UNITED STATES
China uses AI for covert work
OpenAI is seeing an increasing number of Chinese groups using its artificial intelligence (AI) technology for covert operations, which the ChatGPT maker described in a report released yesterday. In one example, OpenAI banned ChatGPT accounts that generated social media posts on political and geopolitical topics relevant to China, including criticism of a Taiwan-centric video game, false accusations against a Pakistani activist and content related to the closure of the US Agency for International Development. In another example, China-linked threat actors used AI to support various phases of cyberoperations, including script modification and development of tools for password brute forcing and social media automation.
HONG KONG
NZ judge appointed to court
Lawmakers on Wednesday approved the appointment of a retired New Zealand judge to its top court, the first foreign justice named to the appellate body in more than a year following record resignations that threatened to undermine confidence in the judicial system. The addition of William Young as a nonpermanent judge at the Court of Final Appeal would bring the number of foreign judges in the territory to six, compared with 15 in 2019. Many overseas judges quit after Beijing imposed Hong Kong’s National Security Law and curbed political freedoms.
ISRAEL
Bodies of hostages recovered
The government has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip, officials said yesterday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered and returned to Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency. Kibbutz Nir Oz announced the deaths of Weinstein, 70, and Haggai, 72, both of whom had Israeli and US citizenship, in December 2023. The army said it recovered the remains of Weinstein and Haggai overnight into yesterday from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
UNITED STATES
Trump orders Biden probe
President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed the White House counsel to investigate whether former president Joe Biden’s aides covered up alleged mental decline and unlawfully used an autopen on Biden’s behalf to sign policy documents. Biden, who is fighting cancer, said he was responsible for the decisions made during his administration and suggested that Trump’s move was designed to distract Americans from a bill in Congress that would extend tax cuts for the wealthy. Trump has long asserted that Biden, a Democrat who defeated him in the 2020 presidential election, was mentally incompetent and has suggested the use of a mechanical pen to sign memos, executive orders and grants of clemency during Biden’s four-year-term might have been improper, potentially rendering them invalid.
MEXICO
Band fined US$36,000
A popular band has been fined more than US$36,000 for performing songs glorifying drug cartels, authorities in the northern city of Chihuahua announced on Wednesday. At a Los Tucanes de Tijuana performance on Saturday, nearly one-third of their songs were “narcocorridos” glamorizing drug traffickers, city official Pedro Oliva said. The songs “glorified crime or alluded to the perpetrators of illegal acts,” Oliva said in a television interview.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
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