World News Review

Ukraine says Russian ICBM strikes Dnipro, a claim denied by Western official

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:50:04 -0500

Ukraine this week launched U.S.-made missiles at targets inside Russia.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for top intel role draws scrutiny over Russia comments

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:39:25 -0500

Critics say her echoing of Russian propaganda should be disqualifying.

Ukraine claims Russia used an ICBM in an attack for the first time

David Hodari — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:30:19 -0500

Russia's deployment of an ICBM comes after Ukrainian forces used long-range U.S. and British missiles inside Russia — and marks a significant escalation.

US charges Indian billionaire Gautam Adani with fraud

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:27:45 -0500

The Adani Group has denied the allegations of bribery and fraud, calling them "baseless".

Mass poisoning blamed on tainted alcohol with American among four dead in popular tourist spot

Mithil Aggarwal — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:24:13 -0500

An American citizen has died at a popular adventure spot in Laos where alcohol tainted with methanol has been blamed for a spate of poisonings in recent days.

Fury at climate talks over ‘backsliding’ on fossil fuels

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:06:36 -0500

Countries are split at UN climate summit over funding and commitments to reducing fossil fuel use.

Why Trump Actually Needs Mexico

Alex González Ormerod — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:05:36 -0500

The re-election of Donald Trump has resulted in a flood of doom-laden coverage about Mexico. There are many reasons to worry. Trump has always had a hard-ball approach to Mexico. His extreme cabinet picks and most radical policy proposals—most recently his threat to increase tariffs by 25% until the border is secured—could well hit Mexico like a ton of bricks.

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It would not be wise to assume this is mere bluster. But it is equally wrong to assume it’s all bad news for one of Trump’s favorite foreign punching bags. The doomsayers ignore Mexico’s strengths at the negotiating table as much as they underestimate the President-elect’s interest in making his country’s most important bilateral relationship work.

A proper look at the main U.S.-Mexico issues—migration, trade, and security—reveal much to fear, but also much to hearten and even excite observers.

Even for a President with such a zero-sum approach to geopolitics, listen carefully to Trump today and it is increasingly clear that he understands there is no American greatness without a successful and stable Mexico.

Trump on trade with Mexico

Of course, the U.S. could move to curtail Mexican exports by making all its own goods and providing its own services. But that would swiftly lead to election-losing runaway inflation. That’s because Mexican manufacturing prevents the cheapest car in the U.S. from being unaffordable or raspberries from being $50 dollars a pound in the winter.

Doubtless, a trade war would hurt Mexico more, given that over 80% of the country’s exports go to the U.S. But even though the 16% of U.S. exports that go to Mexico look comparatively modest, the country is still the second largest buyer of American wares.

Some U.S. states rely more on the Mexican market than others. Texas, the country’s top exporter, sold $144 billion worth of goods to Mexico in 2023—the highest value of exports from any state to any country. But all states would quickly come to realize Mexico’s role as a consumer of U.S. goods if Mexican retaliatory tariffs came into play.

Despite recent heightened anti-Mexico rhetoric, there is much crucial cooperation on trade that a tariff war would undermine.

Both the U.S. and Canada are worried that Mexico acts as a wage depressor and a “back door” to cheap Chinese imports. The Mexican government is also concerned and has been taking action. It has tripled the minimum wage in the past six years as part of ambitious social welfare reforms, and has taken action against cheap Chinese imports—albeit not enough for some of its fellow North American trading partners.

Just look at the steel industry. Mexico imposed tariffs on the subsidized stuff coming from China, and it is looking north to strengthen its position. One of Mexico’s largest steelworks is also an important investor in the U.S., and has increased production in the country.

Mexico understands no North American country can go it alone, and so do Republicans in Congress. The bipartisan Americas Act recognizes that for the U.S. to stall the rise of China in the Western Hemisphere, keep prices stable, and bolster its own manufacturing, it needs to work with Mexico.

