'Stop playing nice!' AOC mad at Dem colleagues refusing to 'block everything' in Congress

Julia Conley,

 Common Dreams
February 4, 2025 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Shutterstock)

Hours after Democratic lawmakers warned that billionaire Elon Musk's takeover of federal agencies is "what the beginning of dictatorship looks like," expressed outrage at being barred from entering the U.S. Agency for International Development, and vowed to take legislative action and launch legal challenges to stop Musk's "outrageous" maneuver, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke out against Democrats who are proceeding as though a constitutional crisis isn't taking place.

"No Democrat should be voting to advance [President Donald] Trump's nominees while all of this stuff is going on," said the New York Democrat in a 90-minute Instagram Live video Monday evening. "There has to be a political price to pay and we have a responsibility as a party to block everything that is happening while they're setting a literal mash to the federal government."

Ocasio-Cortez aired her live video—an overview of Musk's takeover of Treasury Department payment systems, USAID, and his push to cut billions in federal spending for social services to secure an extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts for the rich—as the Senate was voting to confirm fracking company CEO Chris Wright to be the country's next energy secretary.

Seven Democratic senators—Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)—joined Republicans in supporting Wright, as did Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats.

In addition to overlooking Musk's seizure of USAID and payment systems that contain personal data of millions of people who receive Social Security checks, Medicare, and other payments and benefits from the government, the Democrats approved a nominee who has accused the party of pushing for Soviet-style communism through efforts to combat the climate emergency and has said, "There is no climate crisis."

"There is no reason for business as usual while Elon Musk is fueling a constitutional crisis."




Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats must make the Trump administration and the GOP "fight for every single step. The slower they go, the less they can break."

"We have to stop playing nice in the Senate and block every damn thing that we can," said Ocasio-Cortez, who did not speak directly about Wright's confirmation vote. "Do not give votes to the nominees."


Ocasio-Cortez urged voters to call their senators and demand that they vote against Trump's nominees who still have to be confirmed, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary, Pam Bondi for attorney general, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for United Nations ambassador.


The Democrats, who hold 47 Senate seats compared to Republicans' 53, don't have the numbers to block the president's nominees through a vote—but they could push for nominations to be withdrawn, as former Rep. Matt Gaetz's was for attorney general amid sexual abuse allegations against him—and at least display "a gesture of resistance," as historian Keith Orejel said Tuesday.


Organizers applauded Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who spoke at a rally outside USAID on Monday, for announcing a plan to place a blanket hold on all of Trump's nominees for State Department positions until Musk and the administration end their effort to shut down USAID.


"Until and unless this brazenly authoritarian action is reversed and USAID is functional again, I will be placing a blanket hold on all of the Trump administration's State Department nominees," said Schatz. "This is self-inflicted chaos of epic proportions that will have dangerous consequences all around the world."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he would support Schatz's holds, telling a reporter, "We're all in this together."

A blanket hold communicates to the Senate majority leader that lawmakers would object to a nomination by unanimous consent, slowing down the confirmation process and other legislative business Republicans want to address.


Stefanik's nomination for U.N. ambassador could be directly impacted by the blanket hold.


Schatz's announcement displayed "crucial leadership," said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the grassroots advocacy group Indivisible.


"There is no reason for business as usual," she said, "while Elon Musk is fueling a constitutional crisis."

U.S. greenlights pig kidney transplant trials

Agence France-Presse
February 4, 2025 

Young genetically altered pigs walk past a ball in their pens at Revivicor research farm in Blacksburg, Virginia (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

Two U.S. biotech companies say the Food and Drug Administration has cleared them to conduct clinical trials of their gene-edited pig kidneys for human transplants.

United Therapeutics along with another company, eGenesis, have been working since 2021 on experiments implanting pig kidneys into humans: initially brain-dead patients and more recently living recipients.

Advocates hope the approach will help address the severe organ shortage. More than 100,000 people in the United States are awaiting transplants, including over 90,000 in need of kidneys.

United Therapeutics's approval, announced Monday, allows the company to advance its technology toward a licensed product if the trial succeeds.

The study authorization was hailed as a "significant step forward in our relentless mission to expand the availability of transplantable organs," by Leigh Peterson, the company's executive vice president.

The trial will initially enroll six patients with end-stage renal disease before expanding to as many as 50, United Therapeutics said in a statement. The first transplant is expected in mid-2025.

Meanwhile, rival eGenesis said it had received FDA approval in December for a separate three-patient kidney study.

"The study will evaluate patients with kidney failure who are listed for a transplant but who face a low probability of receiving a deceased donor offer within a five-year timeframe," the company said.Xenotransplantation -- transplanting organs from one species to another -- has been a tantalizing yet elusive goal for science.

Early experiments in primates faltered, but advances in gene editing and immune system management have brought the field closer to reality.


Pigs have emerged as ideal donors: they grow quickly, produce large litters, and are already part of the human food supply.

United Therapeutics said trial patients would be monitored for life, assessing survival rates, kidney function, and the risk of zoonotic infections -- diseases that jump from animals to humans.

Currently, there is only one living human recipient of a pig organ: Towana Looney, a 53-year-old from Alabama who received a United Therapeutics kidney on November 25, 2024.


She is also the longest-surviving recipient, having lived with a pig kidney for 71 days as of Tuesday. David Bennett of Maryland received a pig heart in 2022 and survived 60 days.

© Agence France-Presse

Apple blasts porn app for iPhones in Europe

THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN CHINA


By AFP
February 4, 2025


Apple long fought allowing 'side loading' of iPhone apps from online shops others than the App Store, but made a concession in Europe due to landmark digital law there - Copyright AFP Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD

Glenn CHAPMAN

Apple on Monday called a pornography app available for iPhones in the European Union a danger to children, saying landmark digital rules there allowed it to get on to its handsets via an alternative to its App Store.

Apple had long fiercely protected the App Store as the lone gateway for digital content to get onto its popular mobile devices.

But the company loosened its grip in Europe last year, after the EU said the terms prevented app developers from freely steering consumers to alternative ways to pay, and began allowing users to use other stores to purchase apps.

The App Store does not allow porn — but the Hot Tub app is offered on AltStore PAL, one such alternative marketplace.

AltStore billed Hot Tub as “the first Apple-approved porn app” in a post Monday on social platform X.

