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  • France flaunts firepower, unity with allies in huge parade

    France flaunts firepower, unity with allies in huge parade

    On July 14, France hosted the largest national day parade in its history, turning the iconic Champs-Élysées avenue between the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde into a showcase of collective military power and pan-European solidarity, as the continent accelerates rearmament efforts in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The ceremony, marking the 235th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille that launched the French Revolution, marked the final Bastille Day parade led by sitting President Emmanuel Macron before he leaves office in 2025 after two full consecutive terms, and brought together more than two dozen global heads of state and government alongside thousands of troops from across Europe.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took the role of guest of honor at the event, which came one day after Macron hosted a fresh summit of Ukraine’s international supporting allies, four and a half years into Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion. Among the other high-profile leaders in attendance were German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who joined Macron in leading joint European efforts to sustain military and political support for Kyiv. This appearance marked one of Starmer’s final foreign engagements early in his new premiership.

    In total, nearly 6,700 military personnel, 98 aircraft, 31 helicopters, and 315 military vehicles took part in the procession, breaking records for the size of the annual Western European parade. Around 500 soldiers from the Coalition of the Willing, the group of mostly European nations backing Ukraine against Russian aggression, marched in the parade, with 25 Ukrainian troops following behind coalition contingents in a deliberate symbolic gesture. For the first time in the event’s history, French aircraft flew over the Champs-Élysées carrying dummy armaments including Scalp cruise missiles, a public demonstration of France’s combat-ready posture. Newly modernized French military equipment, including Griffon and Jaguar armored vehicles and truck-mounted reconnaissance drones, was also displayed to highlight progress on armed forces upgrades in recent years.

    In a poignant nod to European air support for Ukraine, Ukrainian pilots who had completed training in France co-piloted two French Mirage 2000 fighter jets during the aerial flyover. The Mirage 2000 is among the combat aircraft France has transferred to Ukraine to bolster its air defenses against Russian drone and missile strikes. The United Kingdom also sent its largest contingent to the parade in more than 20 years, with soldiers from the Grenadier Guards marching alongside France’s elite Garde Républicaine.

    Tens of thousands of civilian spectators gathered along the parade route, enduring a severe seasonal heatwave after registering for entry via special QR codes to clear tightened security perimeters. The event also carried a somber undercurrent: 2026 marks the 10-year anniversary of the 2016 Nice Bastille Day attack, where a terrorist driver rammed a truck into crowds leaving a fireworks display, killing 86 people and injuring more than 400 others. Macron planned to travel to Nice later the same day to lead a memorial commemoration for the victims.

    Senior French officials framed the parade as a clear statement of European unity in the face of mounting security threats. “What is marching past is a Europe united and determined to support Ukraine in the face of Russia — a Europe confident in itself,” French Deputy Defence Minister Alice Rufo told broadcaster RTL radio. Chief of the Defence Staff General Fabien Mandon described the event on social media platform X as “a physical embodiment of the strategic solidarity between our countries.” Mandon, who sparked public controversy last year for stating France must prepare to “accept losing its children” in a potential future conflict with Russia, has repeatedly warned that European nations must build up their defensive capabilities to counter Russian aggression.

    Macron, who has made European strategic autonomy and reduced reliance on the United States a central plank of his foreign policy, doubled down on this stance in remarks ahead of the parade. On Monday, he stated that Europe was prepared to fight to defend its freedom, even if that requires European troops to sacrifice their lives. “Yes, we cherish freedom and the rule of law. And yes, we stand ready to fight to defend them. Always, and at the cost of blood if necessary,” Macron said.

    Zelenskyy welcomed his country’s inclusion in the historic parade, saying it represented “a sign of respect and recognition of the strength of Ukraine, our people, and our armed forces.”

    The event closes out a tenure for Macron that has seen consistent increases to French defense spending and deeper defense cooperation with European allies. Notably, the 2017 Bastille Day parade, early in Macron’s first term, famously hosted then-US President Donald Trump for his first major state visit to Europe. A decade later, with Trump back in office and widely viewed as an unpredictable ally on security issues, European leaders have moved to accelerate their own defense integration and rearmament. After the parade, Parisians and visitors were set to gather on the Champs-Élysées in the evening to watch the World Cup semi-final match between France and Spain.

  • Hundreds protest in Maine over the fatal shooting of a Colombian man by ICE

    Hundreds protest in Maine over the fatal shooting of a Colombian man by ICE

    BIDDEFORD, Maine — Hundreds of demonstrators gathered across southern Maine on Tuesday to denounce the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Colombian national Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, an incident that has sparked national outrage over conflicting official accounts of the deadly encounter and growing scrutiny of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.

