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Why these Gulf states want to be AI superpowers

In recent years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been signalling its intent to become a major player in artificial intelligence, but now other Gulf countries are also getting serious about the technology.

“Here in the region, people were much more prepared to experiment and get involved with AI than maybe some other parts of the world,” he added.

One issue around the rapid growth of AI is that it can be hugely energy intensive, and it is increasingly becoming a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Google reported that its 2023 emissions were nearly 50% more than in 2019, which it partly attributed to the energy demands of AI. Energy demand from AI, data centers and cryptocurrencies could double by 2026, according to the International Energy Agency.

But Anderson believes that Gulf countries, whose economies are heavily dependent on fossil fuels, are well placed to become “major players” in the technology, and have the potential to make it greener.

“We’re at the center of the world when it comes to energy – not just old energy, but particularly new energy,” he said. “This is the lowest-cost place anywhere in the world to produce solar energy. So the opportunity to combine sustainability and energy with the computer power that’s required from an AI perspective is really important.”

Anderson pointed to the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as the region’s leading investors in AI.

As Saudi Arabia looks to cut its economy’s reliance on oil and gas, it has invested heavily in AI, which it says will help to realize the objectives outlined in its “Vision 2030” strategy, a government program to diversify the economy. According to a recent projection from the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), which hosted the GAIN summit, AI will contribute 12% of its GDP by 2030, with the sector growing at an annual rate of 29%.

There have been significant efforts across the region to develop Arabic-language models trained on local datasets that capture the nuances of the language in a way that has been lacking on platforms like ChatGPT. Last year, the UAE unveiled a tool called Jais and Saudi Arabia has developed the Arabic chatbot ALLaM.

Last week, it was announced that ALLaM will be hosted on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform. This follows the news from earlier this year that it would also be accessible through IBM’s watsonx platform.

Nick Studer, CEO at management consulting firm Oliver Wyman Group, who attended the GAIN summit, said that the focus on Arabic language models could help Saudi Arabia compete with English-speaking markets that have an “underlying advantage” in the space because of the many large language models available

According to Studer, there are over half a dozen Arabic-based large language models in development in the country, focusing on a range of uses cases, from chat to governmental and corporate applications. “That combination of governmental and private sector entrepreneurialism may well lead to the development of an AI hub, particularly as the kingdom and the wider region seek to diversify their economies,” he said.

Challenge of governance

One of the major hurdles with the development of AI is public perception and governance: how should AI and data be regulated safely, securely, ethically and fairly?

During the summit, various policies were announced, including the launch of guidelines from the SDAIA addressing the responsible use of deep fakes, the unveiling of the Riyadh Charter for AI in the Islamic World, which establishes a framework for developing AI technologies in line with Islamic values and principles, and a global framework for AI readiness, led by the International Telecommunication Union.

Studer says a solid regulatory framework is essential for the future of AI.

“There are many concerns that go with the development of AI – not just privacy concerns, not just the risks of losing jobs, but also all the way up to national sovereignty if your economy starts to rely on a set of tools which are built outside of your control,” he said. “It is critical that we have sensible regulation in place.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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‘Why all this hate?’: Mayoral debate in Brazil turns ugly as candidate attacks rival with chair, live on TV

A mayoral debate in the Brazilian city of São Paulo turned ugly when one of the candidates attacked a rival with a chair.

Video from the debate, broadcast live on Sunday by TV Cultura, shows a tense exchange between José Luiz Datena and Pablo Marçal before Datena swings the chair at his counterpart.

Datena later told TV Cultura that he had attacked Marçal – who required hospital treatment for his injuries – because he had brought up old sexual harassment allegations against Datena that were dismissed several years ago.

“He came with a case that was archived, that was not even investigated by the police because there was no evidence. Something from 11 years ago that caused a very serious situation within my family,” Datena said.

Datena was expelled from the debate but insisted in a statement Monday that while he had made a mistake he did not regret his actions.

Marçal was treated at Sírio Libanês Hospital before being released. His team said he was treated for a possible fracture in the chest region and had difficulty breathing. The hospital said he had suffered trauma to his chest and wrist, but without any major complications.

Marçal compared the chair attack to the July assassination attempt against former US President Donald Trump and the stabbing of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during the 2018 election, posting an image of all three attacks on Instagram with the caption: “Why all this hate?”