Trump understands this. His protectionist pick for trade tsar, Robert Lighthizer, negotiated NAFTA’s replacement, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), in the first place. And though Trump’s desire to “invoke the six-year renegotiation provision of the USMCA” sounds ominous, it is a process that was already expected to take place. Negotiations are sure to be tough, but Trump says he wants to make USMCA “a much better deal;” a far cry from the 2016 fears that the U.S. would exit the North American trading bloc altogether.

That Mexican industry thrived—despite its own internal turmoil—after the USMCA and the U.S.-China trade war shows that, ironically, Trumpian economic nationalism only really works with Mexico in the equation.

A different war on drugs

Of course, the U.S. could declare war on Mexican drug cartels unilaterally. On paper, Trump already has.

What has gone unremarked is that his tone toward Mexico at times is far more conciliatory today. While campaigning, he highlighted the suffering organized crime has caused in Mexico, promising an “unprecedented partnership with neighboring governments in our region.”

His demands, though often put forward with his usual aggression, neatly fall into the newly elected Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s own security priorities—namely the exclusion of cartels from the global financial system. This could be a crucial area for bilateral cooperation.

Read More: The Tragedy of Mexico’s Election

Yet Trump has also worryingly threatened to bomb criminals on Mexican soil. Beyond it being unlikely to work (killing druglords has only increased violence), in sovereignty-obsessed Mexico, this would be a disaster. This poses the biggest risk to friendly U.S.-Mexico relations.

There is a view in Mexico that Trump says what the U.S. quietly does anyway under any administration. Under the Democrats, U.S.-Mexico relations hit historic lows, with the U.S. Ambassador now openly attacking the Mexican government for its lack of cooperation on fighting organized crime. Sheinbaum has rebutted by saying that the U.S. consistently violates Mexican sovereignty—the most recent case being the alleged U.S. involvement in a covert operation to kidnap a cartel leader on Mexican soil for him to stand trial stateside.

Mexico is the wall

And finally, of course, the U.S. could force Mexico to pay up for the cost of blocking migrants heading north. Arguably, Trump already succeeded in this during his first term.

Today, under threat of crippling tariffs, Trump has said Mexico should take charge of stemming migration to the U.S. This is because the President-elect understands that Mexico has been relatively effective in doing this recently.

First under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and now under Sheinbaum, a new National Guard has been deployed almost exclusively to stop migrants. The upshot is that Mexico, at least as seen from the U.S., is able to turn the migrant tap on and off at will. Whether this is true or whether it can do it without violence—the National Guard is increasingly accused of killing migrants—remains to be seen. For now, Mexico is reported to be busing 10,000 migrants every month from the U.S. border to the Guatemala one.

The migrant crackdown has flipped Mexico’s negotiating power on this issue, and Sheinbaum is working to strengthen her hand. Cuts were the defining feature in her administration’s recent budget, with the National Immigration Institute a glaring exception. This came alongside a new “Tapachula development pole” in southern Mexico, which is virtually a migrant trap. However, instead of sending them back home, the development pole will offer migrants jobs, both stopping them on their way to the U.S. but also solving labor shortage issues in certain regions of Mexico.

The Mexican government has often been indifferent to migrants traveling through the country. Trump arguably forced it to face the issue, and produced some mutually beneficial plans (alongside grave human rights concerns). The same could be said of the wage-hikes, which were long overdue, and more recently action against fentanyl, which is increasingly becoming an issue in Mexico too. Given the drug’s precursors mainly come from China, this has become another link between trade and security for the region.

Ultimately, of course, the U.S. would survive without Mexico. It would just be a far poorer, weaker, and less secure country for it. There is an understanding that both sides know this, so even if Mexico is the perennial underdog in this bilateral relation, it can still look forward to sitting across the negotiating table with some strong aces up its sleeve—it may even feel a degree of hope for better times in an uncertain future.

Will China win the clean-energy era?

