The US has a moral imperative to explore and develop artificial intelligence (AI) weapons, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, studied AI technologies in national security and defense.

"The hypothesis to be proven is that AI will improve target identification, which should improve and reduce the number of collateral damage and fratricide," NSCAI Vice-Chair Bob Work said in the report.

"It is a moral imperative to pursue this hypothesis because autonomous systems will not be indiscriminate unless designed that way," he added.

An example of AI weapons is Samsung's SGR-A1 system that can track and follow targets via a thermal camera, laser rangefinder and video recorder.

The US, the world’s largest military power, has so far avoided signing an AI treaty with other nations, despite more than 30 countries demanding such weapons should be banned. The UN holds annual meetings to discuss the ban./aa

A 55 year-old German far-right extremist has been charged for planning terror attacks in the country, prosecutors announced on Wednesday.

Susanne G. has sent several threatening letters to mosques, planned arson attacks, sought information and material to build bombs, the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe said in a statement.

The neo-Nazi suspect also sent anonymous threatening letters to local politicians, Turkish-Muslim organizations, and pro-refugee NGOs in the southern city of Nuremberg, according to the prosecutors.

At least five of the letters contained bullets, and threatened the recipients with death.

German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung reported that Susanne G. was known to police as a right-wing extremist before her arrest, and she has been the follower of The Third Path movement.

She has been in custody since her arrest in September 2020.

Germany has witnessed growing racism and xenophobia in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of far-right, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim groups.

In 2019, right-wing extremists killed pro-refugee politician Walter Lubcke and attacked a synagogue in Halle, raising alarms over far-right terror in the country.

Last year, a far-right extremist attacked two cafes in Hanau, killing nine people with migration backgrounds./aa

ISTANBUL/ANKARA

A global rights group launched a campaign Wednesday to secure the release of human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained by authorities in Egypt.

“Ten years after the Jan. 25 Revolution in Egypt, activists and human rights defenders are still arbitrarily held in prisons,” Amnesty International said on Twitter to mark 10 years since the revolution ended the previous Egyptian regime of Husni Mubarak.

It urged everyone interested in world affairs to support a recent campaign on Twitter that demands the immediate release of prisoners.

“We will share the names of these activists and human rights defenders in Egypt for a week. Tell Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi that you are in solidarity with the prisoners,” it said.

“Prison officials show utter disregard for the lives and wellbeing of prisoners crammed into the country’s overcrowded prisons and largely ignore their health needs,” the group said in a report on Jan. 25.

The report shows how prison authorities have failed to protect prisoners from the coronavirus pandemic.

Egyptians marked on Monday the anniversary of the Arab Spring protests which led to the end of Mubarak's 30-year rule in the country.

The string of protests in 2011 against dictatorships across the Arab world spread after a Tunisian street vendor self-immolated to protest that regime's human rights abuse.

Egyptians staged protests on Jan. 25, 2011, against unemployment and corruption as security forces responded with disproportionate violence that killed hundreds of people.

The ensuing demonstrations forced Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11, 2011./aa

US President Joe Biden will sign executive orders Wednesday to pause new oil and natural gas leasing on public and offshore lands as part of his climate change and clean energy policies.

The orders will direct federal agencies to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and identify new opportunities to spur innovation, commercialization and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.

"President Biden set ambitious goals that will ensure America and the world can meet the urgent demands of the climate crisis ... to lead a clean energy revolution that achieves a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and puts the US on an irreversible path to a net-zero economy by 2050," the White House said in a statement.

"The order clearly establishes climate considerations as an essential element of US foreign policy and national security," it added.

Biden signed an order last Wednesday to rejoin the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which his predecessor, Donald Trump, initiated the US' exit from the historic deal in 2017.

Biden's moves are largely part of undoing Trump's energy policies that focused on "unleashing" shale oil and gas potential in the US, which has become the world's largest crude oil and natural gas producing country during his tenure.

"I am not banning fracking. No matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me," Biden said in August about technology that helps extracting shale oil and gas known as hydraulic fracturing, although Trump argued otherwise.

While Biden's new orders will not affect existing oil and gas leases, it applies only to lands that account for less than one-quarter of total US oil and gas production.

Whole-of-Government approach

The president's orders will also establish a National Climate Task Force that will include leaders from 21 federal agencies and departments to enable a "whole-of-government approach to combatting the climate crisis."

He will host a Leaders' Climate Summit on Earth Day, April 22, when the US will reconvene the Major Economies Forum to discuss foreign policies in climate change.

The White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy will be formally established, led by the nation’s first National Climate Advisor and Deputy National Climate Advisor.

Biden created a new position, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, which will have a seat on the National Security Council. "It will be a US priority to press for enhanced climate ambition and integration of climate considerations across a wide range of international fora," according to the White House.

The orders also start the process of developing the US’ "nationally determined contribution" known as its carbon emission reduction target under the Paris Agreement, in addition to a climate finance plan.

While the US Director of National Intelligence is directed to prepare an estimate on the security implications of climate change, the State Department and other agencies are ordered to develop strategies for integrating climate considerations into their work.

Infrastructure and technology

Biden's other executive orders will include job creation in construction, manufacturing and engineering as part of his economic recovery plan where his clean energy jobs plan will be centered.

He will direct federal agencies to procure carbon pollution-free electricity and clean, zero-emission vehicles to create union jobs and stimulate clean energy industries.