The remaining candidates Guilherme Boulos, Marina Helena, Ricardo Nunes and Tabata Amaral continued the debate following the attack. TV Cultura said it regretted the incident and had pressed ahead with the discussion in accordance with the rules after the other candidates agreed.

Marçal’s team has vowed to take legal action.

“Pablo Marçal was cowardly attacked by José Luiz Datena, who hit him in the ribs with an iron chair,” Marçal’s team said, adding that it was unfortunate the debate had continued without him.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Ryan Routh’s support for Ukraine is a propaganda win for Moscow, at a very tricky time for Kyiv

It is exactly the kind of attention Ukraine did not need. Since the start of clashes with Russia over its future in 2003, Ukraine has carefully avoided the sort of political violence Ryan Wesley Routh is accused of.

Yet now, at arguably the most crucial point of the conflict, Routh’s vocal support for Kyiv has somehow been seized upon by Russian echo chambers after he was detained Sunday in connection with an apparent assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump.

Someone like Routh was quite easy to meet in Ukraine in the opening months of Russia’s full-scale war in 2022. Border crossings and railway stations were often haunted by whispering, unshaven expatriates of questionable military provenance, trying to conjure the idea that the very real and painful struggle of Ukraine was something they had a pivotal role in. As the conflict has dragged on, the fantasists have faded, and the resumes of dozens of Western volunteers been vetted, or become less relevant as their alleged experience has been tested in combat. The most brutal fighting Europe has seen since the 1940s, the Ukrainian front line has never been less of a place for amateur thrill-seekers.

Yet Routh tried his best to associate himself with the fight against Russia, expressing support for Ukraine in dozens of X posts that year, saying he was willing to die in the fight and that “we need to burn the Kremlin to the ground.”

Kyiv has enough on its plate now, other than explaining how little it had to do with the author of “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen – Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the end of Humanity.” This – Routh’s title for his self-published book – does not demand its author’s ideas are taken too seriously.

But already, Moscow’s prolific echo chambers have begun to fashion a narrative in which US support for Ukraine is somehow extremist. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, asked what he thought about the assassination bid, said, according to Reuters: “It is not us who should be thinking, it is the US intelligence services who should be thinking. In any case, playing with fire has its consequences.”

RT.com, a Kremlin-run English news outlet, also highlighted Routh’s interest in Ukraine, writing that “Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene stated that if the suspect’s identity is confirmed, it is clear he is ‘obsessed with the Ukraine war, which is funded by the US.’”

Do not expect any majorly new or intelligent arguments to surface about the war in Ukraine in the weeks ahead. But instead, anticipate a slow drip of some new voices, and some of the usual, suggesting the war in Ukraine cannot be won, that Putin must be given a chance to negotiate a deal (even one that lets him keep the chunk of Ukraine he has stolen), and that there is an unhealthy infection of extremists in the ranks of those who feel they must – as Routh once said – “fight and die” for Ukraine.

None of this helps Ukrainians who genuinely must fight and die to protect their homes and families. It particularly hampers Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, days before he is set to present a victory plan to the Biden administration. The clamor of support for Ukraine to receive US permission to fire longer-range US-supplied missiles at targets deeper inside Russian territory had been growing. It seemed likely last week that President Joe Biden would follow the course he’s taken when past decisions on arming Ukraine were presented to him, and consent – albeit very, very late – after public pressure from allies.

But now Zelensky’s press appearances may be dogged by questions about Routh, however absurdly distant from Kyiv’s agenda his apparent attack on a Florida golf course was. It will feed into the ultimate paranoia of US isolationists: that actions overseas which appear to benefit America’s global interests carry with them the risk of fomenting violence back home.

Routh’s political leanings and worldview were far from consistent, if not delusional. But in the breathy forum of random gibberish that is social media, they contribute to a narrative, for those who seek it, of support for Ukraine causing chaos in America. That the United States should just stay out of Putin’s war.

None of it connects with the savage reality Ukrainians face every night, shaken awake by Russian missiles, or losing loved ones to the ghastly attrition of the front lines.

