Ukraine is using drones like Wi-Fi extenders to help its attack drones fly farther

Twist Robotics' drones can be used as signal repeaters to help the connection between a drone operator and their mission drone.Twist Robotics

• Drones in Ukraine act as flying communications bridges between operators and mission drones.
• They repeat the operators' signal to allow drones to fly farther while staying connected.
• The signal-repeating drones make other drones more resistant to Russia's electronic warfare.

Ukraine has created drones that act as flying relay towers, allowing its drones conducting missions to fly farther while making them harder for Russia to jam.

In a war where drones gather intel and account for more than 95% of Russia's front-line losses, Ukraine wants its operators to keep control of their drones over longer distances with stronger signals that are harder for Russia to break.

One solution is the signal repeater drone, a flying signal booster that operates between a pilot and a mission drone, relaying commands to the aircraft and sending back video and intelligence to the operator. Able to fly much higher than a ground antenna, airborne repeaters can extend a drone's range and help preserve the connection under pressure.

It increases the mission drone's operational range by extending how far it can fly while staying connected to its pilot. It's a similar principle to how wifi repeaters work.

Ukrainian arms maker Twist Robotics makes a signal-repeating drone, born from its Saker Scout drone.

Rostyslav Olenchyn, the company's co-founder and chief information officer, told Business Insider that the drone was widely used for reconnaissance and strike operations, but this war changes rapidly, with arms and warfighting technology quickly becoming obsolete. And without updates, this drone was at risk of falling victim to that pattern in the cat-and-mouse technology race.

Drones needed to be effective at longer ranges, and the Saker Scout's range was "not enough" for many missions. So, the drone was redesigned "for another objective. It became the signal relay station," Olenchyn said.

Ukraine's drone operators want to be able to fly their drones as far and with as strong a connection as possible.Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Saker Scout, able to also be used in other combat roles, can extend the operational range of drones by more than 50 kilometers, according to the company.

The concept of using aircraft as signal middlemen isn't new. Militaries have used helicopters and planes to relay communications between assets and forces disconnected by the terrain, though usually troops rather than drones. These crewed aircraft, however, struggle to operate over Ukraine, but while such air assets are few and far between, drones are prolific.

Large crewed aircraft cannot "necessarily survive in the heavy saturated air of the battlefield," where drones and air defenses are a threatening presence, Olenchyn said. "So the small, versatile platform was a solution." He said that serial production of the Saker Scout with this function started in 2023.

The company's strike drone, the Signal Hunter, can also be used as a relay.

Other Ukrainian companies are also working in the space, with some updating existing drone types and some designing new ones. Roboneers, for example, developed a version of its Wardog drone that can carry relay equipment weighing up to three kilograms, and Skyriper makes the Skyriper-R Airborne Repeater, a dedicated drone with the single function of acting as an airborne repeater.

Volodymyr Zinovskyi, the CEO of the Ukrainian defense firm TAF Industries, told Business Insider that his company started making relay drones last year at the request of units, describing the technology as going from optional to essential.

Brave1, Ukraine's state-backed innovation platform, wrote last year that "the use of UAVs over long distances or in difficult terrain requires the use of repeaters - special devices that help increase the range of a stable signal several times."

Some Ukrainian drones are built for this relay mission, while others can be fitted with add-on repeater equipment.

Twist Robotics' Saker Scout repeats the signal from a drone operator to their mission drone, and the reverse.Twist Robotics

Beyond overcoming geographical challenges, airborne repeaters also help counter Russian electronic warfare by strengthening the communications link between operators and mission drones, making it harder to disrupt, though Russia can still target the relay itself.

An analysis published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, last year described the creation of relay systems as a response to growing electronic warfare tactics, including the ability that both sides have to trace drone control signals back to their source for strikes on operators, priority targets in this war.

Dmytro "Liber" Zhluktenko, a former drone operator who now serves as a lessons-learned analyst with Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment "RAID," told Business Insider that Ukrainian forces are "keeping somewhat a stable radio link by mass utilizing signal repeaters."

