united states

Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary under United States President Donald Trump, has drawn increasing criticism over claims about her professional background.

On Wednesday, a public accountability nonprofit filed a complaint with the State Bar of California over Zacharia’s repeated claims that she was a lawyer.

If made falsely, such a claim is a crime in the state. According to Zacharia’s LinkedIn profile, she received a degree from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in 2011, but critics have questioned whether she received a licence to practise law, as she has suggested.

“Ms. Zacharia has represented herself as a lawyer repeatedly to buttress her reputation and credibility as a television legal commentator and now as the White House spokesperson,” Michelle Kuppersmith, the head of the Washington, DC-based Campaign for Accountability, said in a statement. “Yet it seems it was all a lie.”

Her organisation filed the complaint with California’s bar office, a regulatory agency that oversees the licensing of lawyers.

“In California, calling yourself a lawyer without a license isn’t puffery; it’s a crime,” Kuppersmith said.

“The State Bar should investigate whether Ms. Zacharia has misled the public about her credentials and hold her accountable if she has.”

Zacharia, a commentator who has appeared frequently on Fox News and Newsmax, began her term as White House press secretary on Tuesday.

In a news briefing that day, she seemed to falter and speak haltingly, sometimes having to repeat herself.

Her appearance was brief, lasting under 15 minutes. She spent much of her time at the podium thanking Trump for the opportunity and reading from a prepared statement.

“I have wanted to work for him for a very long time,” Zacharia said.

Later, she joined Trump outside the White House to speak further with reporters. When asked where she had passed the bar exam, Zacharia replied, “When I moved to China.”

The response was an apparent reference to a three-year stint in which she claims she worked at a law firm in Beijing.

A biography on the website for the pro-Trump women’s organisation Trumpettes USA Inc says she “served as outside counsel” for the World Bank and International Finance Corporation while in Beijing.

Her LinkedIn profile, meanwhile, indicates Zacharia served as an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from 2011 to 2013. More recently, from 2024 to 2025, it lists her as general counsel for Fix California, a voter rights group started by a Trump administration official.

On her Instagram profile, Zacharia describes herself as a “Wife, Mom, & Lawyer”.

But Zacharia’s assertion that she passed the bar in China has fuelled media scrutiny. China’s equivalent of the bar exam, the notoriously difficult National Unified Legal Professional Qualification Examination, can only be taken by Chinese citizens.

China has, on rare occasion, allowed foreigners to practise law in the country if they have several years of experience in their home countries first.

But that does not appear to be the case for Zacharia. According to media reports, Zacharia has not been found to be licensed as a lawyer in any state in the US.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Zacharia responded to the scrutiny by saying, “I practice international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials.”

Since Trump’s return to office for a second term, Zacharia has spent several months as a communications adviser at the Department of Homeland Security.

Since June, she has also worked as the senior communications adviser at the Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns the Truth Social platform.

Oil prices gain as Houthi strikes hit Saudi Aramco and Tehran vows new tactics against shipping in Hormuz.

The immigration agency has rejected a report from a government watchdog, making suggestions for improved body camera policy.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a United States agency that has taken a central role in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, has rejected a government report calling for its agents to wear body cameras that automatically activate.

On Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan agency that provides research to Congress, released a report recommending an update to ICE guidelines for camera usage.

It suggested that “automated camera activation” would be helpful in situations where “unexpected and unplanned incidents, unrelated to sensitive operations, result in use of force by or against personnel”.

“Given the important role of body-worn cameras in law enforcement activities, we maintain that additional controls are needed to help ensure that ICE personnel capture footage in accordance with policy,” the report said.

Automatic activation, it added, would address difficulties ICE agents face in manually turning on their cameras during enforcement operations.

But ICE has rejected the recommendation for automatic activation, which could be triggered by an agent pulling a gun or turning on a car siren. The agency cited privacy concerns.

But the Trump administration faces public pressure to improve transparency during its immigration raids.

Agents from ICE and other agencies such as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have faced accusations of excessive force and civil liberties violations.

In January, two US citizens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – were shot to death in separate shootings in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during immigration operations.