Washington’s support for Kyiv is weighty and consequential when it lumbers into play, yet horrifyingly fragile when subjected to US electoral politics and the Republican party’s fickle grip on geopolitics. The sudden insertion of a wayward extremist like Routh is a loud, confusing wild card, at a time when support for Ukraine urgently needed a calm and balanced voice.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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‘I am a rapist just like all the others in this room,’ says Frenchman accused of mass rape of wife

Dominique Pelicot, the Frenchman accused of drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her over a decade, on Tuesday admitted to the various criminal charges he faces in a closely-watched trial, French media reported.

Pelicot had been due to testify last week in the case that has shocked France, but his appearance was delayed due to health issues. He appeared in court with a cane.

“I admit to the charges in their entirety,” Pelicot, 71, was cited as saying by BFM TV, whose reporter was present in the courthouse, adding: “I am a rapist just like all the others in this room.”

Prosecutors have said Pelicot offered sex with his wife on a website and filmed the abuse. In addition to Pelicot, 50 other men accused of taking part are on trial, which is taking place in the southern city of Avignon. The other men so far have not commented on their charges.

Pelicot’s former wife, Gisele Pelicot, now aged 72, insisted on a public trial to expose him and the other men accused of raping her.

“I ask my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did. I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable,” he said, according to BFM TV.

Pelicot faces charges including rape, gang rape and various privacy breaches by recording and disseminating sexual images.

Pelicot’s bad health required the judges to push back his hearing several times last week. His lawyer previously said he wanted to use the hearing to make an apology to his family.

He told the courtroom he had had a difficult upbringing and had been a victim of rape himself. At times he cried, according to French media.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, was in the courtroom during his appearance on the stand and also spoke, according to French media, saying: “It is difficult to hear from the mouth of Mr. Pelicot what he has just said.”

To many, Gisele Pelicot has become a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in France. On Saturday hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered in cities across the country to demonstrate support for her.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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‘All good here’: One of final messages from Titan submersible crew revealed in hearing

One of the final messages from the Titan submersible crew said they were “all good here” before it imploded, killing all five on board.

British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood died alongside OceanGate Expeditions’ chief executive Stockton Rush and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The five of them had been communicating with the Polar Prince support ship by text message, according to an animation presented by the US Coast Guard, shown on the first day of a hearing looking into the implosion.

Titanic sub hearing latest: Moment remains of imploded submersible found

The crew began to lose contact with those aboard the Polar Prince who repeatedly asked about the submersible’s depth and weight as it descended toward the wreck of the Titanic.

The Polar Prince also repeatedly asked if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.

One of the Titan’s final responses, which became spotty as it descended deeper, was “all good here”.

The submersible made its final dive on 18 June 2023, losing contact with its support ship around two hours later.

Rescuers rushed ships, planes, and other equipment to an area around 435 miles (700km) south of St John’s, Newfoundland.

The search for the Titan attracted global attention and the wreckage was eventually found on the ocean floor around 300m from the Titanic wreckage, according to officials.

‘Uncover the facts’

The hearing in Charleston County, South Carolina, is expected to last two weeks.

It aims to “uncover the facts surrounding the incident and develop recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future”.

“There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident,” said Jason Neubauer of the US Coast Guard Office of Investigations, who led the hearing.

Speaking at the hearing, US Coast Guard officials also said that the Titan had been left exposed to weather and the elements during seven months of storage in 2022 and 2023.

The hull was also never reviewed by any third parties as is standard procedure, they added.

Other witnesses scheduled to testify on Monday include OceanGate’s former engineering director Tony Nissen, the company’s former finance director Bonnie Carl, and former contractor Tym Catterson.

Some key personnel from the company are not scheduled to testify, including Mr Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, who was the company’s communications director.

The US Coast Guard does not comment on the reasons for not calling specific witnesses, a spokesperson said.

Scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein, former operations director David Lochridge, and former scientific director Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the US Coast Guard.

This post appeared first on sky.com

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More mpox jabs ordered as UK anticipates new strain of virus

The UK government has procured 150,000 doses of additional mpox vaccine in preparation for anticipated cases of a new potentially deadlier strain causing a growing outbreak in Africa and isolated cases in Europe and Asia detected in recent weeks.

The UK has yet to identify a case of the Clade 1b strain of mpox, and health officials say the risk to the UK remains “low”.

However, its spread outside Africa led the World Health Organization (WHO) last month to declare the resurgence of mpox a “public health emergency of international concern”.

Despite precautions at UK borders, the long incubation time of mpox and likely global spread mean health officials are preparing for its arrival.