    The shooting unfolded Monday as ICE agents carried out surveillance on a Biddeford residence connected to an individual facing a final deportation order for unlawful presence in the United States. Initial public accounts from federal officials have already shifted, creating confusion around the circumstances of Durán Guerrero’s death. In a post on the social platform X, the Department of Homeland Security claimed the ICE officer opened fire after the vehicle Durán Guerrero was driving attempted to flee the stop, saying the agent acted “fearing for public safety.”

    This account contradicts an earlier description shared by Maine Senator Angus King, who said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer fired after Durán Guerrero attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon against agents. King also confirmed that agents were not serving an arrest warrant for Durán Guerrero at the time of the encounter, raising additional questions about why the 26-year-old was targeted.

    The Colombian Embassy formally confirmed Durán Guerrero’s identity to the Associated Press, and outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro — who has had repeated public clashes with President Donald Trump — issued a scathing rebuke of the shooting on X. Petro called the incident a deliberate targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government,” accused ICE agents of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights,” and called on the Trump administration to release a full public explanation for the shooting.

    Outrage over the killing quickly spread across Maine, with hundreds of protesters assembling outside the ICE detention center in Scarborough, a coastal community between Biddeford and Portland. Demonstrators carried signs reading “Stop the murder” and “End this terror,” with event organizer Todd Chretien telling the crowd, “These people are killers and they must leave our state now.”

    The shooting marks the second fatal use of force by ICE in just one week, and the ninth deadly incident tied to the agency since Trump launched his administration-wide immigration crackdown. Compounding growing calls for transparency, the officers involved in the Biddeford shooting were not wearing body cameras, leaving key details of the encounter unaccounted for. Key unanswered questions include how close the officer was to the vehicle when shots were fired, whether agents ordered Durán Guerrero to stop before opening fire, and what specific threat to public safety ICE claims the driver posed. In a brief statement, an ICE spokesperson declined to disclose details of agency tactics, saying only, “We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets.”

    Maine’s senior Republican Senator Susan Collins confirmed that the DHS Office of Inspector General is leading the investigation in partnership with the FBI. The Maine Attorney General’s office, which is also cooperating with federal investigators, said initial statements indicate Durán Guerrero was attempting to flee toward the shooting officer when shots were fired. The unnamed officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the probe, and photos of the vehicle show multiple bullet holes in the front windshield.

    Security camera footage from a nearby local business obtained by the AP shows Durán Guerrero’s white car slowly approaching a nearby intersection before circling the area multiple times. A law enforcement SUV blocks the vehicle’s path, after which two officers pull open the driver’s side door and drag out a limp body. The timing of the gunfire is not visible in the clip. Daniel Boucher, a nearby resident who heard the gunshots and ran to the scene, said he saw Durán Guerrero bleeding from the face and head, and clearly heard the victim say, “I tried to stop.” Boucher also recalled the shooting officer telling him, “He tried to run me over,” shortly after the incident.

    Community members who knew Durán Guerrero described him as a friendly, regular presence in the Biddeford neighborhood, where he lived with his wife and young daughter. Two advocacy groups, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente!, say Durán Guerrero held valid work authorization to live and work in the United States. Neighbors noted he rarely spoke with locals due to limited English proficiency, but was a familiar sight around the area. Sadie Dilboy, co-owner of a local laundromat that Durán Guerrero visited often, said he frequently came to the business with his young daughter, who he would give quarters to buy candy. “Everyone knows him,” Dilboy said. Claudia Morton, a nearby neighbor who often waved to Durán Guerrero, described herself as distraught over the killing, saying Tuesday, “The whole world should be crying.”

    Just one week before the Maine shooting, another ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston as he drove to a construction job site, following a pursuit by federal agents in unmarked vehicles. The back-to-back shootings come as the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation agenda: ICE data shows the agency arrested more than 10,000 people over just five days at the end of June, a sharp surge in enforcement that signals an expansion of crackdown efforts after the administration shifted away from targeted city-wide raids. This is not the first time the administration’s enforcement policies have faced widespread condemnation: last winter, two killings in Minnesota — that of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — sparked national outcry over aggressive deportation tactics.

    Reporting for this story was contributed by Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, Rebecca Santana in Washington, D.C., and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, with original reporting from AP correspondents in New Orleans and New York.

  • Watch: Maine residents protest latest ICE shooting

    Watch: Maine residents protest latest ICE shooting

    Hundreds of Maine residents have taken to the streets of Biddeford to voice their outrage over the fatal shooting of a Colombian national by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a recent immigration enforcement operation in the southern Maine town. The incident, which unfolded this week, has ignited fresh tensions over federal immigration tactics and sparked widespread calls for transparency from community members and activist groups across the state.

