UN investigator and critic of Israel's actions in Gaza tells AP she was shocked by US sanctions
Francesca Albanese said in an interview with The Associated Press that the powerful were trying to silence her for defending those without any power of their own, 'other than standing and hoping not to die, not to see their children slaughtered.'
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Fast Company
15 minutes ago
- Fast Company
Nvidia's power play: How Jensen Huang got Trump to rethink the China AI chip ban
Nvidia's Huang says chip bans aren't the way to deal with China Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been active on the government relations and lobbying front, and now he's got something big to show for his efforts: the Trump Administration has agreed to lift a ban on selling Nvidia H20 AI chips to China. Huang met with leaders in both Washington and Beijing, arguing that the AI revolution is a tide that will lift all boats—that AI technology can boost business productivity, raise the standard of living, and improve GDP for both the U.S. and China. He emphasized that the best way for America to maintain an edge in the AI race is to ensure the world's AI models and apps run best on chips made by a U.S.-based company. The U.S. (under Biden) initially began restricting sales of Nvidia's most powerful chips to China in an effort to slow Beijing's AI ambitions. The Trump Administration later doubled down, effectively banning sales of the H20 back in April. As a result, Nvidia reported a loss of about $2.5 billion in sales during its quarter ending in April, and projected it would miss out on another $8 billion in the quarter ending in July. Huang apparently persuaded the Trump Administration to reverse course. His argument likely sounded something like this: 'Our mission, properly expressed, is that in order for America to have AI leadership is to make sure that the American tech stack is available to markets all over the world so that amazing developers, including the ones in China, are able to build on the American tech stack so that AI runs best on the American tech stack,' Huang said during a recent interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. Huang also noted that half of the world's AI researchers 'are in China and Chinese.' Huang seems to be suggesting that the U.S. can retain technological dominance by controlling the platform AI runs on—similar to how it maintains financial dominance by ensuring most world trade is based on the dollar. There may be some truth to that. But it raises important questions: What does such control actually mean? Will the U.S. be able to dictate how the Chinese use the chips? No—no more than it did when DeepSeek used the H20 to build its world-class models. Is Huang implying that the U.S. could collect information about Chinese AI activities through these chips (as the U.S. once accused China of doing through Huawei)? That seems very doubtful. There's no doubt that Nvidia and its shareholders benefit when the world's AI is built on its chips and software—but is America really better off? And if Huang truly believes the best AI chips shouldn't be restricted, doesn't it follow that he'll also ask the Trump Administration for permission to sell China its most powerful Blackwell chips, too? Fears grow that the U.S. government will use AI to surveille Six months into a chaotic second Trump presidency, new reports have emerged suggesting the government is increasingly interested in using AI tools to track and profile U.S. residents. According to multiple whistleblowers and insiders, agents of Elon Musk's DOGE are actively working to build a centralized, cross-agency database of Americans' personal information—some of it highly sensitive. The Washington Post reported in May that DOGE is rapidly constructing a centralized database that includes Social Security numbers, medical records, and tax files—doing so without regard for federal data privacy rules, and without standard oversight or even interagency agreements. From the outset, DOGE has pushed past barriers and sidelined individuals to gain access to data stored at the Treasury, Office of Personnel Management, Social Security Administration, Health and Human Services, and the Departments of Education and Labor, Meanwhile, concerns are also growing about how other agencies may be using AI to expand surveillance capabilities. ProPublica reported this week that the Internal Revenue Service is now developing a computer program that would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officers unprecedented access to confidential tax data belonging to millions of American taxpayers, including their home addresses. In the past, ICE requested IRS data only for individuals it was actively investigating—typically no more than a dozen at a time. The new system could serve as a mass surveillance tool, possibly using AI, to identify new deportation targets. Due process may be a secondary concern. Adding to the unease, FedScoop reported last week that the General Services Administration is considering using an