The app made it through an Apple review process for security and functionality.

“We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids,” Apple said when asked about the app by AFP.

“Contrary to the false statements made by the marketplace developer, we certainly do not approve of this app and would never offer it in our App Store.”

Apple last year became the first ever tech firm to face accusations of breaching a new EU law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

It promised changes to comply with the DMA — including allowing developers in the EU to use alternative app marketplaces.

– ‘All’ apps welcome –

AltStore PAL launched early last year as an App Store alternative in the EU, according to a blog post by its creator, Riley Testut.

“All apps are welcome, but I believe AltStore makes the most sense for smaller, indie apps that otherwise couldn’t exist due to App Store rules,” Testut said in the blog post.

“We think iOS as a whole could benefit greatly from giving developers a chance to fully explore their ideas without arbitrary restrictions.”

AltStore PAL initially charged users subscriptions of $1.55 (1.50 euros) annually to cover fees charged by Apple, but access became free in August after it received a grant from Epic Games, it said in a post on X.

Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite game, has battled Apple in the courts to break its hold on the App Store.

Epic and the European Commission did not immediately respond to a queries from AFP.

“The truth is that we are required by the European Commission to allow it to be distributed by marketplace operators like AltStore and Epic who may not share our concerns for user safety,” Apple said of Hot Tub.

Apple said that it shared concerns about the app with the European Commission in December.

Apple has long argued that allowing “sideloading” of apps onto iPhones or iPads from places other that the App Store brings with it the risk of deceptive, dangerous and dubious digital content.

Japan’s Olympic pool-sized sinkhole highlights risk of old pipes


By AFP
February 4, 2025


A week after a road caved in near Tokyo, swallowing a truck and its driver, the sinkhole has grown into a gaping hollow, highlighting the risk posed by Japan's ageing water pipes - Copyright JIJI Press/AFP STR

Tomohiro OSAKI

A massive sinkhole near Tokyo that swallowed a truck and its driver a week ago, and has filled with sewage and debris, highlights the risk posed by Japan’s ageing pipes.

Emergency workers have been striving in vain to reach the 74-year-old man, who rescuers have had no contact with for a week, and who was likely buried under sediment and sewage water in the sinkhole in the city of Yashio.

Officials say corroded sewerage pipes created the sinkhole that is now 40 metres (130 feet) wide — nearly the size of an Olympic swimming pool — and 15 metres (50 feet) deep.

Cranes have been mobilised and a 30-metre slope built to locate and reach the driver, with a second slope under construction, but progress has been slow and dangerous.

Koichi Yamamoto, an official with Yashio’s fire department, told AFP on Tuesday that rescue efforts had been suspended.

A “substantial” amount of sewage water has accumulated at the site, eroding the surrounding soil and “constantly flowing in like a river”, he said.

“This makes it impossible for us to proceed.”

Also “hampering our rescue operation is a pile-up of heavy masses such as debris, slabs of asphalt and concrete that need removing”, Yamamoto added.

When the hole suddenly opened up in Yashio, in the region of Saitama near Tokyo, during the morning rush hour on Tuesday last week, it at first looked like just one of thousands of sinkholes reported annually across Japan.

Their occurence is trending upwards in Japan, topping 10,000 in fiscal 2022, with many of the sinkholes sewage-related in urban areas, a land ministry probe shows.



– Ageing pipes –



Initially the hole was around five metres in diameter, then a much larger cavity opened nearby and the two holes merged.

To reduce the volume of sewage, locals were urged to “use as little water as possible” for three hours on Tuesday afternoon.

This was on top of requests already issued for about 1.2 milion people in Saitama to refrain from non-essential use of water, such as taking baths or doing laundry.

In response, some onsens have opened their public bath facilities for free to accommodate residents in Yashio and nearby areas, according to local media.

The week-long sinkhole saga was a reminder of the insidious corrosion gnawing at Japan’s ageing water and sewerage pipes, Shinya Inazumi, a professor of geotechnical engineering at Shibaura Institute of Technology, told AFP.

The majority of the underground infrastructure was developed during the country’s rapid post-war economic growth.

“Many sewerage pipes in Japan have already outlived their service life (of 50 years) so pipes anywhere else could break due to ageing,” Inazumi said.

In just over 15 years’ time, 40 percent of Japan’s sewerage pipes will have exceeded their lifespan, according to an estimate from the land ministry.

In Yashio, local authorities attributed the initial chasm to rusty, punctured sewerage pipes that absorbed the surrounding soil, creating a hollow under the ground.

Extreme weather events such as intense rain — made more frequent by climate change — can also exacerbate this kind of infrastructure failure, Inazumi said.

“Rainfall these days can be extremely heavy and localised, which means a great amount of water seeps underground,” the professor said.

“The water gushes in at an incredible speed, accelerating the growth of an underground hollow by making it bigger and bigger through erosion.”

Despite tariff reprieve Canadians worry ‘damage already done’ to US ties

By AFP
February 4, 2025


A car hauler carries Toyota RAV4 vehicles as it enters to cross the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario to go to Detroit, Michigan on February 3, 2025 - Copyright AFP GREG BAKER
Ben Simon

The trade war may be on hold, but in a Canadian border city where the unhindered flow of auto parts across the bridge to Detroit supports thousands of jobs, the future remains uncertain.

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that punishing US import tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump had been delayed a month, the line of cars waiting to enter Windsor, Ontario was stacked dozens deep.

The build up was heavy for a Monday but not extraordinary, underscoring how lives and the economies in Windsor and Detroit have grown intertwined.

Among those who had just driven across the suspension bridge connecting the cities was Ryan Martin, a 33-year-old automotive engineer, who lives in Canada but crosses daily to work in Michigan.

“I’m relieved for now,” he told AFP through the rolled down window of his black pick-up truck, as he waited to clear Canadian customs.

But, he added, “I think the damage is already done.”

The relationship between the United States and Canada — a close alliance for well over a century that currently involves billions of dollars in daily cross border trade — “is not in a good spot,” said Martin.

“Not as good as it should be.”

– ‘Freaking out’ –

Trump’s pledge to impose a blanket 25 percent tariff on all Canadian imports, which may resurface in a month, pushed national anxiety in Canada to rare heights.