In addition to purchasing more doses of mpox vaccine, on Monday the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published its risk assessment for Clade 1b, including scenarios for a UK outbreak.

“Alongside vaccination, we have been working rapidly to ensure that clinicians are aware and able to recognise cases promptly, that rapid testing is available, and that protocols are developed for the safe clinical care of people who have the infection and the prevention of onward transmission,” said Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UKHSA.

The risk assessment is based largely on the ongoing outbreak of Clade 2 mpox that has led to more than 100,000 cases worldwide and nearly 4,000 in the UK.

That strain of the virus has been confined largely to gay and bisexual men and a vaccine campaign centred around sexual health clinics that began in 2022 has been successful in reducing levels of transmission in the UK.

The Clade 1b outbreak in Africa has different features that make the virus of concern. It has been spreading among heterosexual partners – largely among sex workers – but also causing outbreaks within families and among children.

Based on available data less than 1% of cases are fatal.

However with so few cases outside of Africa, there is little information to assess whether it is more infectious or more dangerous.

The first UK outbreak scenario assumes the Clade 1b strain is less infectious than the Clade 2 strain of mpox and results in “incursions and small clusters” of cases. In this case, any outbreak would be largely self-contained and contact tracing and isolation of infected cases would be sufficient to contain it.

‘Controllable epidemic’ is possible

The second scenario assumes Clade 1b is as infectious as the Clade 2 strain and would result in a “controllable epidemic”. In these circumstances, it is assumed that by the time it is detected in the UK, there would already be “established chains of transmission” among sexual networks.

Targeted vaccination of “high-risk” individuals including men who have sex with men, sex workers and at risk clinical staff is expected to be sufficient to bring the outbreak under control. “Ring vaccination” of contacts of infected individuals would be used to limit “breakthrough” infections within families including young children.

The third scenario assumes Clade 1b is more infectious than Clade 2. While, according to the risk assessment this should not be discounted, there is “considerable uncertainty on whether it is possible for mpox to be more transmissible”.

Not enough jabs for whole of UK

In this case, the virus spreads via physical contact and would lead to multiple outbreaks in households and other “close-contact” settings such as nurseries, care homes hospitals and prisons.

Steps such as contact tracing or quarantine would not be effective in controlling an outbreak in this scenario – only a UK-wide vaccination programme. Currently, global stocks of the mpox vaccine would be insufficient to allow this.

Hopefully, it would never come to that. Officials estimate that the most likely outcome for Clade 1b mpox is somewhere between the first and second scenarios.

For the time being, the UK has ordered what it believes to be sufficient vaccine to tackle the expected outbreak. A calculation also based on the fact the best way of protecting ourselves is to ensure there is sufficient global supply to ensure it is available in Africa – the current epicentre.

“Across government, we are closely monitoring the spread of this virus overseas and are proud to be at the forefront of the international response, including through our early support to the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

This post appeared first on sky.com

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Harris-Trump showdown: Presidential race rocked by 2nd assassination attempt with 50 days until election

Fifty days until Election Day – and the race for the White House is rocked once again.

Two months after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in western Pennsylvania, the Secret Service opened fire while Trump was playing golf at one of his courses in southern Florida to prevent what appeared to be a second assassination attempt against the former president.

After decades without an assassination attempt against a sitting president or major party presidential nominee, for the second time this summer, the nation has narrowly avoided a tragedy of gigantic proportions that would only further deepen the nation’s already firmly cemented polarization.

‘Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!’ the former president vowed in a fundraising email to supporters on Sunday, following the incident.

A top Trump ally, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, argued in a statement that ‘as Americans we must unite behind him in November to protect our republic and bring peace back to the world.’

It is way too early to gauge whether the latest incident will impact the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed President Biden. 

The only thing that is certain is that the time left in the 2024 campaign is fleeting.

Harris emphasized that the ‘clock is ticking,’ as she called on supporters at a fundraiser on Saturday to volunteer and mobilize their friends to vote.

‘Please join our teams in our battleground states and help register folks to vote. … And talk with your neighbors and your friends about the stakes,’ she urged.

With the first and potentially only debate between the Democratic and Republican Party presidential nominees now in the rearview mirror, and early voting and absentee balloting starting to get underway, the showdown between Harris and Trump remains a margin-of-error race in the seven crucial battleground states that determined the outcome of Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 election.