The president will focus on conserving at least 30% of US lands and oceans by 2030, restoring public lands and waters, increasing reforestation and protecting biodiversity by adopting "climate-smart agricultural practices."

Biden will direct agencies to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data "with the responsibility for ensuring scientific integrity across federal agencies."

The order will reestablish the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, co-chaired by the President’s Science Advisor who will advise him on policies that affect science, technology and innovation./aa

According to Vesna human rights center unregistered by the Justice Ministry the security forces detained one person in Molodechno, more than 10 - in Brest, six - in Grodno

MINSK, January 24. /TASS/. Belarusian security forces detained over 130 people during Saturday's unauthorized protests in Minsk and more detentions were carried out in the other cities, Vesna human rights center unregistered by the Justice Ministry said on Sunday.

"On January 23, "Solidarity Chains" rallies were held in Belarus. There were some surgical detentions of peaceful demonstrators in Minsk," according to the human rights activists.

The list includes 131 names of those held in the Belarusian capital. In addition, some activists of the Food Instead of Bombs movement were arrested in Minsk’s St. Michael's Square as they were distributing food to those in need. According to human rights activists, the security forces detained one person in Molodechno, more than 10 - in Brest, six - in Grodno.

On Saturday, the Minsk police confirmed the detention of 100 people who had taken part in "short-term and barely attended unauthorized events."

Protesters gathered in yards on Saturday morning and marched through their districts in small groups. Social networks reported about some local events under white-red-white symbols in several neighborhoods as well as in the Belarusian capital’s center.

Nationwide demonstrations have engulfed Belarus following the August 9 presidential election, when the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot, and refused to recognize the election’s outcome. In the first days, the protests were the most massive and resulted in clashes with the country’s security forces. By the end of 2020, Tikhanovskaya stated that the protests had morphed into district marches, flash mobs and performances.

 •             President Joe Biden said Monday he plans to replace the "enormous fleet" of government vehicles with electric models.

•             The switch will help create one million new autoworker jobs in the US, he said.

•             Biden said he'll change the rules that currently allow vehicles to be considered American-made even if they have parts made in other countries.

President Joe Biden said on Monday his new administration will replace the US government's fleet of around 650,000 vehicles with electric models in a bid to shift to clean energy.

Whilst signing a new "Buy American" executive order, Biden said: "The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we're going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America made by American workers."

It's unclear when the electric vehicles will rollout and which models they will be. Reuters reported it could cost $20 billion or more to fully replace the fleet. The White House didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Biden, 78, said the fleet replacement will help create one million new jobs in the American auto industry.

"This will be the largest mobilization of public investment and procurement, infrastructure and R&D, since World War II," said Biden, who was sworn into office on January 20.

The 46th President of the US criticized the current rules that allow vehicles to be considered American-made when bought by the US government even if they carry components which come from other countries.

The current standards require at least half a vehicle's parts to be US-made to be considered American, according to Biden.

"We're going to change that as well. The executive action I'm signing today will not only require the companies make more of their components in America, but that the value of those components is contributing to our economy, measured by things like a number of American jobs created and supported."

Business Insider

Believers of the QAnon conspiracy have begun to spread rumours that Donald Trump will become president again on 4 Match, as the theory merges with other online extremist movements.

QAnon supporters have been circulating the theory that the Republican will return to office in recent days, with many suggesting 4 March as a final day of reckoning for the former president’s opponents.

The rumours, which have been shared on TikTok, come amid reports QAnon was moving towards theories promoted by The Sovereign Citizen movement.

Its supporters argue that they are ungovernable because the United States has been a corporation since former president Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the gold standard in 1933, when the value of the dollar was no longer pegged to gold.

According to reports, the sovereign citizen theory has been shared among Trump and QAnon supporters on TikTok, who believe Mr Trump will become the 19th president of the United States on 4 March - the date inaugurations were carried out before 1933.

The theory also alleges that all amendments to the constitution since have been invalid since 1871, when the 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship for former slaves and equal “protection of the laws” for all Americans.

Travis View, a conspiracy theory researcher, told VICE News that the crossover between the two conspiracies was “concerning because it means QAnon is borrowing ideas from more-established extremism movements.”

“There was some crossover between QAnon and the sovereign citizen movement before, but I've seen sovereign citizen ideas about the United States being a ‘corporation’ become more popular within QAnon and beyond in January,” Mr View added.

QAnon supporters, who believe Mr Trump was undermined by a cabal of satanist paedophiles while in office, allegedly viewed the storming of the Capitol on 6 January as the coming of a “storm”.

They were among those who besieged the US Capitol with claims November’s election was “stolen”, but were allegedly disappointed by Mr Trump’s departure last week, when Joe Biden was sworn in as US president.

According to Rolling Stone, one TikTok user wrote: “Listen, patriots, y’all can relax. We’re going back to a republic come March.”

“Trump will be back in the presidency but he will be the 19th president ’cause we’re not gonna be a corporation no more. We’re going back to the republic,” they added.

Another TikTok user asked in a video seen by Vice News: “Can someone tell me why I’m 22 years old and I just learned that the United States is a corporation, not a country.”

Social media companies, including Twitter and Facebook, have taken targeted action against QAnon content shared online, with many accounts having been removed since the attack on the Capitol. TikTok, meanwhile, moved to delete videos featuring the former US president.

The FBI, who have carried out more than a hundred arrests since 6 January, classifies sovereign citizens as domestic terrorists who “believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement.”