Canada announced retaliatory measures and economists warned the US levees could trigger a recession by mid-year.

Trump has said tariffs were aimed at forcing Canada to counter the cross-border flow of migrants and the powerful and dangerous drug fentanyl.

That argument provoked bewilderment among some Canadians, as Ottawa maintained that less than one percent of fentanyl and undocumented migrants in the United States cross through the northern border.

In Windsor, Trump’s motivation for tariffs likely matters less than their potentially existential impact on the auto industry, which drives the local economy.

“It’s massive,” said John D’Agnolo, who heads a local union representing Ford plant workers.

Ford has been employing people in Windsor for more than 100 years and without auto jobs the city would be plunged into a “huge recession,” he said.

When Trump signed the order on Saturday signalling tariffs would go into force, people believed “cross border trade, especially for the automotive sector, was heading to a dark place,” D’Agnolo said.

Members of his union “were, quite frankly, freaking out.”

D’Agnolo estimated that there are 30,000 individual parts in an average vehicle, some of which cross the US-Canada border multiple times through a manufacturing process that has developed over years to maximize efficiency.

Workers at his plant, for example, make engines for Ford trucks assembled in the United States.

A 25 percent tariff each time Canadian cargo headed into Michigan would cause car companies “a lot of pain,” he said.

“It would be impossible.”

For D’Agnolo, the 30-day pause was obviously welcome but has hardly settled minds in Windsor.

“For now it’s relief, but it gives workers an eye opener,” he said.

His message to union members is “you’re going to have to start saving some money, because we don’t know yet.”

– ‘Four years of not knowing’ –

Krysten Lawton, a health and safety trainer at the Ford plant, is a fourth generation auto worker and her children just joined the industry.

“It’s kind of our bloodline,” the 52-year-old told AFP.

Lawton said she exhaled deeply in relief when news of the tariff pause broke Monday but she was steeling herself for uncertainty which she expects to last throughout Trump’s second term.

“I don’t think we’re going to feel safe for some time. I think it’s going to be four year of not knowing,” she said.

Earlier in her career, she dealt more closely with Ford colleagues in Detroit — relations that were always cordial — and she voiced hope that US-Canada bonds could transcend any fraying caused by the tariff standoff.

“This is just chaos…this is a drive to divide people and I hope that people are smarter than that,” she said.

“We would love for North America to flourish… as a whole.”


With boos and boycotts, Canadians voice displeasure with Trump


By AFP
February 3, 2025


Graffiti calling to boycott American wine is seen at a liquor store in Montreal, Canada, on February 3, 2025 - Copyright AFP ANDREJ IVANOV

Anne-Marie PROVOST

They’re booing the American national anthem, cancelling holidays in the United States, and boycotting American products: Canadians are responding to US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats with anger and patriotic spending.

“What Donald Trump is doing to Canada, I find it completely disgusting,” says Huguette Beaudoin.

Wandering the aisles of a Montreal supermarket, the 80-year-old stops to look closely at the label on a box of onion soup to determine XXif it was made in the United States or not.XX

For her, like many others, buying American products is now out of the question — even if it means going without certain items.

“We have to react,” she says.

Trump, who roared back into the White House this month, had announced sweeping tariffs of 25 percent on Canadian imports to begin Tuesday, accusing Ottawa of not doing enough on illegal immigration and fentanly smuggling.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said the US levies would be paused for 30 days after he promised Trump he would tighten the border with the United States, appoint a “Fentanyl Czar” and crack down on money laundering.

But he had initially announced retaliatory tariffs, urged Canadians to buy local and consider vacationing within Canada instead of the United States.

His comments appear to have been taken to heart, with several people in multiple cities who spoke to AFP before the pause was announced saying they would do just that.

Pamela Tennant, who lives in Ontario, had been planning a trip to South Carolina in March but changed her mind, annoyed by the American president’s attacks — including his oft-repeated threat to make Canada the 51st US state.

“I’m afraid that Americans will end up believing what Trump says,” she told AFP. “He considers us a bad neighbor. He tells the whole world that we are bad people and that we have taken advantage of them,” but it is “all lies.”

– Boos –

On social media, lists of American products to boycott began circulating widely.

Several provinces — including Ontario, which sells almost Can$1 billion worth of US booze annually through its government-run retail stores and to 18,000 local restaurants and bars — said they would immediately stop selling American beer, wine and spirits in protest.

“We didn’t start this fight, but we’re going to win this fight,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Monday.

The boycott will have an effect on American producers and companies, but Canada remains “a relatively small market” for them, and so it will be “above all symbolic,” commented Julien Frederic Martin, an economics professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).

On the other hand, Canadian tourists choosing to go elsewhere “could have a significant economic effect” for American states such as Maine, Florida, California and Arizona, according to Lorn Sheehan, a professor who specializes in tourism at Dalhousie University.

The United States is the top vacation destination for Canadians and, in 2023, more than 25 million trips were made to the United States for work, leisure or shopping.

Canadian sports fans have also expressed their anger, booing the US national anthem at a Toronto Raptors’ home NBA game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

Boos were also heard during the “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a National Hockey League game on Saturday between the Minnesota Wild and the Ottawa Senators.

“There has always been a latent anti-Americanism in Canada but, with Trump, it has soared,” said Guy Lachapelle, a professor at Concordia University.

The current boycott, he added, is directed “not so much against the United States, but more towards the American president.”


‘Failing marriage’: Canadian border cities dismayed by US trade rift


By AFP
February 2, 2025


The US-Canada rift brought by Trump's tariffs threatens to divide inter-connected border communities. — © AFP Geoff Robins

Canadian border cities were left saddened and angered on Sunday over US President Donald Trump’s move to impose steep tariffs, with the mayor of Sarnia, Ontario likening the rift to a “failing marriage.”

The city of 85,000 across the border from Port Huron, Michigan is an energy hub with 26 transnational oil and gas pipelines.

Residents of both cities for more than a century helped each other out, for example, if a fire broke out. They jointly held hockey tournaments, the last one just two weeks ago.

Their economies are very integrated and personal bonds run deep, Sarnia mayor Mike Bradley told AFP.

“But it all seems to be coming to an end. And it does not appear that we’re going to be able to resurrect that relationship in the future,” he said.

Trump on Saturday signed off on a 25-percent tariff on all Canadian imports except energy, which will see a 10 percent levy.