    Protesters gathered at the site of the operation holding signs calling for greater accountability for ICE personnel and an independent investigation into the circumstances of the shooting. Many attendees shared concerns about the use of lethal force during routine immigration actions, highlighting long-simmering frustrations over aggressive enforcement practices in small, tight-knit New England communities. Speakers at the rally also emphasized the need for immigrant communities to feel safe in their homes, noting that the shooting has left many local immigrant residents fearing for their own security.

    Local law enforcement agencies have confirmed that the ICE agent opened fire during the operation, though few additional details about what led to the shooting have been released to the public as of yet. ICE officials have not yet commented on the identity of the individual or the specific actions that preceded the shooting, a lack of information that has only amplified community anger and demands for a full public accounting. Advocacy groups that support immigrant rights have already organized follow-up community meetings to discuss next steps, including pushing state lawmakers to review local agreements that govern collaboration between local police and federal immigration authorities.

  • An experimental Alzheimer’s drug shows promise targeting a different brain protein, new study shows

    An experimental Alzheimer’s drug shows promise targeting a different brain protein, new study shows

    LONDON – Researchers unveiled groundbreaking new findings Tuesday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, revealing that an experimental drug from Biogen offers a novel path to slow early-stage Alzheimer’s disease by targeting a destructive brain protein long considered difficult to treat. Unlike today’s approved therapies that focus on clearing a different toxic protein linked to the condition, this new candidate works by reducing the production of tau, a protein that forms deadly tangles in neurons and drives cognitive decline.

    Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia worldwide, impacts more than 7 million people in the United States alone and tens of millions globally. For years, the majority of approved treatments have centered on clearing amyloid, a sticky protein that forms plaques in the brain up to two decades before symptoms emerge. While the two currently approved drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, can modestly slow cognitive decline by removing amyloid buildup, scientists have long recognized that amyloid alone does not cause Alzheimer’s. The dominant scientific model holds that amyloid accumulation ultimately triggers abnormal tau to clump into tangles that kill brain cells, making tau a critical yet underexploited target for new therapies. Prior attempts to develop tau-targeting drugs have repeatedly failed, leaving a critical gap in treatment development.

    Biogen’s new candidate, diranersen, works through a fundamentally different mechanism than existing amyloid-focused drugs. Classified as an antisense oligonucleotide, the drug does not attack existing tau buildup; instead, it instructs the gene that produces tau to generate less of the protein. “If you lower tau production, you are lowering the amount of the abnormal tau that needs to be cleared by the microglia, by the clearance mechanism in the brain. And so you are enabling the normal clearance mechanism to have more capacity to clear the tau,” explained Dr. Cath Mummery of University College London, who led the phase 2 study of the drug. Unlike approved amyloid drugs that are delivered via intravenous infusions or injections into the bloodstream, diranersen is administered via injection into the fluid surrounding the spinal cord, providing a more direct route to brain tissue.

    The phase 2 trial enrolled roughly 400 patients with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage Alzheimer’s, who were randomly assigned to receive varying doses of diranersen or a placebo. In an unexpected finding announced earlier this year by Biogen and its development partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals, the lowest dose – given just twice per year – produced the strongest effect, meaning the study did not meet its pre-planned endpoint of demonstrating greater benefit from higher doses. Despite this miss, new data presented this week shows encouraging signs of cognitive benefit: five out of six cognitive tests showed that patients receiving diranersen still experienced cognitive decline, but at a markedly slower rate than patients given a placebo. For the lowest dose group, the decline rate slowed by 26% – a reduction comparable to the benefits seen in clinical trials of approved amyloid drugs.

    Notably, side effects reported in the trial were mild, including injection site pain and temporary confusion that resolved within roughly a week of treatment. Crucially, researchers observed no cases of brain swelling or inflammation, a common and potentially dangerous side effect linked to amyloid-targeting drugs.

    Independent researchers not involved with the Biogen study called the results a promising step forward for the field. “This is really quite promising if it were to hold up” in larger-scale confirmatory testing, said Jessica Langbaum of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix. While Dr. Reisa Sperling of Mass General Brigham emphasized that the results are still early, she noted that the findings “will reinvigorate interest and investment in lots of tau mechanisms, and the field needs that.” Biogen has confirmed it plans to launch a large-scale phase 3 trial to confirm the drug’s clinical benefit.