He said that some uncrewed repeater aircraft are fixed-wing drones, while some are repurposed bomber-type drones. Instead of bombs, it just carries the signal repeater," he said.

"We optimize those signal repeater carriers to just stay in the air for an extremely long time, like one hour plus," he said. "That's their only job: to be in the air." Working with strike drones, they give operators a "great radio link over the target."

Oleksiy, the commander of the 2nd UAV engineer platoon of the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, told ArmyInform, the official information agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, last year that his unit uses repeaters on drones to expand the radio horizon of the drones they want to use and fly further to target Russia.

Russia is using the technology too, including to help attack drones fly deeper into Ukrainian territory.

And these lessons aren't limited to the Ukraine war. The US military is also experimenting with ways to extend drone operations and keep operators connected from farther away. The Marine Corps, for instance, has experimented with using helicopters as FPV motherships, as well as handing off control after launch.

Though different from Ukraine's airborne repeater work, both address a similar battlefield problem, which is that drones are only useful if operators can launch them, control them, and keep receiving information at tactically relevant distances.

Olenchyn said that updates, like the signal repeating ability, are critical in combat. He said that every two weeks, the company has "a new update, new kinds of techniques, new kinds of drones or functionality which are released."

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Inflation under Trump is only about half the rate under Biden. Voters are still just as mad.

So far in President Trump's second term, prices in the US have risen only about half as quickly compared to his predecessor's four years in office. Yet Trump has a 72% disapproval rating on the issue and risks paying a steep political price — just as former President Joe Biden did — with voters drawing a direct connection between rising prices and the president's policies.

In the last election cycle, prices of all items rose more than 20% during Biden's term, sparking widespread voter angst. This time around, price growth is notably slower, rising 5.4% in a little less than two years since Inauguration Day.

But a Yahoo Finance analysis of price data shows that a few major outliers have hit Americans' wallets in an outsized way, largely due to increases in goods affected by the war in Iran and tariffs.

Fuel oil and gasoline are perhaps the most dramatic examples, spiking over 30% beginning in March in response to the war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. 

And voters have noticed, as evidenced in poll after poll. A New York Times/Siena poll released this week found 73% of likely voters disapprove of the president's handling of gas prices.

Trump underscored the salience of energy prices when he posted a charge this week that "Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of Oil prior to the US Midterm Election." 

Trump has often pushed back against questions about high energy prices, saying they won't be a problem once the Iran war ends.

Read more: How oil price shocks ripple through your wallet, from gas to groceries

Link between price spikes and Trump policies

The connection between price increases and Trump's tariff policy has also been in evidence.

Coffee prices have risen nearly 23% during Trump's second term (more than double the rate under Biden) as tariffs raised prices before Trump scrapped many of the coffee duties late last year in response to coffee drinkers' unhappiness.

Goods like toys and footwear have likewise risen rapidly as importers from China and elsewhere in Asia faced new tariffs. Toys are a particularly stark example, falling by 4.6% during Biden's term and then rising by 7.8% so far in Trump's term.

"Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally," Trump said in a rare acknowledgment of tariff-fueled price increases when he was pressed on the issue in April.

Other goods have moved in the opposite direction. Eggs jumped by an average of 2.57% each month when Biden was in the White House, but have dropped 3.82% each month of Trump's term so far, the analysis shows.

But tariffs remain in focus and unpopular, with an average of polls from the Silver Bulletin finding that 62.7% of Americans disapprove of how Trump has handled trade and tariffs versus 32.8% who approve.

President Donald Trump is seen after a rally on October 22 in Sioux City, Iowa.. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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Gas in focus in the final weeks of the campaign

Despite the different roots, inflation has emerged as the central political problem for Trump and his party — as it was for Biden and Democrats — and comes as early voting is already underway for the Nov. 3 midterms.

And perhaps no individual price tag is more politically charged, for any president, than the cost of a gallon of gas. 