“There’s just a great sadness,” said Bradly of his community. “The anger is deep.”

“We’ve had squabbles in the past (with the US), but it’s different this time, it has become personal.”

“It’s like a failing marriage. You do everything possible to save the marriage, but in the end, you can’t do it, and so then you deal with the impacts of it,” he said.

Much of the past quarter century saw governments and industry on both sides of the border link a tight web of pipelines and refineries in Canada and the United States.

This interdependence was meant to strengthen continental energy security by reducing reliance on overseas oil.

So it came as a shock to Canadians that Trump would target Canada with tariffs that risk upending cooperation in the energy sector.

Bradley described stopping at a fast-food restaurant on his way home Saturday evening, after the US tariffs were announced, where “instead of the usual talk, there was a half dozen people upset and angry about what was happening.”

He said he has also fielded a flurry of calls from locals demanding that American flags lining Sarnia streets alongside Canada’s Maple Leaf be taken down.

“Those flags were a sign of goodwill and acceptance of our (bilateral) relationship, and now that’s in tatters,” he said, agreeing to remove them. “It’s just symbolism. But I’ve learned from our American friends that symbolism is very important.”

POSTMODERN KONCENTRATION KAMP

'Barbaric act': Cuban president among many condemning use of Guantánamo to hold immigrants

Naomi LaChance, 

Alternet
February 4, 2025 

FILE PHOTO: A Venezuelan man lays in bed with his daughters before getting ready to sleep in their apartment amid a time when, despite having legal documentation to reside in the U.S., they fear reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may come to detain immigrants for deportation, in Aurora, Colorado, U.S., January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/File Photo

President Donald Trump’s administration was sending undocumented immigrants apprehended at the Southern border to the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on Tuesday.

CNN is reporting that the Pentagon has also begun constructing a tent city intended to detain up to 30,000 migrants and asylum seekers. Experts, politicians, and activists are condemning the move.

“It’s the perfect place to provide for migrants who are traveling out of our country ... but also hardened criminals,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday.

Guantánamo Bay is notorious for human rights violations and torture of suspected terrorists during George W. Bush’s presidency. As of January 2025, 15 detainees remained out of 780.

“We have 30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people,” Trump said last week.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the move. “For Cuba, the violent and indiscriminate deportation of immigrants by the United States, arbitrary detentions and other human rights violations are unacceptable ... The establishment of a detention center at the American naval base in Guantánamo, where it is intended to imprison tens of thousands of people, constitutes a barbaric act.”

One former Homeland Security official told CNN they were unsure of the legality of the move. “They’d be pushing the limits of where the (Immigration and Nationality Act) applies,” they said — it is unclear whether American immigration law would be in effect. CNN also reported that it was unclear as to whether detainees would have access to legal or social services.

Advocates are outraged. “Sending immigrants to Guantánamo is a profoundly cruel, costly move,” Amnesty International’s Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights, Amy Fischer, posted on X. “It will cut people off from lawyers, family and support systems, throwing them into a black hole so the U.S. government can continue to violate their human rights out of sight. Shut Gitmo down now and forever!”

“Use of Guantánamo Bay to detain people is the latest in a shocking plan to expand the immigration detention system,” Stacy Suh, program director of Detention Watch Network, said in a statement.

“Guantánamo Bay’s abusive history speaks for itself and in no uncertain terms will put people’s physical and mental health in jeopardy," Suh said. "If realized, Trump’s immigration detention expansion will tear apart families, put people’s lives in danger, and cost taxpayers greatly ... This moment demands a national outcry — our elected officials cannot afford to remain silent on Trump’s excessive cruelty."

Click here to read CNN's report in its entirety.

US flights carrying detained migrants to Guantanamo ‘underway’

By AFP
February 4, 2025


Guantanamo is primarily known as a detention center for suspects accused of terrorism-related offenses - Copyright AFP/File Sylvie LANTEAUME

The first US flights carrying detained migrants to America’s notorious Guantanamo military base in Cuba were underway Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on illegal migration, the White House said.

Guantanamo is primarily known as a detention center for suspects accused of terrorism-related offenses, but the base also has a history of being used to hold migrants, and Trump last week ordered the preparation of a 30,000-person “migrant facility” there.

“Today, the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox Business.

Trump has launched what his second administration is casting as a major effort to combat illegal migration, trumpeting immigration raids, arrests and deportations on military aircraft.

The president has made the issue a priority on the international stage as well, threatening Colombia with sanctions and massive tariffs for turning back two planeloads of deportees.

The Guantanamo prison was opened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and has been used to indefinitely hold detainees seized during the wars and other operations that followed.

The conditions there have prompted consistent outcry from rights groups, and UN experts have condemned it as a site of “unparalleled notoriety.”

– ‘Perfect place’ –

Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden both sought to close the facility, but Congress has opposed efforts to shutter Guantanamo and it remains open to this day.

It still holds 15 people incarcerated for militant activity or terrorism-related offenses, among them several accused plotters of the 9/11 attacks, including self-proclaimed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

But migrants will be detained in a separate part of the base.

According to US Southern Command, there are some 300 American military personnel at Guantanamo supporting “illegal alien holding operations.”

The base has for decades been used to hold Caribbean asylum seekers and refugees caught at sea, and was used in the 1990s to house tens of thousands of Haitians and Cubans who fled crises in their homelands.

They were accommodated in tent cities, with many eventually sent home after being held at Guantanamo for years.

Thousands of undocumented migrants have been arrested since Trump’s January 20 inauguration, including some accused of crimes.

An unknown number have been repatriated to Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and other countries, and Trump has vowed to expel millions.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday described Guantanamo as the “perfect place” to detain migrants as he visited the border with Mexico — an area where the Trump administration has boosted the country’s military presence in recent weeks.

The Pentagon will provide any necessary assets “to support the expulsion and detention of those in our country illegally,” Hegseth said.

The role of minerals and tech firms in the DR Congo conflict


By AFP
February 3, 2025


Workers at a coltan mine near Rubaya in eastern DRC, a region now under M23 control - Copyright AFP ANGELA WEISS

Eric RANDOLPH

The conflict between Rwanda-backed forces and the DR Congo is often presented as a struggle to control the valuable minerals that power global electronics.