The latest Fox News Power Rankings currently rates six of the seven states as toss-ups.

Those states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada – have seen the bulk of the campaign traffic from the Democratic and GOP tickets and are the battlefields in the ad wars between the two sides. 

‘I think this is going to be a turnout exercise. Whoever does a better job of turning out their voters in those seven states will win,’ veteran Republican strategist Nicole Schlinger told Fox News.

Harris’ campaign, touting an ‘historic, 24-hour haul,’ last week showcased their fundraising prowess by hauling in $47 million in the immediate aftermath of the debate.

The money raked in by the Harris campaign was the latest sign of the vice president’s surge in fundraising in the nearly two months since she replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 national ticket.

‘Fifty-days is a lifetime in politics, but today I’d much rather be Kamala Harris than Donald Trump,’ longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caizzzo, a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns, said. ‘I think the enthusiasm remains overwhelmingly with the Democrats but there’s still a lot of work to be done.’

The Harris campaign highlights that it is investing much of its fundraising dollars into its grassroots outreach and get-out-the vote efforts, noting that it is ‘putting its resources into reaching the voters who will decide the election.’

The large ground game operation, originally constructed when Biden was the nominee, according to the campaign, includes over 312 offices and more than 2,000 staff in the key battlegrounds coordinated between the presidential campaign, the DNC and state Democratic parties.

In a straight Harris campaign and the DNC comparison to the Trump campaign and the RNC, the Democrats enjoy a sizable ground game advantage. However, Trump is relying on a handful of aligned outside groups to help run turnout operations that are traditionally performed by a presidential campaign. 

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley took issue with the suggestion that the Democrats enjoyed a stronger get-out-the-vote operation.

‘No, they don’t have a stronger ground game. I feel very, very comfortable about the ground game we’re putting in place through Trump Force 47,’ the RNC chair emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview last week.

Whatley pledged that ‘we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through, and we’re going to win on November 5.’

Additionally, Schlinger, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, says on the key issue, Trump has the advantage.

‘Voters whose number one issue is the economy believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction and believe Donald Trump will do a better job fixing that,’ she emphasized. ‘Harris, I think, has an uphill climb explaining how she’ll do anything different than Joe Biden on that.’

Schlinger added for undecided voters, familiarity with the GOP nominee could give Trump an edge.

‘Nearly a third of voters have said they need to know more about Kamala Harris. With President Trump you know what you get, and I think that’s an advantage for Republicans,’ she argued.

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New whistleblower claims on first Trump assassination attempt ‘highly damaging’ to Secret Service: Hawley

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley released a wide-ranging report Monday morning detailing the failures of the Secret Service in connection with the first assassination attempt against former President Trump in July, including new whistleblower allegations that are ‘highly damaging to the credibility’ of the agency. 

Hawley, R-Mo., shared his report with the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump to supplement their investigation. 

Hawley found a ‘compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding.’ 

‘On July 13, 2024, former President Donald J. Trump was nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet while hosting a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Secret Service failed to prevent it,’ the Hawley report states. ‘It was the most stunning breakdown in presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.’ 

Hawley said the Secret Service, FBI and Department of Homeland Security ‘have all tried to evade real accountability.’ 

‘These agencies and their leaders have slow-walked congressional investigations, misled the American people, and shirked responsibility,’ the report states. 

After the first of two assassination attempts against Trump in just over two months, Hawley visited the Butler rally site to interview whistleblowers and opened up a whistleblower tip line, encouraging those with relevant information to share with officials. 

‘The resulting findings are highly damaging to the credibility of the Secret Service and DHS,’ the report states. ‘They reveal a compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding.’ 

Whistleblowers provided valuable information to Hawley, including that the Secret Service’s Counter Surveillance Division, which performs threat assessments of event sites, did not perform a typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day of the rally. 

Hawley also learned that Secret Service personnel ‘declined multiple offers from a local law enforcement partner to deploy drone technology, despite the fact that the would-be assassin used a drone to survey the rally site mere hours before the attempted assassination.’ 

Hawley also learned that the Secret Service’s Office of Protective Operations-Manpower told agents in charge of security for the rally ‘not to request additional security resources because they would be denied.’ 