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:00:51 -0500

Trump loves fossil fuels but his sidekick Musk wants a piece of the action

Where to stay in Miami

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:00:51 -0500

South Beach glamour, haute luxe, culture fix, resort fun . . . no matter what sort of stay you’re after, you’ll find it in the Magic City

How to put Europe’s savings to work

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:00:51 -0500

The EU must redeploy capital it squirrels away abroad

Russia fires intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine for first time, Kyiv says

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:56:09 -0500

Moscow retaliates after Kyiv fired US and UK-made long-range missiles into Russian territory

Ukraine's military says Russia launches ICBM, a claim denied by Western official

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:45:44 -0500

Ukraine this week launched U.S.-made missiles at targets inside Russia.

FirstFT: Russia fires its first intercontinental ballistic missile

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:45:05 -0500

Also in today’s newsletter, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani charged over alleged bribery scheme and DoJ requests Google break-up

Dozens reportedly killed in Israeli strikes on northern Gaza

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:44:57 -0500

Several crowded buildings in Beit Lahia and Gaza City were hit overnight, medics and local media say.

US vetoes Security Council's Gaza ceasefire resolution

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:35:28 -0500

Fourteen of the 15 members voted in favour, but Washington said the text would send "dangerous message" to Hamas.

Ukraine’s military says Russia launches ICBM, a claim denied by Western official

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:17:54 -0500

Ukraine this week launched U.S.-made missiles at targets inside Russia.

Milhouse voice actress retires from The Simpsons

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:16:55 -0500

Pamela Hayden also voiced Ned Flanders' sons Rod and Todd and school bully Jimbo Jones.

John Prescott, pugnacious deputy U.K. prime minister to Tony Blair, dies at 86

Reuters — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:03:29 -0500

John Prescott, the pugnacious deputy prime minister to Britain’s Tony Blair during his 10 years in government, has died aged 86 after a battle with Alzheimer’s, his family said on Thursday.

US is vulnerable to inflation shocks, top Fed official warns

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:00:29 -0500

Tom Barkin’s comments come as business braces for new policies of Donald Trump’s incoming administration

US envoy to meet Israel’s Netanyahu in renewed push for Hizbollah ceasefire

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:59:08 -0500

Amos Hochstein’s trip to Israel comes after talks with Lebanese officials

Fourth tourist dies of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:53:58 -0500

Some suspect they consumed drinks laced with methanol, a deadly substance often found in bootleg alcohol.

Tracking Trump's picks to serve in his Cabinet, administration

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:49:51 -0500

President-elect Donald Trump is rolling out names for top jobs in his administration.

Ukraine’s military says Russia launches ballistic missile

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:48:53 -0500

Ukraine this week launched U.S.-made missiles at targets inside Russia.

Israeli strikes on Syria's Palmyra kill 36, state media say

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:40:48 -0500

A UK-based monitor says the strikes hit a weapons depot other locations linked to Iran-backed fighters.

Jimmy Lai case tests red lines of UK-China relations

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:40:29 -0500

British national’s supporters hope human rights will be prioritised over UK push for strong relationship with Beijing

U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to reopen after closing amid 'significant air attack' threat

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:38:59 -0500

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv will return to normal operations after closing Wednesday amid the threat of what it called a potential "significant air attack." NBC News' Matt Bodner has the latest details on Early Today.

Australia launches ‘landmark’ bill to ban social media for children under 16

Reuters — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:23:46 -0500

Australia’s center-left government on Thursday introduced a bill in Parliament that aims to ban social media for children under 16.

Russia fires intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine for first time

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:18:10 -0500

Moscow responds after Kyiv fired US and UK-made long-range missiles into Russian territory

Police report reveals assault allegations against Hegseth

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:13:45 -0500

A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave

UK government borrowing for October exceeds forecasts at £17.4bn

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 03:06:35 -0500

Data highlights challenges facing chancellor Rachel Reeves

UN climate summit remains split on money, fossil fuels and gender

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:37:05 -0500

Negotiators at COP29 ‘unimpressed’ as latest draft agreements show wide gaps

COP29 summit battle intensifies over finance, fossil fuels and gender

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:37:05 -0500

EU says draft agreements released at climate summit are ‘clearly unacceptable’

US regulators seek to break up Google, forcing Chrome sale as part of monopoly punishment

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:34:08 -0500

Regulators want a judge to break up Google to stop it squashing competition.