But the focus on “conflict minerals” may obscure other drivers of the violence in one of the world’s most volatile regions.

DRC and Rwanda together supply around half the world’s coltan, the metallic ore that is vital in making phones and laptops.

United Nations experts, rights groups and analysts say Rwanda smuggles vast amounts of coltan — as well as gold and other metals — out of eastern DRC and sells it as its own.

They accuse Rwanda of supporting an armed group, M23, that resurfaced in eastern DRC in 2021 and controls many of the region’s mines.

Last April, they seized Rubaya, whose mines produce an estimated 15 percent of the world’s coltan, according to the UN experts, who estimate the M23 earns some $800,000 per month from the trade.

The M23 last week seized the key transport hub of Goma on the Rwandan border, leaving hundreds dead, and is pushing south into the neighbouring South Kivu province.

Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer who filed a criminal case against Apple in December on behalf of the Congolese government, said Western governments and companies bear ultimate responsibility.

“The tech industry has funded Rwanda’s war crimes,” he told AFP.

Apple initially said there was “no reasonable basis for concluding” its products contain illegally exported minerals from conflict zones.

But after the criminal case was filed, Apple said it had ordered its suppliers to stop sourcing minerals from DRC and Rwanda.

Apple “has now admitted they can’t distinguish the source of the minerals,” said Amsterdam.

“It means all the supply chains of all the tech companies are all equally tainted.”

Apple has “firmly contested” the allegations, saying it is “profoundly engaged” in responsible sourcing of minerals.

– ‘Rwandans pay well’ –

Rwanda denies illegally smuggling minerals out of eastern DRC, but analysts are unconvinced.

“Rwanda is always in the top 10 biggest exporters of coltan. Everyone knows this is impossible with the reserves they have. It’s obvious this coltan comes from DRC,” said Guillaume de Brier of the International Peace Information Service, which specialises in the region.

Nonetheless, he argued that minerals are not the main driver of the M23 conflict.

He pointed out that smuggling happens whether Rwanda is militarily active in eastern DRC or not.

Agence Ecofin, a data firm, said Rwanda’s coltan exports surged in 2014-2018 when the M23 was dormant — although there was an “unprecedented” boost in its exports in 2023, according to the UN.

Congolese miners don’t need convincing to sell to Rwanda, since it saves them onerous paperwork and taxes.

“You’re talking about people who won’t eat if they don’t make money on the day. They see it as much better to sell to Rwandans who pay well and in cash,” De Brier said.

The current escalation in the conflict has other drivers, not least the personal animosity between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi.

But local concerns are most important, said De Brier.

“For the media, it’s less sexy than talking about conflict minerals,” he said. “But these people are farmers — the real issue is land ownership.”

– ‘Catastrophe brought by tech’ –

The M23 originally emerged claiming to defend the long-marginalised Tutsi minority in Congo.

“They are trying to dismantle the traditional systems of land management controlled by local chieftains,” said De Brier.

The International Peace Information Service, a think tank, argues that minerals are only one part of M23’s funding, which also includes an estimated $69,500 per month in roadblock levies, as well as household taxes, forced agricultural labour, and timber and charcoal trafficking.

None of this should absolve the West for its part in fuelling the unrest, Amsterdam said.

“This has been a catastrophe brought to you by tech,” he said.

He hopes Apple’s decision to stop sourcing from there will trigger “a cascade of change in the entire tech industry”.

Rare earths: strategic metals key to future technologies

By AFP
February 4, 2025


Spread thinly, rare earths are essential in a range of high-tech products key to combatting climate change - Copyright AFP Jim WATSON

Rare earths, which President Donald Trump hopes to secure from Ukraine as part of a deal for US aid, are strategic metals essential for industries developing computers, batteries, and cutting-edge energy technology.

– Are they rare? –

Not really. With names like dysprosium, neodymium and cerium, rare earths are a group of 17 heavy metals that are actually abundant in the Earth’s crust across the globe.

In a 2024 assessment, the United States Geological Survey estimated there were 110 million tonnes of deposits worldwide, including 44 million in China — by far the world’s largest producer.

A further 22 million tonnes are estimated in Brazil, 21 million in Vietnam, while Russia has 10 million and India seven million tonnes.

But mining the metals requires heavy chemical use that results in huge amounts of toxic waste and has caused several environmental disasters, making many countries wary of shouldering the heavy financial costs for production.

They are often found in minute ore concentrations, meaning large amounts of rock must be processed to produce the refined product, often in powder form.

– Why are they special? –

Each of the 17 rare earths are used in industry and can be found in a wide variety of everyday and high-tech devices, from light bulbs to guided missiles.

Europium is crucial for television screens, cerium is used for polishing glass and refining oil, lanthanum makes a car’s catalytic converters operate — the list in the modern economy is virtually endless.

And all have unique properties that are more or less irreplaceable or can be substituted only at prohibitive costs.

Neodymium and dysprosium, for example, allow the fabrication of almost permanent, super-strong magnets that require little maintenance, making viable the placement of ocean wind turbines to generate electricity far from the coastline.

– China in the lead –

For decades, Beijing has made the most of its reserves by investing massively in refining operations — often without the strict environmental oversight required in Western countries.

China has also filed a huge number of patents on rare earth production, an obstacle to companies in other countries hoping to launch large-scale processing.

As a result, many firms find it cheaper to ship their ore to China for refining, further reinforcing the world’s reliance.

– Strategy and supply –

The United States and European Union get most of their supply from China, but both are trying to boost their own production and better recycle what they use to reduce dependence on Beijing.

At the height of a US-China trade dispute in 2019, Chinese state media suggested that rare earth exports to the United States could be cut in retaliation for American measures, sparking fear among a range of manufacturers.

Japan saw first-hand the pain of a cut-off in 2010, when China halted rare earth exports over a territorial conflict.

Since then, Tokyo has pushed hard to diversify supplies, signing deals with the Australian group Lynas for production from Malaysia, and ramping up its recycling capabilities.

Trump said Monday he wanted to reach a deal in which Kyiv guaranteed supplies of rare earths in return for US aid, an idea floated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year.