AI model developed by Elon Musk's xAI to process the personal data of American citizens. Palantir (cofounded by Trump ally Peter Thiel) has become deeply embedded within agencies across the federal government. Its AI is used for data integration, analysis, and decision-making at defense and intelligence agencies, as well as FEMA, ICE, and HHS. Critics have raised concerns about the breadth and depth of data Palantir can access, and the lack of transparency regarding how its systems function. After 9/11, Palantir began addressing the government's urgent need to make sense of the vast volumes of intelligence data it was collecting on potential terrorist operatives and events both domestically and abroad. Since then, the use of Palantir's platform has only grown—and it could easily be leveraged to form deep profiles on regular American citizens. AWS launches a one-stop shop for enterprise AI Agents Amazon's AWS cloud division is placing a big bet on AI agents. At this week's AWS Summit in New York City, the company unveiled 'AI Agents and Tools,' a new section within the AWS Marketplace designed as a kind of concierge service for businesses looking to buy, deploy, and manage AI agents. The store will feature agents from AWS, as well as third parties like Anthropic, IBM, Perplexity, and Salesforce. Typically, AI agents can store large amounts of information about a company and its workflows, and can reason through tasks. For existing AWS customers, the platform will likely simplify the process of integrating AI agents with AI models—allowing both to reside within the same secure cloud environment as their data. Amazon AWS is bundling everything companies need—databases, security tools, IT support, and deployment infrastructure—into one streamlined experience. Businesses will be able to describe their automation needs in plain English to an AI-powered search tool and receive customized recommendations on which agents are best suited for the job. Gartner predicts that agents will automate half of all business decisions by 2027. And no company wants to fall behind while competitors gain new efficiencies. However, building custom agents from scratch can be a major challenge for corporate IT departments, often requiring significant additional infrastructure and integration work. The new AWS agent platform and marketplace could help eliminate those hurdles. AWS is optimistic about the potential. 'It upends the way software is built,' said AWS VP for Agentic AI Swami Sivasubramanian at the announcement. 'It also introduces a host of new challenges to deploying and operating it, and potentially most impactfully, it changes how software interacts with the world—and how we interact with software.'
Bloomberg
16 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Israel to Boost Budget by $12.5 Billion for Iran and Gaza Wars
Israel will boost defense expenditure by 42 billion shekels ($12.5 billion) over the next two years to meet the costs of last month's war with Iran and the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The increase, announced by the Israeli finance and defense ministries in a joint statement on Thursday, is equivalent to roughly 2% of gross domestic product and underlines the fiscal impact of the country's multi-front war since late 2023.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
‘Not Trump's dumping ground': Outrage over arrival of foreign US deportees in tiny African nation
Across Africa, and in the tiny nation of Eswatini, fury has erupted over the arrival of foreign deportees from the United States, after its government confirmed that migrants described by a Department of Homeland security spokesperson as 'depraved monsters' had been sent to its prisons. Roughly the size of New Jersey, Eswatini — formerly known as Swaziland — is governed by a monarch who has absolute power. On Wednesday, officials said that five deportees from the US were now being held in isolated units in its jails, acknowledging 'widespread concern' but insisting the deported men 'pose no threat to the country or its citizens.' The deportation, according to a statement by acting government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli, was the 'result of months of robust high-level engagements' between the US and the southern African nation. Critics of the move say it is unacceptable for Eswatini to be treated as a 'dumping ground' for people considered unfit to live in the US. While the Trump administration's mass deportations to the prisons of El Salvador have made headlines around the world, the White House has also been quietly attempting to strike agreements with a number of African countries to accept deportees originally from other nations. President Donald Trump's aggressive clampdown on immigration has run into logistical hurdles, with some countries refusing to take back their nationals, or doing so only on a limited basis. Some of those approached by the US, such as Nigeria, have decried being pressured to take in foreign deportees. 