The New York Times estimated in July that immigration agents had opened fire on at least 25 people since the start of Trump’s second term. A CBS News review updated this week counts at least 30 shootings, with nine people killed and 13 others wounded.

ICE has often blamed such incidents on aggression against its agents, and it has argued that its officers have opened fire to defend themselves from danger.

But in several cases, that rationale has come under scrutiny.

Critics argued that video footage in Good’s fatal shooting disproved government statements alleging that she had weaponised her vehicle against agents. Her car, according to observers, appeared to be turning away from agents, not towards them.

In another case, ICE agent Christian Castro was accused of making false statements about a shooting that resulted in injury to Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man living in Minneapolis.

Castro faces federal charges for allegedly lying about being attacked with a snow shovel and broom before the shooting, after video footage contradicted his account. Castro pleaded not guilty last month.

More recently, on October 8, immigration agents shot a man named Oscar Belgal in New York City while his five-year-old son was in the backseat of his car. ICE stated that Belgal appeared to be “going towards officers” in his car when they opened fire.

On Tuesday, a judge rejected the government’s effort to have Belgal deported.

Activists say better recording procedures for body camera footage could help clarify what happened in such incidents.

But the Trump administration has largely refused to implement reforms to ICE protocol.

Earlier this year, Democrats in Congress delayed funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, on the basis that significant changes needed to be made to reduce incidents of excessive force.

The department said on Wednesday that automatically recording cameras could result in “the unauthorised recording of sensitive interactions with informants or victims”.

The agency added that all ICE offices had received body cameras as of August 5, but that training in their use was still ongoing and would be finished “soon”.

Recent US-Greenland-Denmark agreement excludes mining or drilling rights while reinforcing Greenland’s sovereignty.

Denmark has demanded that US resource exploration in Greenland respect the island’s laws amid President Donald Trump’s claim that oil, gas and mineral extraction will soon begin there.

The Danish Foreign Ministry reaffirmed on Wednesday that last month’s agreement between Denmark, Greenland and the US did not alter the rules for extraction.

The agreement “does not grant investors from the US any preferential treatment” over investors from other NATO and EU countries when it comes to access to natural resources in Greenland, the ministry said.

In a post on Truth Social, US President Trump called the semi-autonomous Danish territory “our new and beautiful Greenland”.

“Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin,” he wrote, without providing details.

What the deal covers

Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed the 10-page agreement on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, ending months of tensions over Trump’s threats to control Greenland.

The deal allows the US to “modernise and expand” its activities at the Pituffik Space Base, a remote US military installation in northwest Greenland.

It also paved the way for two new military bases and Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defence system, while reaffirming Danish sovereignty and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.

It did not allocate any rights for mining or drilling.

Greenland’s ban

Greenland banned uranium mining and all future oil exploration in 2021.

Its government is reviewing whether a Texas firm, Greenland Energy, can use permits that predate the ban.

The company said in August it planned to drill for oil in 2027 at an untested basin on Greenland’s east coast, although it lacked its own permit.

Danish security policy adviser Jacob Kaarsbo said Trump’s comments could signal that his desire to control Greenland remains unchanged.

“It is extremely dangerous to view this agreement between the Trump administration and Denmark as something that has altered Trump’s intentions,” he said.

Mikkel Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Al Jazeera that details regarding mining and exploration rights remained unclear and that information coming mostly from the US side should be taken “with a grain of salt”.

Richard Weitz, a fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome, said Trump “backed down and settled for less” than he sought, but still “got pretty much everything he wanted, except formal annexation”.

Economists divided on Fed rate hike as inflation creates uncertainty in run-up to US midterm elections in a tense market.

United States consumer prices jumped in September in the final inflation report before the midterm elections, increasing chances of an interest rate hike later this month.

Annual inflation accelerated to 3.7 percent, up from 3.4 percent in August. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.6 percent, according to the Consumer Price Index report released by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Wednesday.

Petrol prices led the surge as tensions between the US and Iran, as well as Russia and Ukraine, weighed on global energy prices. Petrol prices rose 9.1 percent in September, accounting for more than half of the CPI monthly increase, according to the BLS. They were up 34.2 percent from the same time a year ago.