China’s solar stranglehold and Taiwan’s AI aims

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:33:32 -0500

The inside story on the Asia tech trends that matter, from Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times

Landmark Bill to Ban Children From Social Media Introduced in Australia’s Parliament

Rod McGuirk / AP — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:30:00 -0500

MELBOURNE — Australia’s communications minister introduced a world-first law into Parliament on Thursday that would ban children under 16 from social media, saying online safety was one of parents’ toughest challenges.

Michelle Rowland said TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram were among the platforms that would face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.

“This bill seeks to set a new normative value in society that accessing social media is not the defining feature of growing up in Australia,” Rowland told Parliament.

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“There is wide acknowledgement that something must be done in the immediate term to help prevent young teens and children from being exposed to streams of content unfiltered and infinite,” she added.

X owner Elon Musk warned that Australia intended to go further, posting on his platform: “Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians.”

The bill has wide political support. After it becomes law, the platforms would have one year to work out how to implement the age restriction.

“For too many young Australians, social media can be harmful,” Rowland said. “Almost two-thirds of 14- to 17-years-old Australians have viewed extremely harmful content online including drug abuse, suicide or self-harm as well as violent material. One quarter have been exposed to content promoting unsafe eating habits.”

Government research found that 95% of Australian care-givers find online safety to be one of their “toughest parenting challenges,” she said. Social media had a social responsibility and could do better in addressing harms on their platforms, she added.

“This is about protecting young people, not punishing or isolating them, and letting parents know that we’re in their corner when it comes to supporting their children’s health and wellbeing,” Rowland said.

Child welfare and internet experts have raised concerns about the ban, including isolating 14- and 15-year-olds from their already established online social networks.

Rowland said there would not be age restrictions placed on messaging services, online games or platforms that substantially support the health and education of users.

“We are not saying risks don’t exist on messaging apps or online gaming. While users can still be exposed to harmful content by other users, they do not face the same algorithmic curation of content and psychological manipulation to encourage near-endless engagement,” she said.

The government announced last week that a consortium led by British company Age Check Certification Scheme has been contracted to examine various technologies to estimate and verify ages.

In addition to removing children under 16 from social media, Australia is also looking for ways to prevent children under 18 from accessing online pornography, a government statement said.

Age Check Certification Scheme’s chief executive Tony Allen said Monday the technologies being considered included age estimation and age inference. Inference involves establishing a series of facts about individuals that point to them being at least a certain age.

Rowland said the platforms would also face fines of up to AU$50 million ($33 million) if they misused personal information of users gained for age-assurance purposes.

Information used for age assurances must be destroyed after serving that purpose unless the user consents to it being kept, she said.

Digital Industry Group Inc., an advocate for the digital industry in Australia, said with Parliament expected to vote on the bill next week, there might not be time for “meaningful consultation on the details of the globally unprecedented legislation.”

“Mainstream digital platforms have strict measures in place to keep young people safe, and a ban could push young people on to darker, less safe online spaces that don’t have safety guardrails,” DIGI managing director Sunita Bose said in a statement. “A blunt ban doesn’t encourage companies to continually improve safety because the focus is on keeping teenagers off the service, rather than keeping them safe when they’re on it.”

American and Australian Tourists Die in Laos After Drinking Tainted Alcohol

David Rising and Jintamas Saksornchai / AP — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:30:00 -0500

VIENTIANE, Laos — An Australian teenager has died after drinking tainted alcohol in Vang Vieng, Laos, in what Australia’s prime minister on Thursday called every parent’s nightmare, and the U.S. State Department confirmed an American also died in the same party town, bringing the death toll to four.

