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In the news today: Intense new protests break out against federal immigration agents after the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman; the Pentagon embraces Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry over sexualized fake images; and Trump holds off on military action against Iran, for now. Also, the 10 year old whose mullet hairdo has won a championship. |
Protesters try to avoid tear gas dispersed by federal agents, Monday, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray) |
Tensions flare in Minnesota as protesters and federal agents repeatedly square off |
Days of demonstrations against immigration agents left Minnesota tense on Tuesday, a day after federal authorities used tear gas to break up crowds of whistle-blowing activists and state and local leaders sued to fight the enforcement surge that led to the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman. Read more. |
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- Confrontations between federal agents and protesters stretched throughout the day and across multiple cities on Monday. In St. Cloud, hundreds of people protested outside a strip of Somali-run businesses after ICE officers arrived.
With the Department of Homeland Security pledging to send more than 2,000 immigration officers into Minnesota in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement has called its largest enforcement operation ever, the state, joined by Minneapolis and St. Paul, sued the Trump administration Monday to try to halt or limit the surge. In response, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Minnesota officials of ignoring public safety.
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Pentagon is embracing Musk's Grok AI chatbot as it draws global outcry over sexualized fake images |
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google's generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military's data as possible into the developing technology. Read more. |
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The announcement comes just days after Grok drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.'s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday.
Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would "make all appropriate data" from the military's IT systems available for "AI exploitation." He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems.
- Hegseth's aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly.
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Trump holds off on military action against Iran's protest crackdown as he 'explores' Tehran messages |
President Donald Trump has arrived at a delicate moment as he weighs whether to order a U.S. military response against the Iranian government as it continues a violent crackdown on protests that have left more than 600 dead and led to the arrests of thousands across the country. Read more. |
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The U.S. president has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against antigovernment protesters. It's a red line that Trump has said he believes Iran is "starting to cross" and has left him and his national security team weighing "very strong options."
But the U.S. military — which Trump has warned Tehran is "locked and loaded" — appears, at least for the moment, to have been placed on standby mode as Trump ponders next steps, saying that Iranian officials want to have talks with the White House.
- Trump announced on social media that he would slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran "effective immediately" — his first action aimed at penalizing Iran for the protest crackdown, and his latest example of using tariffs as a tool to force friends and foes on the global stage to bend to his will.
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Portuguese Catholic priest and DJ Guilherme Peixoto, performs during a concert in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) |
Priest by day, DJ by night: Rave in Beirut draws cheers and controversy
Guilherme Peixoto, better known as Padre Guilherme, is a priest from a village in northern Portugal. To the 52-year-old, DJing is a way to express his faith, send a message of peace and coexistence and connect with the youth. His first show in Lebanon was not without controversy, however. Eighteen people, including Christian religious officials, sent a petition to the country's judiciary calling for his show to be canceled, calling it an insult to the faith. "The Psalm asks us to praise the lord with all instruments, so now you have this new instrument that came that is electronic music," the priest said. Padre Guilherme has been a global sensation for months, performing around the world to large audiences and amassing a following of 2.6 million on Instagram.
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