'The US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prison,' Nigeria's foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said in a televised interview last week, citing Washington's announcement of increased tariffs and recent reductions in the validity of visas. The US Mission in Nigeria insisted visa changes were 'not the result of any nation's stance on third-country deportees' but rather 'to safeguard US immigration systems.' CNN has contacted the White House for more comments on the claims. Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court paved the way for the Trump administration to deport certain migrants to countries other than their homeland with little notice. Soon after, eight third-country deportees said by the US to have criminal records landed in South Sudan, a nation on the cusp of civil war. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X Wednesday that the five detainees flown to Eswatini were nationals from Jamaica, Laos, Cuba, Yemen and Vietnam. 'This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,' she wrote. 'These depraved monsters have been terrorizing American communities but thanks to @POTUS Trump @Sec_Noem they are off of American soil,' McLaughlin added. The prisoners were convicted of various crimes, including child rape, murder and robbery, she said. Eswatini government spokesperson Mdluli said the nation would now collaborate with the US and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) 'to facilitate the transit of these inmates to their countries of origin.' She told CNN Thursday, however, that 'there are no timelines at present' for their repatriation. Eswatini's decision to accommodate America's deportees has met with widespread public disapproval, both due to the perceived risk around their presence and the US portrayal of the nation as a 'safe third country.' The landlocked country of just over one million people is already beleaguered by poverty, unemployment, high crime rates and congested prisons. Human rights are also deteriorating, according to Human Rights Watch, following a wave of crackdowns on pro-democracy movements. More than half its population lives on less than $4 a day, according to the World Bank. Opposition party PUDEMO said accepting foreign deportees from the US 'poses a serious risk to our already vulnerable communities' which it said are 'battling a severe scourge' of crime, including rape and murder. 'Our country must not be treated as a dumping ground for those deemed unfit to live elsewhere,' the group said in a statement sent to CNN. Lucky Lukhele, of the Swaziland Solidarity Network, an exiled civil society group based in South Africa, told CNN it was 'clear racism to think Africa is a dumping ground for Donald Trump.' Lukhele said he was informed by unnamed sources that more US deportees would be sent to Eswatini, warning that 'Swazi prisons are (already) overcrowded' with prisoners who 'get one meal a day.' The Multi Stakeholder Forum (MSF), a coalition of Eswatini's civil society groups, said in a statement that the country's 'sovereignty and dignity must not be traded off for unclear deals or political expediency.' It's not clear how Eswatini stands to benefit from housing US deportees. Government spokesperson Mdluli told CNN that 'the terms of the agreement (with the US) remain classified information.' Asked whether more foreign US deportees would arrive in Eswatini, she said there was currently no information to that effect. Eswatini's trade privileges with the US came under threat in April after it was included in Trump's list of tariffs, facing a rate of 10% on its exports. Its neighbor and biggest trading partner, South Africa, was also slapped with a 30% tariff, triggering panic from Eswatini's central bank on the 'implications' for its economy. The tariffs are due to come into effect on August 1. Its intake of US deportees has similarly generated uproar in South Africa, whose relations with the US have deteriorated under Trump. A South African government source told CNN, 'There is a feeling that some inside the Trump administration could be using this (the deportation of prisoners to Eswatini) to destabilize South Africa,' given its porous borders and Eswatini's struggling economy. 'Everyone knows that these fellows (the deported convicts) will want to move to South Africa' another diplomatic source said, adding that the US 'did (ask South Africa to accept migrants) and we refused.' The source said the deportations to Eswatini were a provocation by the US and a direct national security threat. Ken Opalo, an associate professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC, said African nations are being pushed by the Trump administration 'into doing egregious things such as accepting migrants from random countries or giving them (the US) their mineral wealth in ambiguous deals that don't make much sense.' He cautioned: 'It's foolhardy for African countries to think that they can make deals and expect a credible commitment from the White House, given their transactional nature, which means everything is subject to change.' CNN's Mary Kay Mallonee contributed to this report.