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament that 19-year-old Bianca Jones had died after being evacuated from Laos for treatment in a Thai hospital. Her friend, also 19, remains hospitalized in Thailand.

“This is every parent’s very worst fear and a nightmare that no one should have to endure,” Albanese said. “We also take this moment to say that we’re thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles who is fighting for her life.”

Shaun Bowles told reporters outside Bangkok Hospital the day before that his daughter was in critical condition and on life support.

“We just like to thank everyone from back home for all of the support and love that we’re receiving,” he said. “But we’d also like the people to appreciate right now, we just need privacy so we can spend as much time as we can with Holly.”

In a statement to the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper, Jones’ family asked for privacy in their grief.

“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us,” the family wrote.

“We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.”

The State Department confirmed to the Associated Press in an emailed statement that an American tourist had also died but said it had no further comment out of respect to the family.

It said local authorities were investigating and that the U.S. was providing consular assistance.

“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” the State Department said.

Telephone numbers listed for Laos’ Health Ministry did not work and police refused to comment.

Landlocked Laos is one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations and a popular tourist destination. Vang Vieng is particularly popular among backpackers seeking partying and adventure sports.

Details on the alcohol poisoning began trickling out about a week after the two Australian women fell ill on Nov. 13 following a night out drinking with a group in the remote town.

They are believed to have consumed drinks tainted with methanol, which is sometimes used as the alcohol in mixed drinks at disreputable bars and can cause severe poisoning or death.

Thai authorities confirmed that Jones had died by “brain swelling due to high levels of methanol found in her system.”

“Drink spiking and methanol poisoning are far too common in many parts of the world,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said after receiving news of Jones’ death.

“At this time I would say to parents, to young people, please have a conversation about risks, please inform yourselves, please let’s work together to ensure this tragedy doesn’t happen again.”

New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning. Denmark’s Foreign Ministry, when asked about the poisoning incident, said Wednesday that two of its citizens had died in Laos but would not provide further details.

“We have updated our travel advisory for Laos to note that there have been several cases of suspected methanol poisoning after consuming alcoholic drinks,” New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said.

“Travelers are advised to be cautious about consuming alcoholic beverages, particularly cocktails and drinks made with spirits that may have been adulterated with harmful substances.”

Australia also updated its travel advice, cautioning that several foreign nationals had been victims of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos this month. The U.S. did not immediately issue an updated travel advisory.

On Tuesday, Duong Duc Toan, manager of the Nana Backpacker Hostel where the two Australian women stayed in Vang Vieng, told the AP that staff were told by other guests that the two women were unwell after they failed to check out as planned on Nov. 13, and they arranged transport to a hospital for them.

The women were then transported to Thailand for emergency medical treatment and their parents flew in to be with them.

“All Australians offer them our deepest sympathy in this time of heartbreak,” Albanese said.

“Bianca’s trip should have been a joyous time and a source of fond memories in years to come,” he said. “It is beyond sad that this was not to be.”

—Rising reported from Bangkok. Jutarat Skulpichetrat in Bangkok, Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, and Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this story.

See Photos of the Seventh Volcanic Eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula in 12 Months

Marco Di Marco and David Keyton / AP — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:30:00 -0500

GRINDAVIK, Iceland — A volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland has erupted for the seventh time since December.

The eruption started with little warning at 11:14 p.m. Wednesday and created a fissure around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) long. The activity is estimated to be considerably smaller than the previous eruption in August, Iceland’s meteorological office that monitors seismic activity said.

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“In the big picture, this is a bit smaller than the last eruption, and the eruption that occurred in May,” Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson, a professor of geophysics who flew over the scene with the Civil Protection agency to monitor the event, told the national RUV broadcaster.

While the eruption poses no threat to air travel, authorities warned of gas emissions across parts of the peninsula, including the nearby town of Grindavík.