Trump is trying to make his case as gas prices are averaging about $4.30 per gallon and diesel is elevated after setting an all-time price record last month, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Trump has taken multiple actions just this week to try to rein in prices, including $8 billion in support for farmers and invoking the Defense Production Act on Thursday to direct new funds to increase refining capacity.

Yahoo Finance

Trump touted the moves before voters in Iowa on Thursday, saying the release of $150 million would lead to more production of diesel and gasoline.

Yet he faces the inconvenient fact that his record on gas prices is now all but indistinguishable from Biden's.

Since Jan. 20, 2025, prices have averaged $3.449 per gallon according to data from the Energy Information Administration. Under Biden, the average price was $3.455 per gallon over his four years.

Trump spent much of the last campaign promising the opposite, pledging $ 2 per gallon gasoline and vanishing inflation in nearly every 2024 campaign speech.

That is leading voters to blame the president for the state of affairs.

This week's national poll from the New York Times and Siena University found that 75% of voters view economic conditions as only fair or poor, and a solid majority put the blame on Trump.

As Ipsos also put it this week in a summary of recent findings:  "Americans' confidence in the economy has been bad since the Iran war began [and] now the bottom has dropped out."

Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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Economic pressures put new Midwestern states in play for the midterms

Supporters listen as Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a rally at Wayne State University in Detroit on October 22. - Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

Democrats could be poised for a revival in the heartland, as furor over high costs and doubt about President Donald Trump’s willingness to change the nation’s trajectory threaten to loosen the GOP’s grip on working-class voters.

A decade after the Trump era began, when he first turned Midwestern political battlegrounds into reliably Republican states, the fallout from policies of his second term have rippled through the agriculture sector and broader economies across the Great Plains and the Rust Belt.

Iowa and Ohio, which have not been competitive since former President Barack Obama was on the ballot, are in play. And ruby-red states like Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana are not exempt. The shift is happening up and down the ballot, with tight contests for the House, Senate and governor blanketing the middle of the country.

From spring planting to fall harvest, anxiety over Trump’s war with Iran and the fallout from his trade battles has turned into alarm.

In conversations across the region, voters point to the soaring cost of gas and diesel, as well as high grocery prices and interest rates. A whipsaw tariff policy has forced farmers to pay more for fertilizer, while some manufacturers, footing higher bills for imported components, have laid off workers. Trump’s decision to allow imported beef has infuriated ranchers. And spending cuts targeting healthcare and grant programs have caused further strain.

Promises to revitalize the nation’s manufacturing sector remain unfulfilled. And even before the Iran war sent costs soaring, several of these battleground states were in fiscal decline.

Iowa, for example, recorded the weakest annual growth rate in the country in 2025, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, a searing indictment for Republicans who have had control of state government for more than a decade.

“I think everybody in agriculture is tired, would be the best way to put it. They’re just tired,” Steve Kuiper, a farmer and president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, told CNN. “They feel very beat up right now, demoralized.”

It has all fueled a hunger for change — and created an opening for Democratic candidates.

“A lot of the promises the president made to bring costs down, to not start new foreign wars, to deliver on his economic message, have not come to fruition,” said Beau Bayh, the third-generation scion of Indiana’s most famous Democratic political family. If he wins his race for secretary of state, he’d be the first member of his party to win statewide in Indiana in 14 years.

Trump knows better than most presidents that midterm elections are a reflection — and referendum — on the party in power. He experienced it in 2018, when Republicans held control of the Senate but lost their majority in the House — including three seats in Iowa. GOP officials tell CNN they fear a repeat of that scenario.

The US Capitol building seen on October 1 in Washington, DC. - Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The travel plans of both parties tell the tale, with Trump set to visit Michigan on Sunday after making stops in Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa in a monthlong campaign blitz. Obama traveled to Michigan and Ohio on Saturday, rallying support in two states he once won.