    Diranersen is just one of multiple innovative new approaches to Alzheimer’s treatment presented at the conference, reflecting a growing shift in the field toward targeting tau and exploring combination therapies. Last week, the University of California, San Francisco launched the first-of-its-kind Alzheimer’s Tau Platform, a National Institutes of Health-funded study that will test multiple experimental anti-tau therapies, both alone and in combination with approved amyloid treatments. The first candidate to be tested through the platform is AADvac1, a tau vaccine designed to train the body’s immune system to recognize and attack abnormal tau. The platform will expand to sites across the U.S. and will even include patients who have tau and amyloid buildup but have not yet developed cognitive symptoms, allowing researchers to test the potential of early intervention.

    Other researchers are exploring repurposing existing drug candidates for Alzheimer’s prevention. Scientists reported that obicetrapib, an experimental cholesterol-lowering drug, may hold promise for reducing Alzheimer’s protein buildup in people with a genetic risk for the disease. The APOE4 gene, the strongest known genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s, also impacts how the body processes cholesterol, leading researchers to hypothesize that cholesterol-lowering drugs could mitigate this elevated risk. NewAmsterdam Pharma, the developer of obicetrapib, plans to launch a clinical trial soon to test this hypothesis in carriers of one or two copies of the APOE4 gene.

    Companies are also advancing new technologies to overcome one of the biggest barriers to Alzheimer’s drug development: penetrating the blood-brain barrier, a protective lining that blocks most large molecules from entering brain tissue. Denali Therapeutics is developing technology that “hitches a ride” on iron, a molecule that naturally crosses the blood-brain barrier, to deliver both anti-tau and anti-amyloid drugs to the brain in higher concentrations.

    The new wave of tau-focused research comes as the field continues to search for more effective treatments for a disease that is projected to see a sharp rise in cases globally as populations age. While diranersen still requires years of additional testing before it could win regulatory approval, researchers say its early success has already re-energized work on a long-overlooked target that could be key to slowing or stopping Alzheimer’s progression.

    This reporting was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with the Associated Press taking sole responsibility for all content.

  • Diamond giant De Beers halts work at flagship South African mine as demand plummets

    Diamond giant De Beers halts work at flagship South African mine as demand plummets

    The global diamond industry is facing unprecedented market upheaval, forcing mining giant De Beers to take drastic action: a two-year production suspension at Venetia Mine, South Africa’s largest diamond-producing operation. The shutdown comes as shifting consumer demand and rising competition from affordable lab-grown alternatives have sent industry profits and prices into a steep decline.

    Industry data underscores the severity of the downturn: the International Diamond Consultants rough diamond price index has nearly halved since 2022, driven by flagging consumer demand – particularly in key Chinese markets – and the growing market share of lower-cost lab-grown gems. In justifying the decision, De Beers noted that the depressed state of the global diamond market makes immediate cost-cutting and operational streamlining a necessary priority.

    Located in the far northern region of South Africa, Venetia Mine contributes over 40% of the country’s total national diamond output and provides direct employment for more than 4,000 workers. The shutdown casts a shadow over South Africa’s broader mining sector, which supports nearly 500,000 jobs nationwide and contributes more than 4% of the country’s gross domestic product. Local workers’ unions have long warned of the devastating economic ripple effects of widespread layoffs in the industry.

    De Beers, which is majority-owned by mining conglomerate Anglo American, has already announced plans to use the two-year shutdown to upgrade infrastructure, boost production efficiency and increase total output capacity, positioning the mine to resume operations once market conditions rebound. Reports have also indicated that Anglo American is actively seeking to sell its stake in De Beers as part of a strategic shift toward expanding copper production, a commodity in surging demand driven by the global artificial intelligence boom.

    The rise of lab-grown diamonds as a disruptive competitor stems from more than just lower price points. Many modern consumers have embraced the synthetic stones over ethical concerns linked to traditional diamond mining, including poor working conditions, unfair miner compensation, and extensive environmental damage from mining operations. Ironically, many established natural diamond producers including De Beers have adapted to the shift by launching their own lines of affordable lab-grown diamonds, turning market disruption into an additional revenue stream.

    While other large diamond producers have scaled back operations in recent years, De Beers’ decision carries unique symbolic weight due to the company’s 150-year history rooted in the colonial era of southern Africa. Founded in 1871 by British colonist Cecil Rhodes, the company grew out of a colonial project that saw Rhodes’ forces dispossess indigenous African communities of their land and deny them basic political and economic rights, amassing enormous personal wealth in the process. Today, Rhodes’ legacy remains one of the most contentious flashpoints for global conversations about decolonizing institutions that continue to honor his name, from statues to the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford, whose past recipients include former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

    For more coverage of economic and political developments across the African continent, visit BBCAfrica.com or follow BBC Africa on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

  • Majority of new Ebola cases are ‘from unknown chains of transmission,’ WHO official says

    Majority of new Ebola cases are ‘from unknown chains of transmission,’ WHO official says

    GENEVA — The World Health Organization’s top emergencies official issued a stark warning Tuesday, stating that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is still moving faster than international and local response teams can contain, following a firsthand assessment trip to one of the crisis’s hardest-hit areas. Chikwe Ihekweazu, WHO’s emergencies chief, returned this week from Bunia, located in Ituri province, the epicenter of the current outbreak, where he uncovered deeply troubling trends driving the virus’s spread.

