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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he addresses a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, February 16, 2016.

REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Will Israel strike Iran – and if so, how hard?

At least nine people were killed in airstrikes on central Beirut early Thursday as Israel intensified its campaign in Lebanon — while also vowing to retaliate for Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday.

Having eliminated Hassan Nasrallah and much of the terrorist group’s high command, Israel now sees an opportunity to strike while command networks are still reorganizing.

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Putin's nuclear policy revision is a sign of weakness
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Putin's nuclear policy revision is a sign of weakness

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from the Security Forum in Warsaw, Poland.

What are the implications of the revisions to the nuclear doctrine that President Putin of Russia announced last week?

We don't really know, but I would rather see it as a sign of weakness. If President Putin had confidence in the ability of his conventional forces to achieve the aims that he has set for them in his aggression against Ukraine, he wouldn't need to do this. Does it mean that he's intending to use nuclear weapons? Not necessarily. But he wants to remind us of the fact that it's in his arsenal, and I think we know that already.

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 25, 2024.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Zelensky vies for the world’s attention at UN, as Russia resets its nuclear red line

UNITED NATIONS – When Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the sparsely populated United Nations General Assembly Hall on Wednesday, he cast Russia’s war in Ukraine as a threat to Europe and beyond – warning of the rising threat of nuclear disaster, and the potential for the war to spread into Eastern Europe. The GA’s empty chairs reflected the problem Zelensky’s speech sought to address: As the situation in the Middle East spirals out of control, much of the world’s attention has turned away from Ukraine.

The 46-year-old leader condemned Russia’s targeting of his country’s infrastructure grid, saying that “80% of its energy system [is] gone.” He said the attacks have not only exposed millions of Ukrainians to a brutal winter without electricity, but also put Ukraine’s nuclear power plants at risk. Zelensky accused Putin of trying to disconnect its Zaporizhzia nuclear plant from the power grid, putting Europe one drone strike away from “nuclear disaster” where “radiation will not respect state orders.”

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Speakers including Dr. Radha Plumb, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, U.S. Department of Defense (third from left), discuss responsible AI use in a plenary session at the Responsible AI in the Military domain (REAIM) summit in Seoul, South Korea, September 9, 2024.

Yonhap via REUTERS

China’s nuclear noncommitment

Today, global delegates to the Responsible AI in the Military Domain Summit in Seoul adopted a non-binding agreement promising to keep nuclear weapons solely in human control — and not under the control of artificial intelligence.

60 of the 100 countries in attendance adopted the “blueprint for action,” a pledge to “maintain human control and involvement for all actions … concerning nuclear weapons employment.”

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An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at 2:10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, U.S., August 2, 2017. Picture taken August 2, 2017.

U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Ian Dudley/Handout via REUTERS

Washington tries to reassure Beijing over nuclear strategy

The White House on Wednesday tried to ease Beijing’s “serious concerns” over reports that the US is adjusting its nuclear strategy to incorporate more of a focus on East Asia. The US National Security Council said it “is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat” and that North Korea and Russia factor into the shift.

China’s foreign ministry said “the United States has constantly stirred up the so-called China nuclear threat theory in recent years.” China objects because it has always maintained a no-first-use policy with its nuclear weapons, and its arsenal is small compared to Washington’s 3,700 warheads.

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Midjourney

How the Department of Homeland Security’s WMD office sees the AI threat

The US Department of Homeland Security is preparing for the worst possible outcomes from the rapid progression of artificial intelligence technology technology. What if powerful AI models are used to help foreign adversaries or terror groups build chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons?

The department’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office, led by Assistant Secretary Mary Ellen Callahan, issued a report to President Joe Biden that was released to the public in June, with recommendations about how to rein in the worst threats from AI. Among other things, the report recommends building consensus across agencies, developing safe harbor measures to incentivize reporting vulnerabilities to the government without fear of prosecution, and developing new guidelines for handling sensitive scientific data.

We spoke to Callahan about the report, how concerned she actually is, and how her office is using AI to further its own goals while trying to outline the risks of the technology.

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Paige Fusco

Graphic Truth: Big bombs get big budgets in 2023

The world’s nuclear powers increased their spending on these apocalyptic weapons by a record 13% between 2022 and 2023, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Cumulatively, they spent a cool $91.4 billion on building, maintaining, and researching nuclear weapons.

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Residential and office buildings are seen in Beijing, China, January 10, 2017.

REUTERS/Jason Lee

Hard Numbers: Chinese house prices drop, Maryland governor pardons cannabis convicts, Nuclear spending soars, Putin visits Kim, Record migration through Mexico

3.9: China reported Monday that home prices across the country fell at a faster rate in May than at any time since last summer. They’ve dropped3.9% since last May, and they’ve now reached their lowest level since 2014. Housing prices are especially sensitive in China because property was once a primary engine of high growth, but the sector is now deeply in debt.

175,000: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order on Monday to pardonmore than 175,000 cannabis-related convictions. The use of marijuana remains a crime at the federal level, but 24 states have legalized it and another 14 allow marijuana use for medical purposes.

3,000: A nuclear watchdog reports that the world’s nine nuclear-armed states together spent $91.4 billion in 2023. That’s nearly$3,000 per second. The report says the United States spent $51.5 billion, which is “more than all the other nuclear-armed countries put together.” China spent $11.8 billion. Russia spent $8.3 billion.

24: Russia’s Vladimir Putin arrived in Pyongyang today for a two-day visit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It’s Putin’sfirst trip to the DPRK in 24 years, and he and Kim are expected to reaffirm the friendship between their countries. Putin is likely to want ammunition (and maybe some soldiers) for his war in Ukraine. Kim would like to have Russian technologies that can boost his country’s missile program.

177: The Mexican government reported Sunday that some1.39 million people from 177 countries traveled through Mexico so far this year trying to reach the United States without entry papers. For reference, the United Nations has 193 member states.

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