Polls suggest voters are willing to punish the Republicans in power in Washington, even though they also hold dim views of the Democratic brand.

“It’s not that they’ve been overwhelmed by the Democratic Party, it’s just that they’re really, really pissed off,” Tom Vilsack, a Democratic former Iowa governor, told CNN. “They want to send a message of disappointment. When you’re upset with someone, you want to find a way to send a message. You don’t swallow it, you send that message.”

Vilsack, who served two terms as agriculture secretary in the Obama administration, said economic frustrations across the agriculture and manufacturing sectors have been rising long before the Trump era. But he said the promises Trump made during his three campaigns, particularly when he pledged to bring prices down only two years ago, are feeding the anger.

“He builds up the hope that it’s going to be fundamentally different,” Vilsack said. “That was interpreted that he’s going to bring back the good times. He failed to do that.”

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who was the last Republican to win that office in his reelection two decades ago, said Trump would be better off talking about rising costs and how he intends to change course.

“It’s going to be a blue wave,” Pawlenty told CNN. “We just don’t know if it’s knee-deep, waist-deep, or going to hit us right in the face.”

The House is all but certain to fall from GOP control, he said, but added: “The real chance for Republicans to salvage something out of this is to hang on to the Senate and that’s a real possibility.”

House and Senate in the balance

In Iowa and Ohio, Democrats have a shot at winning Senate races that are crucial to the net four-seat gain they need to claim a majority — a goal that eluded them in 2018. Their odds look even better in those states’ governor’s races, potentially giving the party a foothold in statehouses where Republicans have trifectas: control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

But the Democratic revival could extend even further. Megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton has the GOP scrambling to save the seat of Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas. An independent candidate, Dan Osborn, has rallied Democratic support and thrown a curveball into Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts’ bid for a second term in Nebraska.

And a slew of House seats across the Midwest held by Republicans are in play. Democrats believe they could win as many as three GOP-held seats each in Iowa and Ohio, plus potentially four more in Michigan. The party is also targeting an Omaha-based district in Nebraska and one in southeastern Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. If the election breaks in Democrats’ favor in a big way, another House seat in Nebraska, as well as one seat each in Indiana and Kansas, could also prove to be much more competitive than either party expected early in the 2026 election cycle.

Republicans aren’t conceding any of those races. And they believe they have Democrats on defense in the Upper Midwest — particularly Michigan, where progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed is locked in an expensive and bitter Senate race against Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers.

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Speaking in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday, Trump urged voters to pretend he was on the ballot and vote to ensure a “booming Iowa economy.”

“If you get out and vote like you did in 2024, we win in a landslide, you know, we win in a landslide,” he said

Even as the president boasts of America’s golden age, with an economy envied by the world, he also makes clear he understands the challenges people are facing. At most every stop along the way of his red-state October blitz, he has offered sweeteners to voters if they stick with Republican candidates.

From $8 billion in new aid to farmers announced in Kansas to promises of building the nation’s largest steel plant in eastern Iowa to a commitment he made in Nebraska to temporarily ease diesel costs, Trump has made a series of pledges that follow his offer of giving every adult American $5,000 if Republicans retain their grip on Washington. The promises are barely even repeated by GOP candidates, who know they ring hollow with many voters.

Democrats acknowledge the uphill climb for winning all of the narrowly divided Senate races across the Midwest, particularly given their own brand and favorability challenges. But Republican officials wonder whether Trump’s extensive travels to many of these states will backfire on down-ballot races.

“When our leader, the president himself, does things that make me cringe, that’s difficult to tell people to vote for me,” said Jim Howell, a Republican member of the Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners in Wichita, who is also on the November ballot. “I really wish we had leaders that don’t make us cringe, but help us consider a way to come together.”

Trump’s closing message

A question hanging over the final week of the race is whether Trump’s relentless campaigning has awakened Republican voters to rally to his aid one last time in hopes of closing an enthusiasm gap. Iowa could be a place to watch, given Trump’s long history of winning there and his decision to hold two rallies in opposite corners of the state in the homestretch.