    According to Ihekweazu, the most worrying observation from his visit is that a large share of newly reported fatalities are people who never accessed formal medical care, passing away in their home communities before they could reach a treatment facility. As of this week, he added, roughly 80 percent of all new confirmed cases are not linked to existing contact tracing lists, meaning they originate from unknown transmission chains that response teams have not been able to track or pre-empt.

    The DRC has been fighting this outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo Ebola variant since undetected community transmission began in early May, with no approved vaccine or specific antiviral treatment currently available for this strain. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention labeled the event the fastest-expanding Ebola outbreak the African continent has ever seen last week.

    Congolese health authorities released updated figures Monday showing at least 1,926 confirmed and probable infections across three affected provinces, with a total of 702 recorded deaths. The outbreak has already spilled across national borders, with confirmed cases detected in neighboring Uganda, raising concerns of a wider regional spread. Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that a U.S. citizen working for a humanitarian organization in the DRC had tested positive for the virus, though no additional details about the patient’s condition or location were released.

    Ihekweazu noted that his trip to Bunia revealed mixed progress: while response capacity has expanded significantly in recent weeks, systemic barriers continue to prevent teams from getting ahead of the virus. Local treatment capacity now stands at nearly 800 beds, with new spaces added every week, and laboratory testing capacity has jumped dramatically from just one operational lab at the start of the outbreak to 14 fully functional facilities. Other core response operations have also seen incremental improvements.

    Still, Ihekweazu emphasized that even with these gains, response teams have not managed to overtake the virus’s spread. “Despite our best efforts … we have not caught up in the race,” he told reporters in Geneva.

    The response effort has been held back by a range of interconnected challenges, including a critical shortfall in funding, repeated violent attacks on health facilities operating in the region, ongoing armed conflict that makes large parts of eastern DRC inaccessible to response teams, and widespread mistrust of medical authorities among local communities. These barriers compounded this week, when dozens of staff members at an Ebola treatment center in northeastern DRC launched a strike Monday over months of unpaid salaries and performance bonuses, further disrupting care delivery.

    The Congolese government only officially declared the outbreak on May 15, after the virus had been spreading undetected through local communities for multiple weeks, the WHO confirmed. Last week, researchers finally launched long-awaited clinical trials for experimental treatments, marking the first formal effort to test targeted interventions against the current circulating strain.

  • US inflation rate eases to 3.5% as gasoline prices fall

    US inflation rate eases to 3.5% as gasoline prices fall

    New official government data has revealed that U.S. inflation cooled notably in June, driven by a sharp drop in gasoline prices that has brought the annual rate of price growth down to its lowest level in months. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), consumer prices rose 3.5% over the 12 months ending in June, marking a meaningful drop from the 4.2% annual increase recorded in May.

    The biggest factor pulling down the overall inflation rate was a steep 9.7% monthly decline in retail gasoline prices in June, even though pump costs remain significantly higher than they were at the same point last year. Recent weekly data from American motorist advocacy group AAA shows that prices at the pump have already started to shift again: as of Tuesday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $3.86, up seven cents from the average recorded just one week prior.

    The unexpected rebound in pump prices comes on the heels of a sharp spike in global crude oil costs, triggered by renewed military conflict in the Middle East that threatens to disrupt global energy supplies. On Tuesday, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil pricing, climbed to $87 per barrel, a jump of nearly $10 over just 24 hours. This sudden surge follows new U.S. military strikes against Iran carried out earlier this week. In conjunction with the strikes, former President Donald Trump announced a new naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of global oil trade passes daily. Trump also imposed a 20% fee on all cargo transported through the key waterway, raising fears of prolonged disruption to global energy markets that could send inflation rising again across the U.S. and other major economies.

    While the latest inflation reading has been welcomed by policymakers and consumers alike, many economic analysts warn that the current period of cooling price growth could be short-lived. If energy prices remain elevated or continue to climb in the coming weeks, the downward trend in inflation could reverse quickly, putting renewed pressure on U.S. household budgets and complicating efforts by the Federal Reserve to stabilize the economy.