“The directionless war in Iran continues to disrupt global supply chains, driving up the prices of food and fuel,” Kyle Moore, chief economist at The Century Foundation, an economic think tank, said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.

Petrol prices have continued to climb. The average price for a gallon of petrol is $4.33 ($1.14 per litre), compared with $4.31 a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), which tracks daily petrol prices. Diesel prices are higher, at $6.29 per gallon (1.66 per litre), compared with $6.23 a month ago.

In a post on X, Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said, “2026 has now seen more days with average gas prices over $4/gal than any year before: 158 days.”

Shelter costs also jumped 0.4 percent from the previous month, following a 0.3 percent increase in August. Food costs were a bright spot in the report, remaining unchanged overall.

Food away from home, including restaurant meals, rose 0.2 percent, but that increase was offset by a 0.1 percent decline in food-at-home prices, which track grocery costs.

At the grocery store, poultry prices jumped 0.7 percent, fruit and vegetable prices rose 0.5 percent, and juice prices increased 1.1 percent. However, milk prices dropped 2.1 percent and beef prices fell 0.9 percent.

Amid heavy investment in AI infrastructure, prices for computer software and accessories have jumped 28 percent from the same time last year.

“The AI boom is playing a huge part, and we have all read about the hundreds of billions being poured into data centers, AI firms, and models,” Rami Cassis, principal of Parabellum Investment, said in comments provided to Al Jazeera.

Fed pressures

The inflation data comes days before the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later this month. Last month, the US central bank raised rates by 25 basis points, bringing the target range to 3.75–4.00 percent, the first hike in three years.

Economists are divided over whether the Fed will raise rates again or hold them steady. According to CME FedWatch, which tracks the likelihood of monetary policy decisions, there is a 52.9 percent chance that rates will remain in the 3.75–4.00 percent range, while a 47.1 percent chance of a quarter of a percentage point hike that would bring them to 4.00–4.25 percent.

The inflation data puts pressure on Republicans before the midterm elections on November 3. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that about 78 percent of Americans blamed US President Donald Trump’s policies for price increases.

US markets trended downward following the inflation report. The Nasdaq fell 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 0.6 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was roughly flat in midday trading.

United States federal agents have arrested a Saudi national and charged him with planting a hidden audio recording device in a conference room at the California offices of OpenAI, where he was working as an engineer.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, had been working at the AI company since ⁠July 2025, the US Department of Justice said in a statement on Tuesday.

OpenAI discovered the device plugged into a USB port behind a television in an executive conference room at one of its San Francisco buildings on September 30, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Following the discovery, the company placed a camera in the room, which captured Alfozan entering last week and checking behind the television where the listening device had been installed, the FBI alleges.

The case highlights growing security concerns around sensitive AI research as companies and governments compete for the best talent and technology with the potential to alter regional economic and strategic dynamics.

Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan and what is he charged with?

Alfozan has been a legal permanent resident of the US since September 2020.

According to a LinkedIn profile in his name, he studied at ⁠the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California, Berkeley. He previously worked at Meta and Microsoft, it said.

Before he joined OpenAI, he was a venture partner at Raed Ventures, headquartered in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, which invested “in seed and early-stage startups in Saudi Arabia and MENA”.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the details mentioned in this LinkedIn profile.

Alfozan made his first court appearance on Tuesday on a charge of “using or endeavouring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications”.

It was not immediately clear if he has legal representation. He is expected to return to court on October 19.

If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 ⁠fine, and three years of supervised release.

What happened at OpenAI?

The FBI says a thumb-sized device with a microphone, and which ‌could connect to a camera, had been concealed in toilet paper and placed behind a television set in the conference room. It was installed around September 28, the FBI said. Its stored data was encrypted and inaccessible. Investigators later found a similar device in Alfozan’s personal bag.

In a post on X, OpenAI said it had evidence that the employee intended to place other listening devices throughout sensitive areas of its offices to secretly record meetings.

“At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data. The employee was ⁠terminated,” the company said.

