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How Matt Clifford became Britain’s most powerful tech adviser

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

BRUSSELS — On a warm overcast afternoon in late September, Brussels’ digerati streamed into a cramped event space, just moments from the headquarters of the European Commission, to listen to the U.K.’s man of the hour. Blonde and natty in a crisp white shirt and slim-fit navy suit, Matt Clifford — the British Prime Minister’s official representative for this week’s AI Safety Summit — ambled to the lectern with the smiling ease of someone who has delivered dozens of impromptu speeches. The event, invitation-only and held under the Chatham House Rule, was just one leg of Clifford’s globetrotting, which has taken him from London to Washington and Beijing. These days, as he told POLITICO, he “can sleep anytime, anywhere.”Clifford has been weaving across the planet to talk to top policymakers and tech barons about this week’s Bletchley Park summit, which will focus on severe risks like AI-aided cyberattacks and weapon design, and on which Rishi Sunak has pinned his hopes for a ...

Australia trashes ‘not good enough’ EU trade deal. It will struggle to do better

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

BRUSSELS — “Not good enough,” was Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell’s verdict on the trade deal on offer from the European Union before he walked away from the negotiating table for the second time in four months.Yet Canberra will struggle to do better — and may have to wait for years to close a bargain after the breakdown of what had been billed as a decisive round of talks at the weekend in Osaka, Japan.Brussels sent a team of about 10 negotiators and two top Commissioners — Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, in charge of trade, and Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski — in the hope of wrapping up a deal that was five years in the making.“The EU side traipsed all the way to Japan prepared to do the final deal, just to be told again — forget it!” John Clarke, until recently the top trade negotiator at the Commission’s agriculture department, posted on X. “Well, they will not forget that!”The theatrical snub laid bare to Brus...

Who’s in charge? Western capitals scramble to lead on AI

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

This is a make-or-break week for policing artificial intelligence.On Monday, the White House published its long-awaited executive order on everything from funding new forms of the technology to clamping down on potential abuses. The same day, the G7 group of leading democratic economies announced a separate nonbinding code for reining in so-called generative AI — tools like ChatGPT that have captured the public’s imagination this year. Not to be outdone, the U.K. will hold a two-day summit on AI safety starting Wednesday, with a guest list including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In the background, the European Union is also working on its own new laws expected to be finished by December. Yet this week’s carousel of AI-focused announcements and geopolitical set-piece events also underscores one key truth: Western governments are still scrambling to project themselves as leaders in a technological race t...

Norway’s government risks crisis over EU energy row

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

Norway’s government risks crisis over a contentious package of EU energy bills. The center-left Agrarian Party has previously threatened to quit the administration in Oslo if the EU’s Clean Energy for All Europeans Package is transposed into Norwegian law. The party says the package will undermine domestic control of natural resources.A dramatic exit by the Agrarians could topple the coalition government, which is currently led by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre from the center-left Labor Party. The Labor-led Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is working on how to implement the new package, according to Norwegian media reports, which is set to come to a crunch when it reaches the point of final decision by the government. As the tension mounts, a key court decision due Tuesday is expected to clarify whether it was unconstitutional for Norway to adopt previous EU energy laws. Opponents of the energy package fear it will make permanent a perceived loss of energy sovereignty,...

Here’s who the Ravens might be targeting ahead of NFL trade deadline

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

The Ravens are tied for the best record in the AFC at 6-2 after their latest win Sunday in Arizona. They have the league’s top defense by a wide margin in FTN Fantasy’s Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA), which also now has them as the favorite to win the Super Bowl. They spent more money on offense this offseason than any team in the NFL, led by quarterback Lamar Jackson’s five-year, $260 million extension.Baltimore is built to win now, which is why now would also be a good time to go in on the kind of blockbuster, difference-making trade by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline that would push the organization to the precipice of a real shot at its third championship and first since the 2012 season.Despite all their various impressive numbers the Ravens have been consistently inconsistent, enduring uneven performances on both sides of the ball. Strengthening the roster in a significant way would likely help solve that issue and elevate them into the league̵...

Remains of former Chinese premier Li Keqiang to be cremated and flags to be lowered

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The remains of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang are to be cremated on Thursday, with flags around the country to be flown at half-staff to mourn the official who helped guide the world’s second-largest economy for a decade. Li died Friday of a heart attack at 68. Mourners gathered at his childhood home in the city of Hefei in an apparently spontaneous outpouring of grief seen by some as a rebuke of state leader and head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping. Li was once seen as a potential top leader, but the trained economist was shunted aside in a leadership shakeup last year and replaced with Xi loyalist Li Qiang. Even before then, Xi had consolidated power and sidelined potential rivals with an anti-corruption campaign and by altering the constitution to allow himself to rule indefinitely. Xi has also thoroughly reshuffled economic and financial leadership positions and set up an entity called the Central Financial Commission in moves that are seen as shifting...

3 astronauts return to Earth after 6-month stay on China’s space station

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Tuesday morning after six months aboard China’s orbiting space station. Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao emerged in good health from the return capsule near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The station’s new three-person crew arrived to the Tiangong station last week. The station is essentially complete, so the new crew will conduct medical and scientific experiments and maintain equipment. China made its first crewed space mission in 2003 and plans to put astronauts on the moon before 2030. It has brought samples back from the lunar surface and landed a rover on the less explored far side of the moon. Future plans include sending a new telescope to probe deep into the universe.China built its own space station after it was excluded from the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. concerns over Chinese military control over th...

Seager stars with 2-run HR, stellar defense to lead Rangers over D-backs 3-1 in World Series Game 3

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Corey Seager launched a two-run homer and made a slick defensive play in the eighth inning to start a crucial double play, Max Scherzer combined with four relievers for a gem on the mound and the Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series on Monday night.Texas overcame injuries to Scherzer and slugger Adolis García in improving to 9-0 on the road this postseason, this time in front of more than 48,000 fans at Chase Field.“We’re just coming ready to play every night, no matter where we are,” Seager said. “That’s what the focus is.”The 29-year-old Seager — in the second year of a $325 million contract — once again showed he was worth every penny on the game’s biggest stage.The shortstop smoked a two-run homer into the right-field seats as part of a three-run third after Diamondbacks rookie starter Brandon Pfaadt left a first-pitch changeup high in the zone. The ball left Seager’s bat at 114.5 mph, which was the hardest-hit Fal...

Maui police release 16 minutes of body camera footage from day of Lahaina wildfire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Maui police held a news conference on Monday to show 16 minutes of body camera footage taken the day a wildfire tore through Lahaina town in August, including video of officers rescuing 15 people from a coffee shop and taking a severely burned man to a hospital. Chief John Pelletier said his department faced a deadline to release 20 hours of body camera footage in response to an open records request and wanted to provide some context for what people would see before the video came out. Earlier this month, Maui County provided the AP with 911 call recordings in response to an open records request. The 16 minutes of video released at the news conference in Wailuku showed officers evacuating a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf shop at a supermarket on Front Street, which later burned. Fifteen people had taken refuge inside the coffee shop. Officers ushered them out as smoke swirled in the sky around them, loaded the group into police SUVs and took them to the Lahaina Civic Cente...

5 injured in crash along Lake Shore Drive

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:13:59 GMT

CHICAGO — Fire officials say five people were hospitalized after a crash along Lake Shore Drive on Monday evening.The crash happened near East 31st Street and South DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Driver killed after crashing into utility pole, home in Palatine According to fire officials, four people were critically injured in the crash and a fifth victim was taken to the hospital in fair condition. Authorities have not provided the names or ages of anyone injured in the crash.Currently, it is unclear what led to the crash or how many vehicles were involved.