from the Jewish event,” he said.

As the Memorial Day holiday weekend gets underway, US voyagers are girding for a bumpy ride as heavy summer travel volumes test the nation’s overworked air traffic system.Travelers at Newark Liberty International Airport said this week they were resigned to delays but not worried about safety.”It’s more of a concern coming back,” Benjamin Schmutzer, 32, said Wednesday night at Newark before his departure to Portugal. “Hopefully the government has sorted it out.”One of three major airports serving the busy New York City region, Newark has been under a cloud since an April 28 equipment outage resulted in air traffic controllers losing radar and communications with planes for 90 seconds.The incident, which spurred scrutiny in Congress and a comic skit on Saturday Night Live, was a factor in some Newark-assigned Air Traffic Control (ATC) staff taking leave “to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).While the bulk of the recent incidents have been at Newark, part of Denver’s air traffic system also lost communications for 90 seconds on May 12. The US air safety regulator has also faced questions after a fatal January crash at Washington National Airport, the first major US commercial crash since 2009.”There will be delays this summer,” predicted aviation consultant Jeff Guzzetti, the FAA’s former director of accident investigations.Guzzetti praised Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s ATC modernization drive as long overdue. But he pointed to FAA “turmoil” from myriad departures of senior officials following the Trump administration’s push to downsize the government.Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said summer travel will go more smoothly than feared if there are no major outages.While the ATC system needs to be upgraded, Daniels does not believe the acute problems at Newark are pervasive throughout the system nationally. But the recent incidents are a “warning sign” about the need to invest in modernizing the system. He also backs Duffy’s commitment to hiring more air traffic controllers, saying inadequate staffing means six-day work weeks and long hours for ATC workers.”It is literally the burden of the system on the back of the American worker,” said Daniels.- Slowing down operations -Newark’s problems stem from the FAA’s decision in 2024 to move some Newark ATC staff to Philadelphia, relocating them from Long Island, New York, where the FAA currently manages some ATC operations for several sites, including both of the other two major New York airports.Newark operations have improved in recent weeks since the FAA replaced some telecommunications lines to the Philadelphia site, US transportation officials say. The agency this week also announced it was lowering the caps on total Newark flights.The New Jersey airport featured prominently at congressional hearings earlier this month, during which FAA officials pointed to airplane systems that help guarantee distance between planes and noted that pilots are trained in case air traffic systems fail.As a result of these redundancies, there was no “heightened significant danger to the flying public” at Newark, said Frank McIntosh, deputy chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organization.McIntosh acknowledged that staffing in Philadelphia has had problems, with the number of working air traffic controllers dropping as low as three at a certain point, instead of the usual seven. But safety was not compromised because the FAA curtailed flight service, he said.”When we have a staffing shortage … we put in traffic management initiatives to slow the aircraft down,” McIntosh said.However, such moves wreak havoc on the schedules of travelers.On the worst travel days, there have been more than 230 flight cancellations and 470 flight delays at the New Jersey airport, Port Authority officials said.Still, officials from United Airlines, Newark’s biggest airline operator, said Friday they were optimistic of a smooth travel season this summer, citing the FAA flight limits as well as improved capacity once a runway construction project ends in mid-June.But Ramesh Jaganathan, 47, does not expect a speedy turnaround.”It’s a horrible experience,” Jaganathan said Wednesday night after his Orlando flight to Newark landed two hours late. “We would love to reach our homes as soon as possible. But we’ve got to get used to it for the summer.”