But the president’s approach, a little more than one week from Election Day, has been to double down on the policies that have led many voters to sour on his second term.

In Trump’s Sunday trip to Michigan, he’ll hold a rally at Port Huron — on the Canadian border. It will put on display his tariff battle with the United States’ northern neighbor, even though the party’s Senate nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers, has attempted to break with Trump over the tariffs.

“Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war — now,” Rogers said in a television ad his campaign launched this month.

The GOP’s best hope might be to lean into the cultural battles that have helped them win over White, rural, working-class voters in recent elections. In Michigan, both Trump and Rogers have attempted to brand the Democratic nominee, El-Sayed, as supportive of extremist Islamist interests.

But Democrats are fighting back. El-Sayed in recent days began airing an ad that features clips of Republicans and conservative media figures, including Fox News hosts, saying nice or helpful things about him and his campaign.

Before those clips play, he lists issues where he suggests common cause with some in the MAGA movement, such as releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files and combatting Washington corruption.

Ohio is another headache for Republicans. The party’s nominee for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, faced sharp criticism from the man he is running to replace, two-term GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, for airing a controversial advertisement featuring the mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.

Gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, alongside US President Donald Trump, speaks in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 12. - Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Both Ramaswamy and the president have dug in, defending the ad — and in doing so have turned the race into a test of whether voters will accept Trumpian tactics from candidates who are not Trump.

And what’s receded from the forefront is the issue Ohio voters who spoke with CNN in recent days — including Republicans who support Ramaswamy — said is responsible for the state’s sudden competitiveness: the cost of living.

“We all have to get gas. I have to go get gas right now in my car, and that’s difficult,” said Sheri Vorherr, a 55-year-old mother of five from Loveland who volunteered at a Ramaswamy rally in Cincinnati on Wednesday. She said she helps her oldest daughter buy groceries each week and sees the economic pinch brought on by inflation.

“I don’t think it’s an easy fix. I think it’s things that are going to take time,” she said. “I do believe Trump is trying to do that — it’s just taking a lot longer.”

CNN’s Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.

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Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat engulfed in flames as police detain suspect

More than 200 firefighters are at the scene in Bavaria - Getty Images

Police have detained a suspect after a fire destroyed Adolf Hitler’s German mountain retreat.

Around 200 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire engulfing the Eagle’s Nest, a remote residence at the top of Obersalzberg mountain in Bavaria built in the 1930s for the Nazi leader.

Authorities on Saturday said the building had been almost completely destroyed and that it was unclear whether parts could be salvaged. 

Police said firefighters had found the building “completely ablaze” as they approached the Kehlsteinhaus residence.

Emergency services arrived on site at 9.52pm (8.52pm UK time) after a smoke detector triggered a fire alarm.

Flames engulfed the Kehlsteinhaus, known as the Eagle’s Nest, on Friday night - Getty/Ferdinand Dorfler-Farthofer

Several hours later, firefighters were struggling to extinguish the fire because of the house’s remote location, police said.

A police spokesman said a “suspicious person” had been “taken into temporary custody” but that the criminal investigation was ongoing and that no one had been injured.

Hitler’s former retreat is at an altitude of 6,000ft in Obersalzberg - AFP/Getty Images

German media reported that no one had been inside the building at the time of the fire, which had been burning for more than 12 hours.

Bild reported that authorities arrested a motorcyclist they had encountered as they arrived at the scene. The outlet added that the historic building was probably beyond saving.

The residence is at an altitude of 6,000ft (1,834m), making it difficult for firefighters to access, police said.

Emergency services at the site in the early hours of Saturday morning - Florian Scherer/Reuters

Lisa Maier, a spokesman, said the building was only accessible with “heavy breathing apparatus”.

She said police would hold a news conference later on Saturday.

Firefighters were also hampered by the narrow road that connects the house to Obersalzberg, which is usually closed to cars.