  • Anthony Albanese to announce Office of AI, pledges national framework

    Anthony Albanese to announce Office of AI, pledges national framework

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is launching a landmark, globally unprecedented coordinated national framework for artificial intelligence governance, headlined by the creation of a dedicated Office of Artificial Intelligence set to become effective Wednesday.

    Amid a global scramble by nations to adapt to the rapid rise of disruptive generative AI, the Prime Minister will address a major media gathering in Sydney to outline the new whole-of-government approach, which centralizes scattered AI policy oversight into a single unit housed within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Albanese will argue this unified structure makes Australia the first country in the world to bring all AI-related governance issues under one cohesive national framework.

    The new office will collaborate across multiple government portfolios to deliver aligned policy and regulation. Industry Minister Tim Ayres and Assistant Minister Andrew Charlton will lead co-development of new national AI standards. Energy Minister Chris Bowen will coordinate with state and territorial governments and national energy market bodies on AI-related energy infrastructure needs. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has already begun facilitating cross-stakeholder consultations on copyright protections for creators whose work may be used to train AI models, while Treasurer Jim Chalmers will oversee AI’s integration into national productivity growth agendas. Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth is engaging with employers, workers and trade unions to address AI’s shifting impact on workplaces, and Education Minister Jason Clare is working with education leaders to assess AI’s effects on primary and secondary schooling. This coordinated effort also covers ongoing work ranging from digital duty of care regulations and risks of AI chatbots to child safety, AI’s intersection with skills development and manufacturing, and critical national security and defence applications of AI.

    Albanese is set to compare the coordinated national approach to past government responses to transformative technological shifts, including the rise of civil aviation in the 1920s and the boom in genetic research in the 1990s. He will note that a unified framework will boost Australia’s attractiveness to global investors by delivering clearer, faster approval processes and streamlined compliance verification, while also bringing much-needed accountability and coordination to government action. Prior to this reform, AI governance was handled on an ad-hoc, sector-by-sector basis across disparate ministries, a structure that no longer fits the cross-cutting nature of AI technology.

    Wednesday’s announcement comes six months after the Albanese government released its initial national AI strategy, which set out goals to accelerate safe, responsible AI adoption across the Australian economy while putting critical safeguards in place. The launch arrives at a moment of growing national debate over the safe, fair and sovereign development of AI, as global adoption of generative tools accelerates at an unprecedented pace.

    Earlier this month, a high-level delegation of Australian creative industry groups from music, literature and other creative sectors traveled to Canberra to push for strong copyright safeguards, opposing changes that would allow AI developers to scrape Australian copyrighted intellectual property without permission to train generative models. Current Australian copyright law already requires AI firms to obtain consent to use local creative works for model training, but independent Senator David Pocock recently raised concerns that the government was considering a copyright carve-out for AI companies in exchange for investment in local data center infrastructure – a claim the government has flatly denied. Australia’s news industry has also raised urgent alarms over widespread unauthorized scraping of journalistic content for AI model training. News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller warned last year that Australia risks eroding its national voice and identity if the government does not hold firm on copyright protections for local content.

    Across the political spectrum, calls have grown for Australia to develop sovereign AI capability, including domestic AI models and local data center infrastructure, amid growing concerns over the outsized control that U.S. corporations and the U.S. government hold over the world’s most popular frontier AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT series and Anthropic’s Claude. Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that the AI revolution is already underway, and Australia must act to seize the benefits of the technology in the national interest rather than ceding control to foreign actors. Hastie argued that while major U.S. AI firms are already leading development of frontier models, Australia must build its own sovereign computing capability to avoid being entirely reliant on the “good grace of the United States” for AI access. He warned that in a scenario of global crisis or conflict, Australia’s AI capability could be cut off entirely due to reliance on undersea cables controlled by foreign powers, leaving the nation without agency over its own AI future.

    Albanese is set to acknowledge these national security concerns, noting that this year’s updated National Defence Strategy identified AI and machine learning as the technologies carrying the most significant potential for disruptive change to global security in the coming years. He will point out that both non-state extremist groups and adversarial state actors already leverage AI to create targeted propaganda aimed at young people and spread disinformation designed to undermine democratic institutions. The Prime Minister will confirm that the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister are working closely with Australian security agencies and the country’s Five Eyes security partners to address these evolving threats.

    Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett warned in a June address that AI is lowering the bar for criminals to target victims online, reducing the level of technical skill required to carry out cybercrimes and exploitation. She emphasized that as AI technology advances at an exponential rate, vulnerable groups including young people face the greatest risk of harm, noting that criminal actors are increasingly using AI chatbots to recruit underage victims and carry out exploitation.

