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Fifteen Lives Lost in Tragic Boat Collision Off Chios

Greek emergency personnel wait to transfer bodies of dead migrants, following migrant’s boat collision with coast guard off the island of Chios, in the port of Chios, Greece, February 3, 2026. A deadly maritime collision near the Greek island of Chios has left fifteen migrants dead and prompted urgent questions about how the incident unfolded. According to early reports, a migrant vessel carrying dozens of people struck a Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat during the night, causing the smaller craft to overturn. Rescue teams recovered multiple bodies from the water while continuing to search the surrounding area for any additional survivors. Twenty‑five people were pulled from the sea alive, several of whom were transported to local hospitals for treatment. Authorities have opened an investigation to determine the sequence of events leading up to the crash, including the movements of both vessels and the conditions at the time. The tragedy adds to the growing concerns over the dangers...
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Data Derailed: $900 Million Cut from U.S. Education Research

 

In a dramatic move that has rattled the education community, Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has slashed nearly $900 million in contracts from the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The cuts—announced via a DOGE post on the social media platform X—affect dozens of multi‐year agreements designed to track student learning from kindergarten through high school.

According to DOGE, 89 contracts totaling approximately $881 million have been terminated, with one contractor’s $1.5 million deal to “observe mailing and clerical operations” cited as an example of expenditures deemed wasteful. While the move spares flagship projects such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—widely known as the nation’s report card—as well as data tools like the College Scorecard, critics worry that the broader impact will be felt in the erosion of long-term educational research.

Lawmakers and education experts have expressed strong concerns that the termination of these contracts will undermine the ability to collect and analyze essential data on school performance and student outcomes. Senator Patty Murray, a former preschool teacher and a vocal advocate for robust public education research, lambasted the decision as “bulldozing the research arm” of the Education Department. “Without such research, our ability to pinpoint achievement gaps and to improve educational practices is severely compromised,” she said.

Supporters of the cuts argue that they are a necessary step in eliminating inefficiencies and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. A spokesperson for the department explained that the canceled contracts were identified as “waste, fraud, and abuse” and that the action aligns with an administration-wide effort to focus on “meaningful learning.”

This sweeping retrenchment comes amid ongoing debates over the federal role in education. President Donald Trump has long promised to decentralize education and return more control to the states—a vision that now appears to be taking shape through DOGE’s aggressive budget-cutting measures. However, as researchers and local educators brace for potential fallout, the long-term implications of dismantling a key source of national education data remain deeply uncertain.

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