Op-Ed: USAID agency and site shut down, hysteria and robbing the poor as usual


By Paul Wallis
DIGITAL JOURNAL
February 4, 2025


After a decade of conflict in one of the Arab world's poorest countries, more than two-thirds of Yemenis are dependent on humanitarian aid - Copyright JIJI Press/AFP/File STR

To read the vilification of USAID by the Trump administration, you’d think it was a terrorist organization. It isn’t.

Please note that there’s so much information available about this situation that I’ve just linked it to the headlines. Otherwise, this article would be a book.

The USAID site appears to have been shut down. (That link is to a 404.) There are various tales about the workforce being told to stay home. It looks like a real mess.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio says he’s running this agency, which has no presence at all. Folksy, huh?

USAID is one of the biggest aid organizations in the world, managing about half of US aid. It was created under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 as the governing agency. JFK gave the executive order for its establishment.

USAID has never previously been considered an ideological issue by anyone. It’s a provider of aid to alleviate poverty and socioeconomic development all over the world. This dates from the time when America wasn’t run by petty-minded peasants. You’ll note the flag says “From the American people”. Presumably that was from the time when people could afford to be Americans.

Foreign aid is a major bugbear for the administration. IT’s an easy target for illiterate xenophobia. Trump is said to be considering merging it with the State Department. Presumably, neither agency has enough work. The State Department will certainly have a lot less work given the Trump administration’s apparently preferred hostile relationships with other countries

Musk said it’s run by “radical lunatics”. There’s a claim the funds are used to support terrorist organizations. Says the country that funded various South American dictatorships, Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Fortunately, the administration isn’t on speaking terms with US intelligence agencies or anyone else, so that’s OK

.

US government sites were unavailable amid the Trump administration’s controversial drive to shrink the government. – Copyright AFP Jim WATSON

Meh.

When you’ve been accusing just about everyone in the US of being radical lunatics for decades, it loses impact. It’s like “radical leftists”. They’ve gone so far to the right that everyone else is on the left.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much political effort to discredit America in the eyes of the world and the American people. 2026 isn’t that far away. You can lose the Congressional majority and have it all swept away in one day.

There’s a much less rhetorical take on all this self-righteous hysteria about USAID.

It’s the USAID budget for 2025, which is about $42.5 billion. Money, Nothing much is about anything but money, you know.

Compared to the black hole formerly known as the US budget, that’s barely even peanuts. American consumers spend that much every day, about $1.2 billion an hour last time anyone looked.

Of all possible petty-minded, inept, ultra-anti-American options, this would be a top choice. It ends decades of goodwill and positive American imagery worldwide. It deprives poor people of the help they desperately need. Also known as “policy” these days.

It does this while failing totally to even scratch America’s real budgetary needs and problems on any level. That $42.5 billion is barely a light breeze against the giant hurricanes of serious government financial issues.

Why not just sell every minute of American history and heritage and call it saving money?

__________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

Musk’s US government ‘takeover’ sounds alarm bells

By AFP
February 4, 2025


People protest outside the headquarters of the United States Agency for International Development in Washington, after tech giant Elon Musk announced the demise of the humanitarian agency. — © AFP

Danny KEMP

Elon Musk has begun swinging his wrecking ball at the US government, with concerns growing over the unprecedented power that President Donald Trump has handed to the world’s richest man.

The South African born billionaire has taken control over the US Treasury’s payments system that manages trillions of dollars. He single-handedly announced the demise of the USAID humanitarian agency. He has helped drive out top officials.

For a man who likes to rail against unelected bureaucrats, the unelected Space X and Tesla tycoon has been subject to little accountability as he pushes Trump’s drive to shrink the US government.

Trump sought to play down the issue Monday when asked about it in the Oval Office, saying “Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval.”

“We’ll give him the approval where appropriate, where not appropriate we won’t. But he reports in,” insisted Trump. “It’s something that he feels very strongly about and I’m impressed.”

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been granted unprecedented powers by Donald Trump – Copyright POOL/AFP SAUL LOEB

Musk’s powers have seemed almost unbounded, leading to accusations by Democrats of an unconstitutional power grab by both him and his fellow business mogul Trump.

So far Musk has been registered as neither a federal employee nor a government official — although US media reported Monday that he had now been registered as a “special government employee.”

Critics point to the fact that Musk was the biggest donor to Trump’s victorious election campaign, to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars.

Then there is the fact that his companies also have huge US government contracts.

– ‘DOGE kids’ –

And while a cute cartoon dog initially adorned the website of Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), its later replacement by a dollar sign in a gold circle underscored what the focus would be.

His young team of so-called “Doge Kids,” drawn from his own companies, dramatically seized control of the US Treasury Department’s payments system and took key government positions.

They have helped push a drive to get federal employees to take severance payments and quit, with an email that closely resembles a message sent to Twitter employees when Musk took over and later renamed the social network X.

Musk personally announced that the massive USAID humanitarian agency would be “shutting down” — during a live chat on X — and branded it a “criminal organization.”

Their no-holds barred style has raised eyebrows.

A dramatic stand-off reportedly ensued when Musk’s aides demanded access to a secure room at USAID where classified information was held.

There was a similar situation when a career Treasury official was reportedly put on administrative leave after refusing such access to aides.

And the head of the Federal Aviation Administration stepped down on Inauguration Day after Musk had criticized the agency’s oversight of rocket launches. Days later Trump had to rush to appoint a new head after a deadly passenger jet crash in Washington.

A controversy over a raised-arm salute by Musk on the day of Trump’s inauguration only added to the controversy.

– ‘Tiger in the petting zoo’ –

Trump insisted Monday that “if there’s a conflict we won’t let him get near it” — but that did not calm critics.

Democrats, who have been largely silent during Trump’s first shock-and-awe two weeks in power, began to mobilize against the latest Musk moves.

“No one elected Elon Musk,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said.

Democrats on the US House Ways and Means Committee were holding an emergency call partly devoted to the issue.

They have bitterly criticized DOGE as an unconstitutional attempt to exert presidential power over funds approved by Congress.

“It’s like letting a tiger into the petting zoo and hoping for the best,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.

Speaking at a protest by USAID workers, Senator Chris Van Hollen said “this Elon Musk attempted takeover… will not stand.”

Washington is however closely watching to see if the egos of two consummate showmen like Trump and Musk can survive in the same White House for long.

Indeed Musk is reportedly not in the same building, after being denied a West Wing office for his staff, and getting premises instead in the Eisenhower Building, a separate part of the White House complex.