The report also outlines other whistleblower allegations, including that law enforcement personnel ‘abandoned’ the rooftop where would-be assassin Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump ‘because of hot weather.’

The report also said the Secret Service agent with the responsibility of the security of the site, including ‘line-of-site concerns,’ was allegedly ‘known to be incompetent.’ 

‘That incompetence led to the placement of items like flags around the Butler stage and catwalk, impairing visibility,’ the report states. 

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that supplemental DHS personnel were used to fill in shortages of Secret Service personnel on the day of the rally. Some of those agents were allegedly pulled off of child exploitation cases. Whistleblowers said their training was ‘merely a poor-quality, two-hour webinar.’ 

Meanwhile, Hawley revealed in the report that the lead agent responsible for the Butler rally ‘failed a key examination during their federal law enforcement training to become a Secret Service agent.’ 

Hawley also was told that Secret Service intelligence units – or teams of Secret Service agents paired with state and local law enforcement to handle reports of suspicious persons – were allegedly absent from the Butler rally.

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that the hospital site where Trump received treatment after the shooting was ‘poorly secured, and the hospital site agent could not answer basic questions about site security.’ 

Kimberly Cheatle, who was the director of the Secret Service at the time of the rally, resigned from her post amid mounting pressure from congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after the massive security failure. 

The Secret Service’s assistant director, Michael Plati, is also retiring. 

At least five Secret Service agents have been placed on leave since the assassination attempt in July. 

Trump was shot with Crooks’ bullet, which pierced the upper part of his right ear. As Secret Service agents led him away, with blood dripping down his cheek and his right ear, the former president raised his arm defiantly. 

Trump, just a day later, traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the 2024 Republican National Convention. He attended events each night of the convention, and on the final night, formally accepted the GOP presidential nomination. 

Hawley released his report just a day after the second assassination attempt against Trump. 

Trump was golfing at his course at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sunday when Secret Service agents spotted and began shooting at another would-be assassin – Ryan Wesley Routh – who allegedly had an AK-47 pointed at the former president on the green. 

Routh was arrested. Routh laughed and smiled ahead of his first court appearance in Florida on Monday, Fox News confirmed. 

He was charged with possession of firearm by convicted felon and possession of firearm with obliterated serial number. 

The first offense carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. The second offense carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. Routh responded ‘yes’ when asked if he understood the penalties. 

Fox News is told additional federal charges are possible. The initial charges announced Monday will keep Routh in custody.

The detention hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23, and the probable cause hearing is set for Sept. 30.

Routh has had at least 100 run-ins with law enforcement before his most recent arrest. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the rhetoric of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is causing him to be ‘shot at,’ following the second assassination attempt against him since July, while telling Fox News Digital that the suspected gunman ‘acted’ on ‘highly inflammatory language’ of Democrats.  

‘He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,’ Trump said of the gunman in an interview with Fox News Digital. ‘Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out.’ 

Trump pointed to Biden and Harris’ past comments casting Trump as a ‘threat to democracy,’ while telling Americans they are ‘unity’ leaders. 

‘They are the opposite,’ Trump said. ‘These are people that want to destroy our country.’ 

He added: ‘It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.’

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China frees US pastor after nearly 20 years of wrongful detainment

China on Sunday released U.S. pastor David Lin, who has been in jail since 2006 in what the State Department has deemed was a wrongful detainment. 

The now 68-year-old pastor was formally arrested in 2009 for ‘contract fraud’ and sentenced to life in prison after allegedly aiding a non-government sanctioned house church. His sentence was later reduced and he was set to be released in April 2030.

According to a U.S.-based China advocacy group, China Aid, which was founded to assist persecuted activists, Lin had been traveling to China since the 1990s for missionary work.

Lin reportedly applied for a license through the Chinese government to organize a Christian ministry, but the request is believed to have been denied.

House churches are congregations in China that have not been approved by the Chinese government, but are reportedly picking up traction across the country despite government crackdowns, according to Christian websites. 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in 2019 warned that it suspected Lin was being targeted in prison due to his faith, and voiced concern over his safety and health.

‘Before his imprisonment, Pastor Lin was active in Beijing’s house church movement, which has long-faced hostility from Chinese authorities,’ the USCIRF said in a 2019 statement. ‘House churches are independent of state-sponsored religious organizations, and those who participate in and lead house churches often face intimidation, harassment, arrest, and harsh sentences.’