The Italian foreign minister, left, visited Hitler at the Eagle’s Nest in 1939 - Getty/Galerie Bilderwelt

The Kehlsteinhaus, nicknamed the Eagle’s Nest, was built to host dignitaries and is located close to the Berghof, Hitler’s summer residence.

Workers were forced to labour through the night in the winter of 1938 to complete the building in time for Hitler’s birthday in April 1939.

The lavish interior featured a red Italian marble fireplace given by Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator, which was damaged by Allied soldiers, who chipped off pieces to take as souvenirs.

The residence’s altitude and remoteness made it difficult for firefighters to access it - KERSTIN JOENSSON / AFP via Getty Images

The dictator visited the Eagle’s Nest at least 14 times, with the house largely used to entertain foreign guests and diplomats.

After the Second World War, the house was used by the Allies as a command post until 1960 when it was given back to the state of Bavaria and classified as a historical monument.

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France mounts huge security operation as protesters prepare to march

By Crispian Balmer and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - French security forces fanned out across Paris on Saturday ahead of protests that authorities fear could turn violent, with Interior Minister Laurent Nunez urging police to be "hyper-reactive" against troublemakers and looters.

Soldiers from ‌an anti-terrorism military unit patrolled the Champs-Elysees avenue while police vans circled the Arc de Triomphe, looking to protect some of ‌the capital's most famous sites from any repeat of the unrest that shook France last week.

Nunez has mobilised 70,000 police nationwide for Saturday's demonstrations, 10,000 more than on October 17, when ​a wave of vandalism and looting raised questions about the government's ability to maintain order.

Anger over living costs and strained public services has drawn students, workers and unions onto the streets in recent weeks, but authorities say radical militants and bands of young looters have exploited the protests to sow chaos.

Speaking to police in Paris, Nunez warned officers that they would face attempts to target shops, public institutions and security forces.

"We have to be ultra, ultra responsive. ‌We have significant calls for disruption from political groups ⁠and quite simply from criminals," he said. "It is going to be a long day."

SHOPS, MUSEUMS, OPERA SHUT

Many shopkeepers in Paris boarded up storefronts, while luxury retailers beefed up security.

Business groups have urged stores to remain closed after thousands ⁠of shops and businesses were damaged or looted across France last weekend.

Lidiya Shevchenko, a sales assistant at a Graziella Braccialini store in Paris, said she doubted many customers would venture out to browse luxury boutiques during the day.

"I suppose the mood is just as important when it comes to shopping," she said.

Several of Paris' ​best-known ​cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Opera House, will close ​for the day to avoid being caught up in ‌any turmoil. More than 20 metro stations were also shut.

The location of Saturday's main Paris demonstration remained unclear after police sought to move organisers away from the city centre towards the southeastern fringes of the capital.

"The declared route poses serious risks of disturbances to public order, notably because of the high concentration of businesses similar to those targeted during the weekend of October 17-18," the Paris police prefecture said.

The last-minute decision angered some on the left.

"Once again, those in power are creating disruption for the marches and impossible deadlines for organisations to reorganise themselves. These methods are multiplying across ‌the entire country," hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon wrote on X.

DEMONSTRATION IN ORLEANS AGAINST FAR ​RIGHT

Authorities have sharply restricted demonstrations across much of France. Marseille reversed an earlier ban and ​authorised a union march, while protests remain restricted in central ​Lyon. Union rallies will also go ahead in Strasbourg, but bans remain in force in several other cities including Nancy, ‌Metz, Besancon, Belfort, Rouen, Le Havre, Toulon and Limoges.

The first ​authorised march began mid-morning in Orleans, ​about 120 km (75 miles) south of Paris, to protest against Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally, which is holding a congress in the city this weekend.

"We have come to tell the far right, face to face, that we are not afraid," said Bally Bagayoko, the ​mayor of Saint-Denis and a member of the ‌hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.