    The new national AI framework marks a major step forward for Australia as it navigates the dual opportunities and risks of one of the most transformative technological shifts of the 21st century, balancing efforts to attract investment and drive innovation with commitments to protect creators, vulnerable communities and national sovereignty.

  • Earthquake aid keeps flowing from Florida to Venezuela, with help from the U.S. State Department

    Earthquake aid keeps flowing from Florida to Venezuela, with help from the U.S. State Department

    Last June, two powerful back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude struck just 39 seconds apart across central and northern Venezuela, leaving a trail of catastrophic destruction that upended thousands of lives. The disaster killed at least 4,500 people, left thousands more unaccounted for, damaged or destroyed more than 850 buildings, displaced 17,000 residents, and crippled critical infrastructure for power, clean water and public sanitation. Nearly three weeks after the tremors, a massive, community-led relief operation based out of South Florida is still working around the clock to get life-sustaining aid to vulnerable Venezuelan communities, a effort made possible by a dramatic shift in U.S.-Venezuela relations following the January U.S. military raid that led to the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

    The operation is centered at the Doral, Florida headquarters of Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), a non-profit humanitarian organization where half the local population identifies as Venezuelan. For 18-year-old Alessandra Izaguirre, whose grandmother’s Caracas home narrowly escaped destruction in the quakes, volunteering here is personal. Currently based in the U.S., Izaguirre says the shock of seeing her family and so many other Venezuelans displaced pushed her to act, even from thousands of miles away. She has spent the past two weeks preparing meals for the hundreds of volunteers that report to GEM’s warehouses daily.

    Izaguirre is just one of thousands of participants in what has become one of the largest grassroots humanitarian mobilizations for South America in recent history. Every day, hundreds of volunteers sort through donated supplies curated to match the most pressing current needs, pack shipments, and prepare them for daily flights bound for Caracas. The effort draws donations from across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and beyond, and is facilitated through a formal partnership with the U.S. State Department, with logistical support from the U.S. military.

    This new operating model is a stark shift from years past, when Maduro’s government routinely blocked international humanitarian aid, labeling it an act of foreign interference. GEM founder and president Michael Capponi was even denied entry to Venezuela while attempting to deliver aid during Maduro’s tenure. Today, the entire supply chain remains under GEM’s full control: private planes carrying aid are unloaded by U.S. military personnel, transported on GEM-funded trucks, and stored in GEM-controlled warehouses, never passing through the hands of Venezuelan government officials. This independent structure has addressed widespread longstanding concerns among donors about corruption and theft of aid by Venezuelan officials, building trust that has supercharged donations.

    Within hours of the June 24 earthquakes, GEM activated its headquarters as an official donation collection point. After the organization completed its first successful, fully transparent aid delivery, donations poured in faster than Capponi, a veteran of decades of global disaster response, had ever seen. Major national brands including Goya, Walmart and Amazon donated bulk supplies, while professional U.S. sports teams contributed six-figure donations. But the bulk of the aid still comes from small, individual contributions: thousands of everyday people stopping at local supermarkets to buy a few cases of canned goods or packs of diapers, dropping them off at GEM’s warehouses.

    At times, lines of donors dropping off supplies stretched so long that local police were called in to manage traffic. Two brothers drove a fully loaded U-Haul of relief goods all the way from Canada, while other convoys arrived from as far as Nevada, California and Texas. Across GEM’s three Doral-area warehouses, up to 1,000 volunteers pack aid daily, building pallets of bulk essentials and assembling individual care packages that hold enough food, water and hygiene supplies to support two people for five days. Many volunteers tuck handwritten notes of encouragement into the packages, including messages like “Te queremos Venezuela” – “We love you, Venezuela.”

    Many volunteers have personal connections to disaster or to the Venezuelan diaspora. Twenty-five-year-old Mariela Vila, who survived Hurricane Maria’s devastating 2017 strike on her native Puerto Rico, has worked full-day shifts at GEM since the effort launched. “The Latino community gathered together to help Puerto Rico when we needed it, so I felt I had to give that same support to Venezuela,” she explained. Billy Richardson, GEM’s U.S. logistics director, added that volunteer enthusiasm is so high that staff often have to push people out at the end of the workday, with many taking paid vacation from their regular jobs to keep packing shipments.

    GEM’s long-term plan calls for delivering at least 100,000 care packages per month for the next three to six months, while also beginning to plan for longer-term recovery needs such as permanent housing for displaced families. To date, nearly one million pounds of supplies have been shipped from Florida to GEM’s newly leased Caracas warehouses, where the organization partners with trusted local nonprofits and community leaders to distribute aid twice daily in the hardest-hit regions. In a recent high-profile distribution, U.S. Marines landed an amphibious craft on a Venezuelan beach and unloaded hundreds of GEM packages directly to a line of 2,000 waiting residents.