Around 50 houses were evacuated after the Civil Protection agency issued the alert, along with guests at the famous Blue Lagoon resort, according to RUV.

The repeated volcanic eruptions close to Grindavík, which is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, and has a population of 3,800 people, have damaged infrastructure and property and forced many residents to relocate to guarantee their safety.

“Grindavík is not in danger as it looks and it is unlikely that this crack will get any longer, although nothing can be ruled out,” Magnús Tumi said.

Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, averages one eruption every four to five years. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed clouds of ash into the atmosphere and disrupted trans-Atlantic air travel for months.

—Keyton reported from Berlin.

See photos of the latest eruption:

Inside South Africa's 'ruthless' gang-controlled gold mines

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:24:35 -0500

Illegal miners live dangerously, but make roaring profits selling gold on the black-market.

Former UK deputy prime minister John Prescott dies at 86

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:52:00 -0500

Politician was central to Tony Blair’s New Labour project

Duct-taped banana artwork sells for $6.2m in NYC

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:41:10 -0500

The winning bidder says he will eat the banana in coming days as part of a "unique artistic experience".

The three big market uncertainties

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:30:29 -0500

Plus earnings season

Chinese satellite company to challenge Musk’s Starlink in Brazil

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:26:55 -0500

Billionaire investor had clashed with Brasília this year over alleged misinformation on his X social media platform

Indian billionaire Adani charged in US over alleged $250mn bribery scheme

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:26:03 -0500

Shares in group tumble after prosecutors accuse tycoon and others of lying to investors to land lucrative contracts

Australia plans social media ban for under 16s

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:13:09 -0500

Technology companies face fines of up to $32.5mn for systemic breaches

Australia introduces bill to ban under-16s from social media

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:13:09 -0500

Technology companies face fines of up to $32.5mn for systemic breaches

US seeks Google divestitures including Chrome sale in search monopoly case

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:07:22 -0500

Department of Justice also targets Android and asks for curbs on use of content to train AI models

How the European parliament reached a deal on the new commission

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:00:29 -0500

Also in this newsletter: Should EU countries still be issuing so many visas to Russians?

U.S. Gathers Global Group to Tackle AI Safety Amid Growing National Security Concerns

Tharin Pillay / San Francisco — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:00:00 -0500

“AI is a technology like no other in human history,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday in San Francisco. “Advancing AI is the right thing to do, but advancing as quickly as possible, just because we can, without thinking of the consequences, isn’t the smart thing to do.”

Raimondo’s remarks came during the inaugural convening of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes, a network of artificial intelligence safety institutes (AISIs) from 9 nations as well as the European Commission brought together by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State. The event gathered technical experts from government, industry, academia, and civil society to discuss how to manage the risks posed by increasingly-capable AI systems.

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Raimondo suggested participants keep two principles in mind: “We can’t release models that are going to endanger people,” she said. “Second, let’s make sure AI is serving people, not the other way around.”

The convening marks a significant step forward in international collaboration on AI governance. The first AISIs emerged last November during the inaugural AI Safety Summit hosted by the UK. Both the U.K. and the U.S. governments announced the formation of their respective AISIs as a means of giving their governments the technical capacity to evaluate the safety of cutting-edge AI models. Other countries followed suit; by May, at another AI Summit in Seoul, Raimondo had announced the creation of the network.

In a joint statement, the members of the International Network of AI Safety Institutes—which includes AISIs from the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, and Singapore—laid out their mission: “to be a forum that brings together technical expertise from around the world,” “…to facilitate a common technical understanding of AI safety risks and mitigations based upon the work of our institutes and of the broader scientific community,” and “…to encourage a general understanding of and approach to AI safety globally, that will enable the benefits of AI innovation to be shared amongst countries at all stages of development.”