Tensions were heightened by a shooting west of Paris on Friday in which a gunman suspected of acting ​out of Islamophobic hatred killed one person and wounded four others, including a 12-year-old girl.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Bertrand Boucey, Alessandro ​Parodi in Paris and Elizabeth Pineau in Orleans. Editing by Mark Potter)

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Student loan crackdown could put paychecks, tax refunds and Social Security at risk

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rumblings from Washington, D.C., suggest the Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of the Treasury, could start cracking down on defaulted federal student loan borrowers.

The USDT is mulling several enforcement options, including hiring more professional debt collectors, garnishing paychecks and withholding some federal benefits, The Washington Sun reported this week.

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The Federal Student Aid estimates nearly $9.3 million student loan borrowers are in default, with 400,000 more added to the default rolls in the quarter ending June 30.

“Their outstanding federal student loans total $234 billion, or approximately 14% of the total $1.64 trillion federally managed portfolio as of June 2026,” the FSA wrote in a statement.

While considering their pivot, The Sun reported that the Trump Administration’s priority is to steer borrowers behind on their loan payments to installment plans and leverage the U.S. Treasury’s new Defaulted Loans Support Center to “understand the consequences of default and apply online to either rehabilitate or consolidate their loans.” The site launched in September.

Here’s what the government can legally go after

Debt experts say the federal government has multiple options when looking to collect on defaulted student loan debt.

“A defaulted federal student loan is the one debt that can be collected without a lawsuit,” Nick Avila, founder of San Diego-based United Debt Relief, told Moneywise.

For instance, the government can order an employer to withhold up to 15% of disposable pay without going to court, take a federal tax refund through the Treasury Offset Program, and offset Social Security benefits, Avila said.

It’s a little more nuanced when it comes to collecting from Social Security. Hans Goldstein, founder of the Southern California-based Retirement Literacy Foundation, highlighted the challenges the government faces when taking from retirees.

If a retired American gets $1,400 a month, 15% is $210, which leaves retirees with $1,190. Meanwhile, another person may get $800 a month, and 15% leaves them with much less, so the government can only skim $50.

Taxes, on top of that, are another pain point for collectors.

“In a given tax year, a borrower may not owe any federal income tax,” Dr. Ethan White, co-founder of Los Angeles-based White Sands Tax Services, a family-owned tax preparation company, told Moneywise. “However, a portion or all of the borrower’s federal tax refund may still be taken to satisfy a defaulted federal loan, up to the amount owed.”

Some defaulted borrowers may also rely on a tax refund to pay basic living expenses.

“Like a paycheck, a tax refund may be taken through an offset,” White said, adding that wage garnishment may take up to 15% of their disposable pay for the week. “However, garnishment must also preserve the equivalent of 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage for the week.”

That 15% limit could also protect retirees who still work part-time. Marriages may be impacted, too. If defaulted loans are in one spouse’s name, a joint refund may still be taken.

“However, the spouse who doesn’t owe the debt may be able to protect their allocated portion of the refund using Form 8379,” White said.

Form 8379 may be submitted along with the tax return or may also be submitted after the refund has been taken.

“Review this option prior to switching to separate tax filings, which may also incur additional costs,” White said.

Read More: Vanguard reveals what's coming for U.S. stocks — and it's raising alarm bells for older investors

Take these steps to protect your financial assets

To keep the government’s hands out of your pockets, be disciplined and think creatively. Make these strategies a priority when dealing with the federal government.

Safeguard your paycheck and benefits

Open every notice, because each one has a deadline to request a hearing or review, including for financial hardship, and missing that window is how people lose their options.

“Then contact the loan holder before collections start, not after,” Avila said.

Reprioritize your bills

A defaulted student loan also changes how you prioritize your bills.

“Most people pay the credit card that calls the most and let the student loan sit,” Avila said. “But a credit card company has to sue you before it can touch your wages. A defaulted federal loan doesn’t. That moves it up the list.”

Aim to get out of default

Rehabilitation requires nine voluntary, on-time payments within ten months, based on your income.