    A State Department spokesperson explained that partnering with GEM and other independent nonprofits allows the U.S. to leverage existing community networks and the deep connections of the Venezuelan diaspora in the U.S. to deliver aid directly to those who need it. Multiple other U.S.-based humanitarian groups have also confirmed they are now able to operate independently in Venezuela without interference from government officials, a change unthinkable just six months ago.

    Still, the new U.S.-led aid framework faces lingering questions over transparency and accountability. Critics note that the U.S. currently controls billions of dollars in seized Venezuelan oil export revenue, and there are unanswered questions about how much of that funding is being directed to earthquake recovery. Laura Cristina Dib, Venezuela program director at the Washington Office on Latin America, noted that “there are a lot of transparency questions that linger on the use of that fund at a moment when Venezuelans desperately need that money for protection and recovery.”

    U.S. officials have pushed back on these concerns. John M. Barrett, the U.S. charge d’affairs for Venezuela, told reporters that the current interim Venezuelan government has been “fully compliant” with all U.S. requests to advance the relief effort, and that oil revenue controlled by the U.S. Treasury is being made available for relief. A State Department spokesperson added that, separate from the oil revenue, the U.S. has committed more than $386 million in direct funding for earthquake response, and is working to support the interim government’s budget operations to improve liquidity for recovery.

    On the ground in the hard-hit coastal city of Maiquetía, recipients of GEM aid say the support is already making a life-changing difference. Last week, Yoniel Reyes sat in a temporary displacement tent unpacking his GEM care package – packed and sealed 1,300 miles away in Doral – which held instant meals, bottled water, canned food, hydration supplements and hygiene kits. “I never imagined I would be receiving aid from the U.S.,” Reyes said. “We Venezuelans are thankful, very thankful.”

  • NASA chief visits Russia’s space launchpad for U.S.-Russian crew launch

    NASA chief visits Russia’s space launchpad for U.S.-Russian crew launch

    In a striking demonstration of sustained orbital collaboration between Washington and Moscow amid years of strained geopolitical relations over the conflict in Ukraine, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman traveled to Kazakhstan this week to attend the planned launch of a joint U.S.-Russian crew bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

    Isaacman’s visit to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the launch facility leased by Russia from the Central Asian nation, marks the first time a sitting NASA chief has traveled to the site in eight years, signaling that core space cooperation remains intact even as broader political and economic ties fray.

    During a pre-launch meeting with the three-person crew on Monday, Isaacman extended gratitude to Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos for its meticulous work to prepare the mission. He emphasized that the cross-border collaborative work carried out over the past several months stands as a testament to the unparalleled professionalism and unwavering commitment of every specialist involved in the project.

    Ahead of the scheduled liftoff, the NASA administrator also held formal talks with Roscosmos Director Dmitry Bakanov. The mission, set to carry NASA astronaut Anil Menon and his two Russian crewmates Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina into orbit, will launch aboard Roscosmos’ reliable Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft. Once in orbit, the trio will travel to the ISS, where they are scheduled to live and work for an eight-month research expedition.

    This flight marks the first time Menon has traveled to space, while Dubrov and Kikina will each embark on their second mission to the orbiting outpost. After docking, the new crew will expand the ISS’s expedition team to nine members: they will join current residents Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams from NASA, Sophie Adenot from the European Space Agency, and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrei Fedyaev from Roscosmos.

    The history of U.S.-Russia space relations traces back to the Cold War, when the two nations were fierce competitors in the global space race that defined much of mid-20th century technological rivalry. Decades later, the two countries pivoted to deep collaboration, with the ISS standing as the flagship example of their shared work in space. That partnership has faced persistent strain since Russia launched its full-scale military incursion into Ukraine in 2022, but core operational cooperation on the ISS has not broken down. To date, U.S. and Russian crews continue to share launch opportunities on each nation’s spacecraft, maintaining the daily operations of the 25-year-old orbital laboratory.

    While core ISS cooperation endures, plans for broader deep-space collaboration between the two nations have collapsed in recent years. Russia had previously been in talks to join NASA’s Artemis program, the ambitious initiative to return humans to the lunar surface for long-term research and exploration, but those plans have been scrapped entirely. Amid sweeping Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict, Russia has shifted its international partnerships, growing more dependent on China for energy exports and imports of critical high technology. In line with this shift, Roscosmos has now turned its deep space collaborative focus to China, with the two agencies advancing work on a joint prospective lunar exploration mission.