The State Department did not respond to specific questions from Fox News Digital regarding Lin’s release but instead said,’We welcome David Lin’s release from prison in the People’s Republic of China.’ 

‘He has returned to the United States and now gets to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years,’ the spokesperson added. 

Reports show that the Biden administration has been attempting to secure Lin’s release for years, including as recently as July when Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Laos.

The administration, U.S. rights groups and lawmakers on the Hill continue to call for the release of other Americans still wrongfully held in China, including businessman Kai Li, who is being held on alleged espionage-related charges, and Mark Swidan, who was sentenced on drug charges.  

Nelson Wells Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt have also been ‘wrongfully imprisoned’ over alleged drug-related charges, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a U.S.-based human rights group that focuses on political prisoners and other at-risk detainees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Havana Syndrome study halted as review finds some patients were coerced

A long-term study of Havana Syndrome patients was shut down after a National Institute of Health (NIH) internal review board found participants who reported being pressured to join the research.The study had until now not found evidence linking the participants to the same symptoms and brain injuries. The internal investigation that halted the study was prompted by complaints from the participants about unethical practices.

This comes after the intelligence community released an interim report last year concluding a foreign adversary is ‘very unlikely’ to be behind the symptoms hundreds of U.S. intelligence officers are experiencing, despite qualifying for U.S. government funded treatment of their brain injuries. 

In a statement to Fox News an NIH spokesperson stated, ‘In March 2024, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiated an investigation in response to concerns from participants who were evaluated as part of a study on Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI), the results of which were published in the journal JAMA. The investigation was conducted by the NIH Office of Intramural Research and the NIH Research Compliance Review Committee, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) within the NIH. The NIH investigation found that regulatory and NIH policy requirements for informed consent were not met due to coercion, although not on the part of NIH researchers.’

The statement continued, ‘Given the role of voluntary consent as a fundamental pillar of the ethical conduct of research, NIH has stopped the study out of an abundance of caution. In NIH’s assessment, these investigative findings do not impact the conclusions of the study. NIH has shared this update with both participants and JAMA.’

A former CIA officer, who goes by Adam to protect his identity, was not shocked that the study was shut down.

‘The way the study was conducted, at best, was dishonest and, at worst, wades into the criminal side of the scale,’ Adam said.

Adam is Havana Syndrome’s Patient Zero because he was the first to experience the severe sensory phenomena that hundreds of other U.S. government workers have experienced while stationed overseas in places like Havana and Moscow, even China. Adam described pressure to the brain that led to vertigo, tinnitus and cognitive impairment.

Active-duty service members, spies, FBI agents, diplomats and even children and pets have experienced this debilitating sensation that patients believe is caused by a pulsed energy weapon. 334 Americans have qualified to get treatment for Havana Syndrome in specialized military health facilities, according to a study released by the U.S. government accountability office earlier this year.

Adam, who was first attacked in December 2016 in his bedroom in Havana described hearing a loud sound penetrating his room. ‘Kind of like someone was taking a pencil and bouncing it off your eardrum… Eventually I started blacking out,’ Adam said.

Patients, like Adam, who participated in the NIH study raised concerns the CIA was including patients who didn’t really qualify as Havana Syndrome patients, watering down the data being analyzed by NIH researchers. Meanwhile, also pressuring those who needed treatment at Walter Reed to participate in the NIH study in order to get treatment at Walter Reed.

‘It became pretty clear quite quickly that something was amiss and how it was being handled and how patients were being filtered… the CIA dictated who would go. NIH often complained to us behind the scenes that the CIA was not providing adequate, matched control groups, and they flooded in a whole litany of people that likely weren’t connected or had other medical issues that really muddied the water,’ Adam said, accusing the NIH of working with the CIA.

The CIA is cooperating.

‘We cannot comment on whether any CIA officers participated in the study. However, we take any claim of coercion, or perceived coercion, extremely seriously and fully cooperated with NIH’s review of this matter, and have offered access to any information requested,’ a CIA official told Fox News in a statement noting that the ‘CIA Inspector General has been made aware of the NIH findings and prior related allegations.’ 

Havana Syndrome victims now want to pressure the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) to retract the two articles published last spring using early data from the NIH study that concluded there were no significant MRI-detectable evidence of brain injury among the group of participants compared with a group of matched control participants.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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