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Pope Leo XIV opened his first state visit to France with a stark warning about artificial intelligence, telling political leaders in Paris that a "paradise of machines" threatened to undermine humanity itself. The American-born pope raised existential questions about what it means to be human in the age of AI, nuclear proliferation and other threats to life during an opening address to President Emmanuel Macron and French authorities at the Elysée Palace on Friday. He later repeated the themes before diplomats and United Nations employees at UNESCO headquarters. Leo said scientific progress cut off from wisdom could turn destructive, drawing on the lessons of the Second World War. In remarks reported by Vatican News, he said: "If we...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that US President Donald Trump has given final approval for Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles on its own soil — a breakthrough Kyiv has pursued for months as Russian aerial attacks intensify. What was agreed "There are concrete agreements in place," Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv. "During our last meeting, President Trump emphasized that, yes, I have made the final decision: Ukraine will receive a license to manufacture Patriot missiles." The two leaders met on September 23 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Zelensky later posted on X that his negotiators would brief European officials while the US discussed next steps with...

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has asked the civil aviation ministry to give it a formal seat at the table as the investigation into the Air India AI-171 crash nears its final stage, arguing that the voice of professional pilots must be heard before the report is locked down. In a letter dated September 25 to Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu, the pilots' body requested that it be nominated as an "independent technical participant" in any mechanism set up to scrutinise the draft final report prepared by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). The request comes as the AAIB pushes towards completing its probe into the June 12, 2025 crash in Ahmedabad, in which 260 people were killed. The bureau has told the...

Human rights groups in Venezuela say dozens of prisoners — many of them political detainees — were released on Saturday, just days after interim President Delcy Rodríguez held her first meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The rights group Justicia Encuentro y Perdón said 29 people walked free from Venezuelan prisons on Saturday, including 12 inmates on its official list of political prisoners. "Seventeen of those freed were not in our database of political prisoners," the group said, adding that its teams were still verifying the figures. A second group, Clippve, reported that seven political prisoners were released from a prison on the outskirts of Caracas, among...

The former bodyguard of ex-Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh planned attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Germany and Austria from Britain while holding refugee status there, the British newspaper The Times reported overnight Sunday. What the report says According to the report, cited by Haaretz, the man — whose identity is withheld for legal reasons — previously served on Haniyeh's security detail and moved to the United Kingdom more than a decade ago. Despite it being known that he had worked for Haniyeh, that his father was a senior Hamas official, and that he had been arrested in Egypt on suspicion of involvement in operating a tunnel allegedly used to smuggle weapons into Gaza, he was granted asylum in the UK and worked as an...

China's military conducted a joint naval and air training exercise around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Sunday, the latest show of force around the reef claimed by both Beijing and Manila. The People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command announced the operation in a statement on WeChat, describing it as a necessary response to actions by "certain countries" it accused of undermining regional peace and stability. What the drills involved According to the Chinese statement, the training was held in the waters and airspace around Scarborough Shoal — known as Huangyan Dao in China and Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines — and aimed to test and enhance combat capabilities in safeguarding what Beijing called...

The Philippines has accused Chinese vessels of forcing it to abort a resupply mission to the disputed Ayungin Shoal, and its defence chief has vowed the missions will continue despite what Manila calls "continuous harassment." According to the Philippines' National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, a routine Rotation and Resupply mission to the grounded warship BRP Sierra Madre (LS57) was hindered on September 24 by China Coast Guard and People's Liberation Army Navy vessels. The mission commander called off the operation, citing the nighttime environment and rough sea conditions, to prevent escalation. Manila's account Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said three Chinese Navy warships and five Chinese Coast Guard vessels...

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 6–3 on Friday to temporarily restore the Trump administration's expanded SAVE voter-eligibility database, allowing state and local election officials to resume citizenship checks on registered voters just weeks before the November 3 midterm elections. The emergency order stays a June 2026 ruling by District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan that had blocked the revamped system over privacy and voting-rights concerns. The stay remains in effect while the appeal proceeds, including any request for full Supreme Court review — but it is not a final decision on the merits of the case. What the majority said The majority reasoned that federal immigration law requires the government to respond when state and local...

The contest to become President Donald Trump's next AI czar is taking shape, with four prominent figures reported to be in the running to lead a newly created "AI Force" overseeing policy toward the trillion-dollar artificial intelligence industry. Trump announced on September 19 that he would appoint a new AI adviser and create an "AI Force," with the "high IQ" tech wizard inheriting an AI landscape that has changed dramatically since venture capitalist David Sacks became Trump's first AI and crypto czar in late 2024. Sacks stepped down in March after reaching the 130-day service limit for special government employees. The reported contenders Sriram Krishnan, the senior White House policy advisor on AI, is one of "The Architects of...

A court in Northern Ireland has cleared the way for an Orange Order parade to pass through a Catholic area of Portadown on Sunday, setting aside an earlier temporary ban imposed the same day. According to reporting by Sky News cited by Reuters on Saturday, a ruling reversed the temporary restriction issued by Northern Ireland's High Court earlier in the day. With the ban lifted, the Protestant fraternal group may proceed with its planned march through the Catholic district of the town, which has long been one of the most sensitive parade flashpoints in the region. A rapid legal reversal The sequence of events unfolded quickly. The High Court first issued a temporary ban on the parade earlier Saturday, only for a later court decision...

Hurricane Nolo churned slowly south of Hawaii's Big Island on Saturday, packing maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and threatening flash floods and extreme surf across the islands, as President Donald Trump approved a federal emergency declaration. The storm's center was about 145 miles (235 kilometers) south of Hawaii's southernmost point on Saturday and could strengthen further through the weekend, forecasters warned. Parts of the Big Island faced rainfall totals of up to 20 inches (51 centimeters), with heavy rain expected on the other islands as well. Possible flooding and mudslides were a major concern. "Don't venture out if you don't have to into the dangerous flooding environment, but also high winds. We can have...

Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, escalating the political row over the Election Commission's functioning and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Sharp attack on the poll panel chief In remarks reported on Saturday, Gandhi accused the Election Commission of undermining the electoral process under Kumar's leadership. He alleged that decisions taken under Kumar had affected the integrity of elections and urged the CEC to "turn approver". These are political allegations by the Congress and have not been established by any court. Gandhi also took to X, writing: "First, Gyanesh Kumar - then a serving IAS...

The Election Commission of India on Saturday sought to put an end to reports of differences within the poll panel, holding a full commission meeting and issuing a detailed press note asserting that all key decisions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were taken unanimously. Full commission meets at Nirvachan Sadan Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi met at the commission's headquarters, Nirvachan Sadan, in New Delhi. The commission released a press note accompanied by a photograph of the three commissioners, addressing allegations about its internal functioning, the SIR exercise, voter enrolment and its technology systems. The clarification...

India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday to deliver a sharp rebuke to Pakistan, calling it a "serial practitioner of terrorism" and warning that India's right to defend itself against terrorism "will be exercised." A direct rebuttal Jaishankar was responding to an address by Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif a day earlier. Without naming Pakistan directly, Jaishankar said, "Yesterday, a serial practitioner of terrorism misrepresented facts before this assembly. Arguments were invoked to normalise terrorism and claim immunity from its consequences. That will not stand." He added that "friendship and goodwill cannot co-exist with terrorism" and said it was...

China's Vice President Han Zheng told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that "the world wants peace not war," urging nations to defend the postwar international order and resolve disputes through dialogue rather than unilateral military action. Addressing the general debate of the Assembly's 81st session, Han said the international system centered on the United Nations — and the international law that emerged after World War II — "must be upheld." He called on states to settle differences through dialogue and consultation, and to oppose "unilateral military actions that violate the UN Charter and circumvent Security Council authorization." "Major countries shoulder special responsibilities for safeguarding international...

The White House barred CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One on Saturday as President Donald Trump flew to Knoxville, Tennessee, for a college football game — escalating an ongoing standoff over press access and handing the network's place in the rotation to a conservative outlet. CNN had been scheduled to cover the trip as the television pool network, a small rotating group of journalists who follow the president into spaces too tight for the full press corps and share their reporting with the other major networks. But White House guidance released Friday night left the network off the manifest. CNN reported that no outlet was listed as its replacement; the Associated Press reported that the conservative Real America's Voice News...

Senior officials from the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco — joined for the first time by officials from Kazakhstan — gathered in New York on Thursday for the first official meeting of the Abraham Accords countries since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, according to CBS News reporting.The session took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in a midtown Manhattan office tower and was organized by the N7 Foundation, a US-based organization that has convened multilateral meetings of the signatory countries since 2021. "Back together" The US delegation was led by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker. "Nearly three years after October 7, the...

Four people have been killed in a helicopter crash southeast of Montreal, Quebec provincial police said on Saturday afternoon. The Surete du Quebec confirmed that all four occupants of the aircraft died in the crash, which happened at about 2:30 p.m. ET near Sainte-Brigide-d'Iberville. National broadcasters CBC and CTV reported that the aircraft was on fire when first responders arrived at the scene. Police did not immediately provide details about the helicopter's ownership, where it had come from, or the purpose of the journey. The Surete du Quebec — the province's police force — said the investigation was still in its early stages. Canada's Transportation Safety Board is deploying investigators to the site to determine what caused...

The United States and China will establish a dedicated channel for communicating about artificial intelligence incidents, the White House announced on Friday, one of the few concrete results to emerge from this week's three-day summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington. The agreement creates a "bilateral communication channel" for AI incidents — effectively an early-warning line between the world's two leading AI powers — alongside a formal "US–China Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue" to exchange views on the risks and benefits of advanced systems. The White House said the next SI exchange is expected to take place by November. The summit itself was high on ceremony and short on breakthroughs...

Pope Leo XIV celebrated a historic outdoor Mass in Paris on Saturday, drawing a record-breaking crowd of around 800,000 faithful — one of the largest public Catholic gatherings France has seen in years. The American-born pope, whose birth name is Robert Francis Prevost, arrived down the Champs-Elysees in the popemobile before presiding over the Mass outside the Place de la Concorde. Worshippers filled the square and spilled along the Champs-Elysees, and the Archdiocese of Paris said the unexpectedly large turnout prompted police to open two overflow sites. A message to young people Delivering the Mass in French, the 71-year-old pontiff made a point of addressing the young people in the crowd, declaring: "You are today's church." In...