Hundreds of US government sites go offline


By AFP
February 3, 2025


US government sites were unavailable amid the Trump administration's controversial drive to shrink the government. - Copyright AFP Jim WATSON

Hundreds of US government websites were offline on Monday, an AFP review showed, including that of the humanitarian agency USAID which President Donald Trump’s administration is shutting down.

From a list of nearly 1,400 federal sites provided by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), more than 350 were unavailable on Monday afternoon.

These included sites linked to the departments of defense, commerce, energy, transportation, labor as well the Central Intelligence Agency and the Supreme Court, the review showed.

The exact time when the sites became unavailable was not clear. Nor was it known whether the sites were temporarily offline or taken down at the instruction of Trump’s administration.

But the development comes amid the administration’s controversial drive to radically shrink the US government.

Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive and the world’s richest person, is leading Trump’s federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On Monday, Musk said USAID will be shuttered, calling the agency which runs relief programs in about 120 countries a “criminal organization.”

USAID’s website was offline as employees were instructed by email not to go to their offices on Monday.

A slew of US government websites, including top public health agencies, have also scrubbed references to LGBTQ after a Trump directive last week instructing them to terminate all programs funded by taxpayers that promote “gender ideology,” US media reported.

Trump has already issued executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion in the government.

Key information and datasets related to HIV and LGBTQ youth have also disappeared from the website of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), alarming health experts.

On Monday, the CDC’s landing pages for both topics said: “The page you’re looking for was not found.”

“The removal of HIV- and LGBTQ-related resources from the websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies is deeply concerning and creates a dangerous gap in scientific information and data to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks,” the Infectious Diseases Society of America said in a statement.

Public access to this information was “especially important as diseases such as HIV, mpox, sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses threaten public health and impact the entire population,” it added.

Spain moves to slash working week to 37.5 hours

By AFP
February 4, 2025


The reduction would affect around 12 million workers, notably in retailing, hospitality and agriculture - Copyright TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP Kicki NILSSON

Spain’s minority leftist government on Tuesday approved a plan to reduce the working week to 37.5 hours in one of the world’s fastest-growing developed economies.

But the measure faces an uphill battle in parliament and the misgivings of business leaders who fear it will stifle growth.

The Socialists committed to reduce the working week from 40 hours to 37.5 hours without any loss of salary by the end of 2025 as part of their 2023 coalition deal with the far-left party Sumar.

The reduction, agreed after more than a year of political wrangling, would affect around 12 million workers, notably in retailing, hospitality and agriculture. Public-sector employees and most large companies already have a 37.5-hour work week.

Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz said the plan would “modernise Spain” and boost productivity, an Achilles’ heel of an economy that expanded 3.2 percent last year, leaving European peers trailing in its wake.

“It’s about being efficient at work” and “gives hope” to workers, the Sumar figurehead told a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

The agreement follows a deal signed last year with Spain’s two main unions but without the representatives of business leaders, who had quit the negotiating table after 11 months of talks.

They worry that Spain’s labour market is already showing signs of fragility after unemployment crept up in January, and that the reform would harm certain sectors.

The government also faces the daunting task of finding partners to pass the measure in parliament, especially given the reticence of two key pro-business Catalan and Basque separatist parties.

1933

Europe's tech sector sees silver lining in DeepSeek's AI shake up

China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot may have rattled US tech giants, but in Europe some industry players see a potential advantage.


Issued on: 01/02/2025 - RFI

DeepSeek claims to have developed its AI model with just €6.23 million, far below its Western competitors. AP - Andy Wong

By:Jan van der Made

As US-based company Nvidia – the world’s leading manufacturer of AI chips – reels from a record-breaking stock drop, European semiconductor firms and AI developers are weighing what the disruption could mean for them.

Philippe Notton, CEO of SiPearl, a European company developing processors for supercomputers, told RFI that DeepSeek’s ability to develop AI with fewer resources could be a turning point.

"That's bad news for Nvidia in terms of future sales, because if you can develop some competitive solution with fewer Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), it means that Nvidia will sell fewer chips," he said.

"All the forecasts predict that the hype on GPUs and Nvidia is collapsing."

Artificial intelligence may lead humanity to extinction, industry leaders warn

Unexpected crash

DeepSeek’s launch last week sent tech stocks plummeting.

On 27 January, Nvidia, called the "posterchild of America's AI frenzy" by Bloomberg, lost $589 billion in market value – the biggest market-cap loss for a single stock ever.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 3 percent, and the S&P 500 dropped 1.5 percent.

DeepSeek claims to have developed its model with just €6.23 million, far below its Western competitors.

For comparison, Stephen Walker, an AI developer and founder of Klu.ai, estimates that training OpenAI's ChatGPT requires about 25,000 Nvidia H100 chips costing between €23,900 and €29,700 each – bringing total development costs to nearly €920 million.

"If what DeepSeek said is true, they can develop such a model for only €5.75 million with some 2,000 to 4,000 GPUs, which is very, very low compared to what the others are using," Notton said.

"It's good news for the planet because it's going to use much less energy to build this. It's good news for Europe because they could do it for a limited budget."

AI development cannot be left to market whim, UN experts warn

Plagiarism concerns

As the dust settled, accusations surfaced that DeepSeek may have built its model using data from US companies. OpenAI and Microsoft are investigating whether DeepSeek trained its chatbot using their proprietary data.

Daniel Castro, vice-president of the Washington-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), compared the situation to past innovations.

"Apple didn't invent the smartphone," he said. "They just invented the best one, and that's why they were so successful with the iPhone.

"When something like this comes out, all the other companies are asking themselves: what are we doing to make sure to lower the costs. Ultimately that competition will be very good for the AI industry."

Visitors look at artist Refik Anadol's "Unsupervised" exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in New York. The new AI-generated installation is meant to be a thought-provoking interpretation of the New York City museum's prestigious collection. AP - John Minchillo

French industry

Meanwhile, European tech firms scrutinise the DeepSeek phenomenon with interest.

According to Semiconductor Review, the industry generates €25 billion in yearly revenue and employs more than 50,000 people, constituting over 10 percent of the country's total exports.

However, Acsiel, which monitors trends in the French electronics sector, reports the market fell 19 percent in the third quarter of 2024, to €486 million.

