The American president, Joe Biden, signed an executive order this Monday to control the development of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and their application in all sectors of society in the face of the risks that this new technology poses.

Before signing the law, Biden declared at the White House that AI “is the most transcendent technology” in recent history, with applications to all fields of science, economy and society but that also presents many risks. so it has to be controlled.

“We need to control this technology and there is no way to avoid it,” explained Biden, who was accompanied by the country's vice president, Kamala Harris, who will travel to the United Kingdom on Tuesday to participate in a global summit on artificial intelligence.

Biden called the executive order the “most significant action” taken by any government in the world to date which will allow the United States to be the leader and model that other countries will follow in controlling the development of AI.

“Because the challenges and opportunities of AI are global, we will maintain the progress of American leadership globally,” said the US president, who also said that leaders of other countries are interested in the US leading the development of guidelines for AI. control this technology.

For her part, Harris insisted that the US government wants the measures adopted by Washington to “serve as a model for international action.” “Understanding that AI developed in one country can impact the lives and livelihoods of billions of people around the world, we believe that a technology with a global impact requires global action,” declared the US vice president.

The executive order requires companies that develop any system that could pose a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or public health to notify the administration when they plan to test that model.

For their part, the Departments of Energy and the Interior will monitor possible threats from AI systems on critical infrastructure and the risks it may pose in the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or cybersecurity fields.

At the same time, the executive order will seek to prevent fraud and deception through the use of AI, in this case by mandating clear labeling of content generated by artificial intelligence.

It also incorporates clauses to protect privacy, improve civil rights, protect consumers, support workers and promote innovation, among others.

Israel's ground offensive on Gaza has begun. In the early hours of this Monday, Israeli tanks and infantry entered several kilometers into the east of the Strip, reaching the Saladin highway, the main road that crosses the Palestinian enclave from north to south.. Ground forces have reached the outskirts of the capital, where clashes have occurred with Hamas militias. All of this supported by air attacks, which have also destroyed several Gazan residential areas; and that, according to the Islamist organization, in these three weeks they would have killed more than 8,300 people. Although Israel assures that the attacks are carried out against military objectives, the UN has warned that the latest bombings in Tel Aviv have hit close to three hospitals.

Israeli Army spokesman Daniel Hagari has acknowledged that “an extended ground operation in the Strip” has been given the green light.. This would be the beginning of the “new phase” of the conflict that had been announced over the weekend and which would consist of invading the territory of Gaza until “ending Hamas.” “The terrorists are gathering in assembly areas to try to hit our forces and we attack them from the air,” he stated.. In recent days alone, the Israeli Defense Forces claim to have attacked 600 targets, including weapons depots, anti-tank missile launchers and Islamist group hideouts.

“We advance on the ground, we identify the terrorists and we attack from the air. The fighting is underway within the Strip,” said the military spokesman, who acknowledged that the offensive “will intensify.”. Thus, the Hebrew State has announced that during the operation an Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas has been freed and four officials from the Islamist organization have been killed: Yamil Baba, a naval force commander; Muhamad Safadi, commander of an anti-tank formation of the Tafá Battalion; Muaman Hegazi, a member of this same battalion, and Muhamad Abdalá, a senior official at the “production headquarters of the terrorist organization.”

For its part, Hamas has denied Israel's advances and says that the presence of tanks south of Gaza City was simply “an incursion” into the area. “What happened was an incursion by a few tanks of the occupying Army and a bulldozer from an agricultural area in Juhr al Dik,” they say. “At this time there is no presence of military vehicles from the occupation on Saladino Street and the movement of citizens has returned to normal,” they add.

Likewise, Hamas assures that since October 7 – when they carried out an attack on Israeli soil, leaving 1,400 dead and 239 hostages – more than 8,300 Palestinians have died due to Israeli bombings.. In addition, among the deceased there were 3,457 children and the number of injured rose to 21,000.

UN warns against Israeli bombings

During the weekend, Israel's bombings have intensified and, according to the United Nations, have hit the surroundings of three hospitals in Gaza, including the most important, Shifa.. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has recalled that “the ten hospitals still operational in Gaza City and in the north have received repeated evacuation orders in recent days” and that some 117,000 internally displaced people are taking refuge there. thousands of patients.

Both this UN Office and the World Health Organization (WHO) have recognized that “it is impossible to evacuate patients without putting their lives at risk.”. Furthermore, southern Gaza, where Israel has asked Palestinians to take refuge, is not a safe place, as shelling also occurs daily.. “Airstrikes appear to be systematically destroying entire residential areas,” denounces the United Nations report, citing bombings in Jabalia that killed at least 26 people on Sunday.

In this context, the humanitarian situation continues to be critical despite the entry of aid. At least 26 trucks entered the Strip this Monday after passing an inspection by Israeli authorities. These trucks are loaded with water, food and medical supplies, but none of them carry fuel, having been vetoed by Israel to prevent it from reaching Hamas.. International organizations warn that fuel is an essential element and that if it does not reach Gaza, hospitals, food stores and water treatment plants will stop working.

An average of 12 trucks per day have entered the Rafah crossing, which connects Egypt with Gaza, an insufficient number given the situation in the Palestinian enclave. According to the United Nations, before the war between Israel and Hamas began, some 500 trucks of humanitarian aid entered an already impoverished region every day.

The British Prime Minister, the Conservative Rishi Sunak, has dismissed the Conservative MP Paul Bristow from his duties at the Ministry of Culture for breaking the official line by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, a government spokesperson has reported.

“Paul Bristow has been asked to leave his position in the Government following comments that were not consistent with the principles of collective responsibility,” which forces members of the Executive to speak with a single voice, the source said.

The parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Culture, whose role is to assist the minister on duty, wrote a letter to Sunak urging him to advocate for “a permanent ceasefire” and arguing that the Palestinians are being subjugated by Israel. to “collective punishment.”

Rishi Sunak's government has “unequivocally” defended Israel's right to self-defense from the beginning and calls for “humanitarian pauses” for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, but considers that a ceasefire would benefit the Islamist group Hamas.

This is the first member of the Tory Executive to publicly distance himself from the official position, while the leader of the Labor Party, Keir Starmer, faces a growing rebellion in the opposition party due to his position similar to that of the prime minister.

The Portuguese Police have apologized to the parents of three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann for the way they handled the disappearance of the little girl in the Algarve in May 2007, according to the BBC.

A delegation of Portuguese agents traveled from Lisbon to London at the beginning of the year to apologize to Gerry McCann, the minor's father, after the parents were considered suspects in the girl's disappearance.

Madeleine disappeared from the room where she was sleeping in a tourist complex in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, while her parents were having dinner with friends.

Apologies for the treatment

During the meeting with Gerry McCann, the agents apologized for the way in which the Portuguese detectives approached the investigation and the treatment of the family, as revealed by the Panorama program on the British public broadcaster.

In September 2007, the parents – Kate and Gerry McCann – were considered suspects in the initial Portuguese investigation then headed by Detective Gonçalo Amaral, but that status was lifted the following year.

Amaral even accused the parents of having been involved in their daughter's disappearance.

However, the Portuguese Police have now admitted that the investigation was not handled properly.

The Brueckner Track

After years of investigation, Portuguese agents have this year supported German authorities, who believe that German Christian Brueckner murdered the girl.

Hans Christian Wolters, prosecutor in the case, welcomed the Portuguese apology.

“It is a good signal. This shows that, in Portugal, there is progress in the McCann case,” Wolters said.

A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli police on Monday after stabbing and seriously wounding a Border Police officer at a gas station in occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli official sources reported.

“A terrorist resident in East Jerusalem arrived armed with a knife at the Mendelbaum gas station in Jerusalem. “The terrorist stabbed a Border Police officer in the upper body and, after grabbing the officer's gun and trying to shoot it unsuccessfully, fled the scene,” a police spokesperson announced.

“Border Police agents at the scene confronted the terrorist and neutralized him by opening fire,” added the Police, who confirmed to EFE that the attacker died at the scene.

The Israeli emergency medical service Magen David Adom reported that the injured agent is a 22-year-old man, who was taken in serious condition to the Shaare Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem.

Danger of conflict spreading

This attack occurs in a climate of high tension in the city due to the war between Israel and the Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip, led by the Islamist group Hamas.

So far, and after more than three weeks of conflict, Jerusalem has recorded some isolated episodes of violence, but different analysts have warned of the dangers of the conflict spreading through the Holy City.

This Monday marks the twenty-fourth day of war between Israel and Hamas, which began with the attack on October 7 by the Islamist organization against Israeli territory, which left 1,400 dead, more than 5,400 injured and 239 kidnapped who were taken to Gaza.

In retaliation, Israel has been bombing the Strip ever since, and expanded its ground operations on Friday, leaving more than 8,000 Palestinians dead and more than 20,000 injured.

The family of the young German-Israeli Shani Louk has confirmed that the 22-year-old woman has died, after weeks of uncertainty about her condition following images in which she could be seen being transported unconscious in a vehicle. after the attacks launched on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) against Israel, which left nearly 1,400 dead.

“Unfortunately, we received the news yesterday that my daughter is no longer alive,” said Louk's mother, Ricarda Louk, in statements to the German radio station RTL.. The authorities of Germany and Israel have not commented at the moment, although they have indicated that the information was communicated to them by the Israeli Army.

Israel has also confirmed the death of the young woman, adding that her body has been found. “We are devastated to share that the body of the German-Israeli Shani Louk was found and identified,” said the Israeli Foreign Ministry through the social network X, while a spokesperson told EFE that what was located was a part of the young woman's body, which confirms her death.

“She was kidnapped at the music festival, tortured and paraded in Gaza by Hamas terrorists, she experienced unfathomable horrors,” noted the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

The family believed yesterday that Shani had been murdered by the Palestinian Islamist group at the same music festival in the Israeli Negev desert, due to a gunshot wound to the head.. According to the report, photos and videos circulating on the Internet showed the young woman's body in a van, although the family remained hopeful that she was seriously injured and had been forcibly transported to the Gaza Strip.

In this sense, Ricarda Louk has described the confirmation of her daughter's death as “terrible”, although she has valued being certain about what happened as positive.. “At least she didn't suffer,” Louk stressed, according to DPA.

More than 200 kidnapped

The spokesman for the Israeli Army, Daniel Hagari, indicated this Monday that the authorities have so far confirmed that 239 people are being held in the Strip after the attacks by Hamas, which recently indicated that around 50 of the hostages had died. due to the intense bombing by Israeli forces against the enclave.

The authorities of the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, have reported the death of more than 8,000 Palestinians in bombings against the enclave. Added to this figure are more than one hundred Palestinians killed in operations by Israeli security forces and attacks by settlers in the West Bank, as indicated by the Palestinian Authority.

For its part, the German Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation against Hamas for the alleged murder, involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping of its citizens in the context of its attacks, a measure adopted following the requests of the relatives of the Germans affected by them.. Among the victims is also Carolin Bohl, 22, killed during the attack on the Nir Oz kibbutz, near the border with Gaza.

The G7 countries agreed this Monday on a code of conduct for companies and institutions that develop artificial intelligence (AI) systems, aimed at mitigating risks derived from this technology such as misinformation and violation of privacy or intellectual property.

The leaders of the Group of Seven (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) endorsed this Monday the set of guidelines for the artificial intelligence sector baptized as the “Hiroshima AI Process”, as reported by the Japanese presidency on duty.

This roadmap aims to promote the development of “safe and reliable” AI systems internationally and “manage their risks”, according to the joint statement, which also calls on all actors in the AI sector to commit to its compliance. .

The G7 highlights the “innovative and transformative potential” of advanced AI systems, and in particular, generative models such as the ChatGPT chatbot, while recognizing the need to “protect individuals, society and the principles shared”, in addition to “keeping humanity at the center”.

Recommended measures

To this end, the Group of Seven launched an initiative last May at the Hiroshima summit (west) that has led to the development of eleven principles for companies and organizations involved in the development of AI systems.

Among the recommended measures is having independent observers supervise all phases of development and market launch of AIs, and that their creators detect possible risks of misuse and correct these vulnerabilities.

In order to make these models more transparent, developers are asked to publicly report on the “capabilities and limitations” and “domains of appropriate and inappropriate use” of their systems.

There is also a call to implement “authentication mechanisms” such as the creation of digital “watermarks” that allow users to identify texts, images or videos generated by artificial intelligence.

These guidance will be reviewed periodically where necessary “to adapt to rapidly evolving technology” and in consultation with stakeholders, according to the joint statement.

Hiroshima process

In addition to inviting firms and institutions in the sector to follow this code of conduct, the G7 countries will “accelerate the process to develop a policy framework” to promote the implementation of the Hiroshima Process, which will include “project-based cooperation “.

The Group of Seven will also promote compliance with this roadmap through cooperation and consultation with different international organizations such as the Global Alliance on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), the Organization for Cooperation and Development Economic (OECD) and with public and private actors, as well as with countries that are not part of the G7.

Google reaction

Following the G-7 announcement, Kent Walker, president of Global Affairs at Google and Alphabet, released a statement in which he points out that “AI is a global technology that requires a global approach to responsibility.”

“The G7 Code of Conduct represents an important step towards the responsible development and deployment of AI that benefits everyone,” Walker says in the text.. “At Google, we support this G7 Code of Conduct and look forward to working together with governments, industry and civil society to get things right at such a crucial time.”

The Chinese Army “will not show mercy” in the face of “any act favorable to Taiwan's independence,” said General Zhang Youxia, vice president of the Central Military Commission, the highest authority of the Chinese army, this Monday during the tenth edition of the Xiangshan regional forum on cooperation and security.

“It doesn't matter who wants to separate Taiwan from China, no matter how. “The People's Liberation Army (PLA) will never accept it,” Zhang said.

He added that Taiwan is at the “core” of “China's core interests,” and that the One China principle “is a consensus shared by the international community.”. “China will never tolerate any attempt to separate the island from China,” the official concluded.

The statements come less than two months before the island holds presidential and legislative elections, on January 13, to decide the direction of Taiwanese policy towards China, at a time of strong tensions between Taipei and Beijing.

The current vice president, William Lai, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), leads the polls to win the elections.

Tensions between Taipei and Beijing, constant since the DPP came to power in 2016, intensified last summer due to the visit of the then president of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, strongly protested by the Chinese authorities.

Since then, Taipei has reported an increase in incursions by the Chinese army in its vicinity, reaching a record of 103 aircraft on September 18.

Tension with the US

The self-governed island is one of the main reasons for friction between China and the US, since the North American country is Taiwan's main arms supplier.

In that sense, Zhang pointed out today that “a certain country”, in a veiled reference to the United States, is “interfering in the Asia-Pacific and in the internal affairs of other nations.”

“Wherever that country extends its hands, peace and tranquility are not possible,” Zhang said during the Forum, which started Sunday and runs through Tuesday.

At the event, marked by the absence of former Defense Minister Li Shangfu (dismissed last week and for whom a successor has not yet been appointed), Zhang focused his speech on the so-called Global Security Initiative, a set of principles proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping to resolve global conflicts and criticizes the use of unilateral sanctions.

Zhang also noted that China seeks to “deepen its strategic cooperation and coordination with Russia on the basis of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence.”