Once it’s complete, the default comes off your credit history and the garnishment and offsets stop.

“Consolidation is usually faster, but the record of the default stays,” Avila said. “For most people who can manage nine payments, rehabilitation is the better long-term path.

For retirees and vulnerable households

For someone living on Social Security, a 15% offset can be the difference between making rent and not.

“That’s why getting out of default before collections begin matters so much for older borrowers,” Avila said, adding that borrowers with a total and permanent disability should check Studentaid.gov, because they may qualify for a discharge instead of collections.

Have a plan for 2027

Federal student loan borrowers who are behind on their student loans, or have fallen behind, should log in at Studentaid.gov and confirm the status of every federal loan.

“Don’t build next year’s budget around a tax refund if you’re in default,” Avila said. “Start rehabilitation now if you can, and keep housing, utilities, and insurance current first. Every path has tradeoffs and results vary, so no one should promise a specific outcome, but the earlier you act, the more choices you keep.”

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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Trump officials reportedly coming for paychecks, tax refunds and Social Security if you’ve defaulted on student loans

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Philippines investigating abuse allegations against Meghan Markle's father

FILE PHOTO - Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, meets volunteer first responders from the Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club during a visit to Sydney's Bondi Beach. (is associated with: «Philippines investigating allegations against Meghan's father») Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/dpa

Authorities in the Philippines said they are investigating allegations that Thomas Markle Sr, the father of Meghan Markle, wife of Britain's Prince Harry, had a hoard of child sex abuse images.

According to The Sun, Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, alleged that he found a stash of images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines.

He reportedly told police in the country that he discovered the child abuse pictures and videos mixed up with innocent family mementos.

The newspaper said he also contacted FBI investigators in the US in July.

Nicholas Ty, undersecretary for the Philippines Department of Justice, told ITV News: “Our Anti-Trafficking and Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children taskforce in Cebu is currently investigating the matter.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Thomas Sr denied possessing child sex images, calling the accusations “sick lies.”

On Friday, Meghan said she was made aware of “disturbing allegations” about her father in 2018.

She said she was shown a letter sent to Scotland Yard eight years ago making “troubling” allegations against Thomas Markle Sr and she was assured that these were being investigated.

It is understood the Metropolitan Police has not previously, nor is the force currently, investigating Mr Markle.

The force said it is making internal inquiries regarding officers from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command being involved in the passing on of a letter.

The FBI said in a statement: "The FBI is aware of the allegations and will provide support, as appropriate, to the Philippine authorities.

"We will also investigate any related allegations of federal violations of US law."

It is unclear what the nature of the allegations in 2018 were and whether they are linked to the accusations raised by his son now in 2026.

It is understood the letter sent to the Metropolitan Police was shared with Meghan in the summer of 2018, after her wedding to Harry.

Meghan became estranged from her former TV lighting director father in the run-up to her 2018 royal wedding after he was caught staging paparazzi photographs.

Mr Markle did not attend the wedding, leaving the King to accompany Meghan down the aisle and meaning the only member of her family present was her mother, Doria Ragland.

Meghan was the only child of Mr Markle’s marriage to Ms Ragland, though he has two children – Samantha and Thomas Jr – from an earlier marriage.

In 2021, Meghan won a High Court privacy and copyright claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” handwritten letter she wrote to Mr Markle in a bid to get him to stop talking to the press.

She penned the emotional five-page letter to him in August 2018 after taking advice from two unnamed senior royals.

In 2025, Mr Markle moved to the Philippines for a new life after suffering a series of strokes.

Then, in December of that year, he had his leg amputated during life-saving surgery.

Meghan “reached out” to him in the aftermath of the operation, a spokesperson for the duchess revealed, and Meghan was also said to have tried to do so previously.

He is reportedly now living in a rehab centre in Florida, where he is learning to walk again.

Buckingham Palace and the Philippine Department of Justice have been contacted for comment.

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