For more than a week, America’s top diplomat was conspicuously quiet about something that would have seemed very much in his wheelhouse: a nascent agreement with Iran. This led plenty to surmise that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, like many of his fellow conservative foreign policy hawks, might have had misgivings about it. Well, now Rubio is actually speaking. But his sales pitch sounds quite a bit different from President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. During visits with Middle Eastern allies to rally support and soothe fears, Rubio has not only avoided forceful affirmations of the controversial memorandum of understanding; he’s also sounded a significantly different tone about the particulars of the MOU and the peace process. A case in point came Thursday, when Rubio doubled down on his past statements labeling Iran’s leaders as “religious … lunatics.” “The Iranian system is led by clerics – radical clerics,”...

The White House has requested OpenAI limit the release of its upcoming GPT 5.6 model to a small number of government-approved partners because of its advanced capabilities, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. The request comes after the administration placed an export control order on Anthropic, leading to the AI company pulling its latest most advanced models Mythos and Fable. Those models raised fears in Washington and on Wall Street over their advanced cybersecurity capabilities, which some worry could lead to unprecedented safety risks. OpenAI and the administration view OpenAI’s latest model as “on par” with Mythos, according to the source. OpenAI agreed to limit the model’s release as a path toward launching it publicly during a “strange moment” with no true federal regulatory framework in place for new AI models. The Information, which first reported the Trump administration’s request, cited a memo OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent...

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Wednesday witnessed the signing of a historic memorandum of understanding to establish the country’s first wind turbine factory. Alongside this, a massive 2,000-megawatt wind power project was launched in the northern region of Gulf of Suez, with financing entirely in Egyptian pounds. This initiative is a partnership between Sany, a leading Chinese wind turbine technology company, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, and the New and Renewable Energy Authority. The agreement aims to localize modern technology and increase the local component in the renewable energy sector, enabling Egypt to meet its growing market needs and export surplus production to Middle Eastern and African markets, based on Cairo’s regional trade agreements. Madbouly affirmed that renewable energy projects receive regular and direct monitoring and review from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, noting that localizing industries related to clean energy is a fundamental pillar for enhancing energy security and...

Gold and jewelry industry expert and former advisor to the Supply Minister on gold industry affairs, Nagy Farag, said that the noticeable increase in demand for gold coins and bars reflects a growing awareness of gold’s importance as an investment tool and a means of preserving savings. During an interview with Extra News channel on Wednesday, Farag noted that this comes amid widespread expectation that prices will rebound after the factors that caused the recent declines subside. He added that this increased demand has led to a decrease in the supply of gold coins and bars at some retailers, as many citizens are turning to gold as a safe haven during times of economic volatility and market instability. Farag advised those wishing to invest not to invest all their allocated funds at once, explaining that gradual, phased purchases contribute to achieving better average prices and reduce the impact of sharp...

Young women use fans and mini ventilators to cool off in the overheated Paris metro during a severe heatwave in Paris, France, on Monday. Abaca Press/SIPAPRE/AP The World Health Organization has urged leaders to prioritize climate action amid this week’s heat wave in Europe. “Europe’s heat wave is closing schools and putting people’s health at risk,” director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on X. “The data are clear: temperatures across Europe are rising at roughly twice the global average rate, increasing the likelihood and severity of extreme heat in the future,” he added. Tedros urged: “We cannot afford further delay.” “Leaders must prioritise investment in climate-resilient health systems, while also accelerating (climate action) and mitigating the drivers of the climate crisis,” he added. Source link

Israeli forces continue to commit genocide against Palestinians by deliberately targeting children in the Gaza Strip, an independent United Nations Commission of Inquiry has found. In a report published Tuesday, the commission — which last year concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza — found that Israeli military operations have continued causing “unprecedented death, injury and trauma” to Palestinian children. The commission describes what it says is the deliberate targeting of children as a key indicator of Israeli authorities’ genocidal intent to destroy the Palestinian people, including after a ceasefire in Gaza took effect. “Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, chairman of the commission. The Israeli government has repeatedly denied committing genocide, and officials swiftly decried Tuesday’s UN findings. The...

AI models capable of launching major cyberattacks that could overwhelm the defenses of governments and businesses are months – not years – away, an international alliance of intelligence agencies warned in a joint statement. The Five Eyes grouping, comprising the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, urged governments and corporate leaders to “act now” to improve their defenses against sophisticated cyber threats. The rare call to action comes after the Trump administration ordered AI giant Anthropic to suspend use of its most advanced models by foreign nationals, and highlights the growing unease among western nations about the emerging capabilities of the technology. “Frontier Al models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months,” the group of spy agencies said in the statement on Monday. “The evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) is...

The first hours of a new round of Lebanese-Israeli ceasefire negotiations in Washington, aimed at consolidating  Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, have already seen a new violation of the truce. The Lebanese National News Agency reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of people working near a bulldozer to clear a road in the Deir neighborhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa. Lebanese Civil Defense sources confirmed that two people were killed in the incident. The Israeli army announced that it targeted what it described as “a group of armed men who posed a direct threat” to its forces in the Ali al-Taher Heights area, within what Israel calls the “security zone” in southern Lebanon.   “Flagrant violation” Hezbollah accused Israel of a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement, asserting that Israeli soldiers opened fire with machine guns on civilians working to clear roads and recover bodies from under the rubble...

A few options in the “marital status” field of a national ID card possess the power to legitimize harassment, restrict housing options, or derail a woman’s career path. Society rarely sees this field as merely personal data – it is weaponized as a stigma that follows millions of women, capping their ambitions and narrowing their personal freedoms. This isn’t a matter of perception – the numbers tell a stark story. With a divorce occurring every two minutes in Egypt—totaling nearly 274,000 cases annually—divorced women and widows find themselves stranded in a deep legal and social chasm. The findings of this investigation reveal that the “blank space” denoting divorce is far from empty – it is a gateway to systemic hardship. This societal pigeonholing is directly reflected in economic indicators, with female unemployment hovering at 14.3 percent as women struggle to break free from institutionalized social profiling.   Mona’s story: The...

Within days of its release, Anthropic’s most sophisticated public AI model was abruptly yanked from customers. The Trump administration called the model a national security risk after being notified of a jailbreak, or a way to get around its internal guardrails. It put an export ban on the model, which barred some of Anthropic’s own employees from using it. Anthropic, however, says the vulnerability doesn’t warrant such an extreme reaction. The differing perspectives highlight the befuddled state of AI regulation in the United States. The government should be involved in conversations about AI safety, especially those that impact national security, experts say. But the latest spat between Anthropic and the government has surfaced a broader concern: There is no transparent, consistent framework for regulating AI – and the result could stifle the industry in the United States. And Anthropic, the red-hot AI lab worth nearly a trillion dollars that’s on...