A massive reduction of research and developing costs in the increasingly competitive AI market may prove very welcome.

The French AI start-up Mistral on Thursday hailed the latest DeepSeek model as "great," and announced another new release of its own.

"R1 is a great and complementary piece of open-source technology," Mistral said in a statement, while announcing its own new release "Mistral Small 3", which it claims is competitive with larger models including Meta's Llama and Alibaba's Qwen.

This picture taken on March 25, 2024, shows the Mistral Ai logo on a smartphone in Mulhouse, eastern France. 

AFP - SEBASTIEN BOZON

Over-regulation?

However, US analysts argue that European AI regulations could hinder innovation.

Stephen Ezell, vice-president at ITIF, said the EU's AI Act, introduced in July 2024, was one of the most restrictive regulatory regimes we've seen for AI globally.

"If I was a European policymaker looking at how a company like DeepSeek is challenging probably the top European AI company, Mistral ... I would be very concerned about the approach of now putting them at a further disadvantage through this regulatory regime that really restricts access," Ezell said.

The developments gain added significance following US President Donald Trump's announcement of the €500 billion Stargate project, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that he called "the largest AI infrastructure project in US history".

This is something that Europe cannot compete with, Notton said.

"But if finally, we can do it for let's say 100 times cheaper, it becomes much more reasonable," which makes the DeepSeek phenomenon "a kind of revolution because if it can be produced for a lower price, much more countries will be able to do it."

France's Mistral AI signs partnership with Microsoft

Fears for free speech

Advocates of free speech and data protection advocates are worried.

If users ask DeepSeek questions that are sensitive to China's Communist Party, it suddenly stops functioning properly.

Probes about the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, independence for Tibet or Taiwan, or about deposed politicians or Chinese dissidents are flatly answered with "sorry, that's beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else", or "I am sorry, I cannot answer that question. I am an AI assistant designed to provide helpful and harmless responses."

But Castro is not worried. "American and European researchers are not going to use this AI chatpod to research Chinese history or politics," he told RFI. "If that was the primary use, that would be of concern."

Screenshot of DeepSeek giving evasive answers on questions that may be politically sensitive in China © Screenshot DeepSeek

Yet other worries remain.

Dieter Kugelmann, president of Germany's Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, warned that DeepSeek "seems to be lacking in pretty much everything in terms of data protection law".

The app collects extensive user data – including IP addresses, chat histories and keystroke patterns – which could be stored on servers in Hangzhou, thus potentially accessible to China's Ministry of State Security.

If these concerns prove valid, the EU may need to act. The European General Data Protection Regulation only allows data transfers with countries offering comparable protections to the EU.

No such agreement exists between China and the EU.

France pitches AI summit as ‘wake-up call’ for Europe

By AFP
February 3, 2025


OpenAI boss Sam Altman will attend the Paris summit and an appearance by DeepSeek's Liang Wenfeng is under discussion - Copyright AFP Lionel BONAVENTURE

Daxia ROJAS

France hosts top tech players next week at an artificial intelligence summit meant as a “wake-up call” for Europe as it struggles with AI challenges from the United States and China.

Players from across the sector and representatives from 80 nations will gather in the French capital on February 10 and 11 in the sumptuous Grand Palais, built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition.

In the run-up, President Emmanuel Macron will on February 4 visit research centres applying AI to science and health, before hosting scientists and Nobel Prize winners at his Elysee Palace residence on Wednesday.

A wider science conference will be held at the Polytechnique engineering school on Thursday and Friday.

“The summit comes at exactly the right time for this wake-up call for France and Europe, and to show we are in position” to take advantage of the technology, an official in Macron’s office told reporters.

In recent weeks, Washington’s announcement of $500 billion in investment to build up AI infrastructure and the release of a frugal but powerful generative AI model by Chinese firm DeepSeek have focussed minds in Europe.

France must “not let this revolution pass it by”, Macron’s office said.

Attendees at the summit will include Sam Altman, head of OpenAI — the firm that brought generative models to public consciousness in 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT.

Google boss Sundar Pichai and Nobel Prize winner Demis Hassabis, who leads the company’s DeepMind AI research unit, will also come, alongside Arthur Mensch, founder of French AI developer Mistral.

The Elysee has said there are “talks” on hosting DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, and has yet to clarify whether X owner Elon Musk — who has his own generative initiative, xAI — has accepted an invitation.

Nor is it clear who will attend from the United States and China, with the French presidency saying only “very high level” representatives will come.

Confirmed guests from Europe include European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

– ‘Stoke confidence’ –

The tone of the AI summit will be “neither catastrophizing, nor naive,” Macron’s AI envoy Anne Bouverot told AFP.

Hosting the conference is also an opportunity for Paris to show off its own AI ecosystem, which numbers around 750 companies.

Macron’s office has said the summit would see the announcement of “massive” investments along the lines of his annual “Choose France” business conference, at which 15 billion euros ($15.4 billion) of inward investment were pledged in 2024.

Beyond the economic opportunities, AI’s impact on culture including artistic creativity and news production will be discussed in a side-event over the weekend.

Debates open to the public, such as that one, are aimed at showing off “positive use cases for AI” to “stoke confidence and speed up adoption” of the technology, said France’s digital minister Clara Chappaz.

For now the French public is sceptical of AI, with 79 percent of respondents telling pollsters Ifop they were “concerned” about the technology in a recent survey.

– More ‘inclusive’ AI? –

Paris says it also hopes the summit can help kick off its vision of a more ethical and accessible and less resource-intensive AI.

At present, “the AI under development is pushed by a few large players from a few countries”, Bouverot said, whereas France wants “to promote more inclusive development”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to co-host the Paris summit, in a push to bring governments on board.

One of the summit’s aims is the establishment of a public-interest foundation for which Paris aims to raise 2.5 billion euros over five years.

The effort would be “a public-private partnership between various governments, businesses and philanthropic foundations from different countries”, Macron’s office said.

Paris hopes at the summit to chart different efforts at AI governance around the world and gather commitments for environmentally sustainable AI — although no binding mechanism is planned for now.

“There are lots of big principles emerging around responsible, trustworthy AI, but it’s not clear or easy to implement for the engineers in technical terms,” said Laure de Roucy-Rochegonde, director of the geopolitical technology centre at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI).