World must stand up to Russia’s ‘naked aggression’, Joe Biden warns
Joe Biden has said the world must stand up to Russia’s “naked aggression” and support the people of Ukraine.
Speaking to the UN General Assembly, he said Moscow alone bears responsibility for the war, stands in the way of peace, and has the power to end the conflict immediately.
The US president urged UN members to continue supporting Ukraine – as failure to do so will allow Russia to brutalise the country without compromise.
Mr Biden said: “If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? I respectfully suggest the answer is no – we have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter the would-be aggressors of tomorrow.”
He vowed that the US “will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and freedom”.
The president’s remarks attracted applause from UN delegates – including his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was in the audience.
Earlier on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had warned Russia’s invasion “has unleashed a nexus of horror”.
But back in Washington, Mr Biden has faced criticism from Republicans who want the US to spend less money on the war effort – with Donald Trump vowing to seek a quick end to the conflict if he is re-elected in the 2024 presidential election.
Russia’s neighbour launches military action – live updates
‘An existential threat’
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Biden warned the world is at an “inflection point in history” – and no nation can meet the challenges of today alone.
“Our future is bound to yours,” he said.
One area of focus was climate change – with the US president telling delegates it is “critical” to decelerate the crisis.
“We see it everywhere – record-breaking heatwaves in the US and China, wildfires ravaging North America and southern Europe, a fifth year of drought in the Horn of Africa,” he said.
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Furious crowds call for justice in Libya
Mr Biden also pointed to “tragic, tragic” flooding in Libya that has killed thousands of people – and said his heart goes out to those who have been displaced.
“Together, these snapshots tell an urgent story of what awaits us if we fail to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and begin to climate-proof the world,” he added.
The US president went on to say that his administration has treated the climate crisis as an existential threat from the day he took office – “not only for us, but for all of humanity”.
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Is AI an existential threat?
On China and artificial intelligence
Mr Biden also told the UN General Assembly in New York that “AI holds enormous potential and enormous peril” – and the world needs to ensure they are used as “tools of opportunity, not weapons of oppression”.
He added: “The US is working to strengthen rules and policies so AI technologies are safe before they’re released to the public.”
The president said world leaders need to make sure they are governing this technology, rather than the other way around.
And on China, Mr Biden stressed he wants to responsibly manage competition between both countries to prevent tensions from tipping over into conflict.
“We are for derisking, not decoupling with China,” he said. “We will push back on aggression and intimidation and protect the rules of the road. We also stand ready to work together with China where progress hinges on our common efforts.”
US
Donald Trump ‘not thinking about Melania’ when he paid off Stormy Daniels, says ex-lawyer Michael Cohen
Donald Trump “wasn’t thinking about (his wife) Melania” when he paid off a former porn star, his former lawyer has testified.
Michael Cohen told a court Mr Trump personally approved $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels over an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.
The payout isn’t illegal, but Mr Trump is accused of falsifying records to hide it – a claim he denies.
On Monday, his trial in New York heard from Mr Cohen, once a lawyer and self-described “fixer” for the ex-president.
Mr Trump’s lawyers have painted the hush money as an attempt to protect his wife from rumours and upset.
Michael Cohen has himself been jailed over the payment to Daniels. Pic: Reuters
However, Mr Cohen said his boss was purely concerned with keeping the claims quiet as he ran for the presidency.
“He wasn’t thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign,” he said, prompting Mr Trump to shake his head in response.
Mr Cohen told the court he’d heard Stormy Daniels was considering selling her story and he told his boss swift action was required.
Mr Trump denies the affair and his lawyers say Mr Cohen acted on his own – a claim he denied in court.
He told jurors in Manhattan that “everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off” and he was ordered to “just do it”.
Mr Cohen said he stumped up the $130,000 himself after Mr Trump told him he would pay him back.
He said he set up a shell company – listed as a “real estate consulting company” – to make the payment.
Stormy Daniels, pictured in January. Pic: AP
Prosecutors say Mr Trump later paid the money back and covered it up by recording it as a legal retainer fee.
He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over the claims.
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Hear Trump and his lawyer discuss hush money
The court also heard a recording of a conversation between Mr Trump and Mr Cohen over hush money said to have been paid to another woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who he also allegedly had an affair with.
Mr Cohen suggests in the recording setting up another company to repay David Pecker – who said he provided the $150,000 to cover up the story.
The former National Enquirer boss previously testified he bought the story to keep it hidden and eventually decided against seeking reimbursement.
Later in the recording, Mr Trump can be heard suggesting the $150,000 might be better off being paid in cash.
Mr Cohen told the court this was to “avoid any type of paper transaction”.
The 57-year-old – who once said he would take a bullet for Mr Trump – worked for him for nearly a decade.
Stormy Daniels, pictured in January. Pic: AP
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He pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance law in 2018 over the Stormy Daniels payment and was jailed, but at the time prosecutors did not bring charges against Mr Trump.
Mr Cohen’s credibility is in the sights of defence lawyers as he has previously admitted lying under oath.
Mr Trump – who will take on Joe Biden in his bid to become president again in November – is unlikely to face a custodial sentence if found guilty.
His other cases are potentially more damaging but mired in delays.
They concern allegations of keeping stacks of secret documents after leaving office and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. He denies the claims.
A livestream portal between Dublin and New York was temporarily shut down after “inappropriate behaviour” in the Irish capital.
Thousands of people have visited the two-way portal, which allows people on either side to see and interact with each other.
And while there have been a number of wholesome moments – including Irish dancing and even a proposal – a handful of people have behaved “inappropriately”, Dublin City Council has said.
Videos on social media have shown people on the Irish side flashing body parts, and displaying images of 9/11 and swear words on phone screens.
A woman was also escorted away by police after being seen grinding against the portal.
In a statement issued on Monday evening, a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said “technical solutions” to address this are being implemented in the next 24 hours.
People in each city could be seen greeting each other when the portal opened last week. Pic: Reuters
“We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days with our partners in New York to ensure that Portals continue to deliver a positive experience for both cities and the world,” they said.
“The team at portals.org and partners are still working on improving the software for better stability and to prepare for Portals to expand to more locations on Earth.
“Those works are being done mostly at night and during those hours, the livestream might be paused.”
Dublin City Council noted there has been an increase in footfall since the Portal was unveiled in north Dublin, facing O’Connell Street. The New York portal is at the busy Manhattan junction of Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street.
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Most interactions via the portals have been wholesome. Pic: Reuters
“The overwhelming majority of interactions are positive,” the spokesperson added. “We have seen families and friends unite, dancing moves being shared as well as new friendships being made. There was even a successful marriage proposal.
“The Portal offers a window to other cities and is connecting people and cultures in a unique manner – what we are seeing between Dublin and NY is reflective of a wider narrative of cultural behaviour.”
The Portals Organisation said: “We do not intend to suggest people to interact with Portals in any particular way – our goal is to open a window between far away places and cultures that allows people to interact freely with one another.
“We encourage people to be respectful and from our position as observers, we see that the absolute majority of experiences is on the bright side.”
In an earlier statement, they confirmed the livestream had been paused so they could “update the software used on the Portal”.
The new version of the ChatGPT AI chatbot has been unveiled and offers near-instant results across text, vision and audio, according to its maker.
OpenAI said it was much better at understanding visuals and sounds than previous versions.
It offers the prospect of real-time ‘conversations’ with the chatbot, including the ability to interrupt its answers.
The firm says it “accepts as input any combination of text, audio, and image and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs”.
GPT-4o is to be rolled out over the next few weeks amid a battle by tech firms to develop ever-more advanced artificial intelligence tools.
Monday’s announcement showed tasks such as real-time language translation; using its vision capability to solve a maths question on a piece of paper, and to guide a blind person around London.
GPT-4o can respond to audio in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which the company says is similar to human response time.
To try to ease concerns over bias, fairness and misinformation, the Microsoft-backed company says the new version has undergone extensive testing by 70 external experts.
It comes after Google earlier this year had a major PR blunder over images generated by its Gemini AI system.
GPT-4o model will be free, but premium ‘Plus’ users get a greater capacity limit for messages.
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Previous versions of the chatbot have caused unease in schools and universities due to some students using it to cheat by producing convincing essays.
When it launched two years ago, ChatGPT was said to be the fastest-ever app to reach 100 million active monthly users.
The announcement also stole a march on Google, which is expected to tomorrow show off its own new AI features at its annual developers’ conference.
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