In the lead-up to the convening, the U.S. AISI, which serves as the network’s inaugural chair, also announced a new government taskforce focused on the technology’s national security risks. The Testing Risks of AI for National Security (TRAINS) Taskforce brings together representatives from the Departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services. It will be chaired by the U.S. AISI, and aim to “identify, measure, and manage the emerging national security and public safety implications of rapidly evolving AI technology,” with a particular focus on radiological and nuclear security, chemical and biological security, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and conventional military capabilities.

The push for international cooperation comes at a time of increasing tension around AI development between the U.S. and China, whose absence from the network is notable. In remarks pre-recorded for the convening, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer emphasized the importance of ensuring that the Chinese Community Party does not get to “write the rules of the road.” Earlier Wednesday, Chinese lab Deepseek announced a new “reasoning” model thought to be the first to rival OpenAI’s own reasoning model, o1, which the company says is “designed to spend more time thinking” before it responds.

On Tuesday, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which has provided annual recommendations to Congress since 2000, recommended that Congress establish and fund a “Manhattan Project-like program dedicated to racing to and acquiring an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) capability,” which the commission defined as “systems as good as or better than human capabilities across all cognitive domains” that “would surpass the sharpest human minds at every task.”

Many experts in the field, such as Geoffrey Hinton, who earlier this year won a Nobel Prize in physics for his work on artificial intelligence, have expressed concerns that, should AGI be developed, humanity may not be able to control it, which could lead to catastrophic harm. In a panel discussion at Wednesday’s event, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei—who believes AGI-like systems could arrive as soon as 2026—cited “loss of control” risks as a serious concern, alongside the risks that future, more capable models are misused by malicious actors to perpetrate bioterrorism or undermine cybersecurity. Responding to a question, Amodei expressed unequivocal support for making the testing of advanced AI systems mandatory, noting “we also need to be really careful about how we do it.”

Meanwhile, practical international collaboration on AI safety is advancing. Earlier in the week, the U.S. and U.K. AISIs shared preliminary findings from their pre-deployment evaluation of an advanced AI model—the upgraded version of Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet. The evaluation focused on assessing the model’s biological and cyber capabilities, as well as its performance on software and development tasks, and the efficacy of the safeguards built into it to prevent the model from responding to harmful requests. Both the U.K. and U.S. AISIs found that these safeguards could be “routinely circumvented,” which they noted is “consistent with prior research on the vulnerability of other AI systems’ safeguards.”

The San Francisco convening set out three priority topics that stand to “urgently benefit from international collaboration”: managing risks from synthetic content, testing foundation models, and conducting risk assessments for advanced AI systems. Ahead of the convening, $11 million of funding was announced to support research into how best to mitigate risks from synthetic content (such as the generation and distribution of child sexual abuse material, and the facilitation of fraud and impersonation). The funding was provided by a mix of government agencies and philanthropic organizations, including the Republic of Korea and the Knight Foundation.

While it is unclear how the election victory of Donald Trump will impact the future of the U.S. AISI and American AI policy more broadly, international collaboration on the topic of AI safety is set to continue. The U.K. AISI is hosting another San Francisco-based conference this week, in partnership with the Centre for the Governance of AI, “to accelerate the design and implementation of frontier AI safety frameworks.” And in February, France will host its “AI Action Summit,” following the Summits held in Seoul in May and in the U.K. last November. The 2025 AI Action Summit will gather leaders from the public and private sectors, academia, and civil society, as actors across the world seek to find ways to govern the technology as its capabilities accelerate.

Raimondo on Wednesday emphasized the importance of integrating safety with innovation when it comes to something as rapidly advancing and as powerful as AI. “It has the potential to replace the human mind,” she said. “Safety is good for innovation. Safety breeds trust. Trust speeds adoption. Adoption leads to more innovation. We need that virtuous cycle.”

US seeks Google divestitures in search monopoly case

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 00:52:41 -0500

Department of Justice names Chrome and Android and also asks for curbs on use of content to train AI models

FirstFT: Gautam Adani indicted in the US

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 00:39:21 -0500

Also in today’s newsletter, Nvidia revenue nearly doubles and John Lewis head slams UK Budget