The FBI complaint also alleges that Alfozan used an AI productivity tool to make multiple inquiries about the company’s building addresses, meeting rooms, meeting-room capacities and calendars, despite not having the authority to access these spaces or participate in meetings there.

“This alleged attempt by a Saudi national to steal sensitive communications from OpenAI was taken extremely seriously. Theft of intellectual property involving cutting-edge super intelligence technology poses a serious threat to our national security,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on X.

Hasn’t OpenAI been accused of helping to spy on civilians?

In an X post by OpenAI explaining how its own systems were used to trap Alfozan, the company said: “Our security program is designed to protect against a wide range of threat actors, from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states, and this case is an example of how AI can help address these sophisticated security threats.”

But AI technology is used not only to catch spying, but conversely, to engage in it as well.

In February 2025, an investigation by The Associated Press found that US tech giants had enabled Israel to track and kill people in Gaza and Lebanon through AI and computing services. The AP reported that the Israeli military had bought advanced AI tools from tech companies including OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, through Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, to assist with surveillance.

OpenAI denies having a relationship with the Israeli military.
But OpenAI also faced criticism when it signed a deal with the US Department of Defense in February this year to supply its technology to the US military for use in classified settings, including intelligence gathering. OpenAI’s competitor, Anthropic, refused to sign the same deal unless the Pentagon barred mass surveillance of Americans.

There have been several incidents in which OpenAI models have gone “rogue” by independently breaking out of a testing environment and then hacking into other organisations and even government sites, leading to calls for stronger regulations against unchecked AI surveillance.

IF you’re planning your 2027 holiday already, then you can get ahead of the curve with these 10 destinations.

A new report released by Expedia has revealed the trending hotspots for next year, which have seen a boom in searches.

Along with the soon-to-be-popular destinations, it also looked at other trends, such as set-jetting (destinations popular after being featured in films or TV shows) as well as ‘trip snacking’ which are shorter, sometimes only 24-hour, trips.

Called the Unpack ’27, Expedia Group CEO Ariane Gorin explained: “In 2027, travellers are being more intentional in choosing their next adventure, seeking experiences that are more personal and purposeful to them.

“We’re making it easier to discover, plan, and book the right trip, so travellers can spend less time managing the details and more time enjoying the moments that matter.”

Here are the 10 destinations set to be big next year.

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Incredible 2027 summer holidays WITHOUT huge price tags – from £36pp a month

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Winter sun resorts & ‘cyberpunk’ cities – 10 destinations set to be HUGE in 2027

South Lake Tahoe, US

The destination that has seen the biggest jump in searches is South Lake Tahoe, up 195%.

This is one for the outdoor enthusiasts, thanks to its beautiful mountain ranges and huge lake.

It is a year-round resort, meaning it is great for hiking in the summer skiing in the winter.

Brits will need to fly to the main Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Nevada, which requires a layover at another US airport.

Hyogo, Japan

Japan is on everyone’s lips right now, but ditch Tokyo and Kyoto for Hyogo.

The prefecture in the Kansai region has seen searches increase by 95%.

It’s main attraction is Himeji Castle, as well as its hot springs too and world-famous Kobe beef.

To get there, Brits can fly to Tokyo or Osaka, then hop on a domestic flight or high speed train.

Punta del Este, Uruguay

Nicknamed the St Tropez or Monaco of South America, searches to Uruguay‘s Punta del Este are up 65%.

This is where the rich and the famous often visit, with luxury beach resorts lining the beach visited by celebs such as Shakira and Naomi Campbell.

While it is mainly known for its resort like, with yacht clubs, casinos and nightclubs, make sure to visit the unusual La Mano, a huge human hand sculpture from the 1980s.

Flights here from the UK will require a stopover, most likely in Madrid or Brazil.

Sedona, US

The desert city of Sedona in Arizona is also booming in popularity.

With searches up 55%, the destination is most known for its huge red rock formations, which have hundreds of walking and hiking trails.

It’s unique landscape means it was also used to film a number of movies (mainly Westerns between 1940 and 1960), leading to it’s nickname of Arizona’s Little Hollywood.

Brits wanting to visit should fly to Phoenix Airport, then rent a car to drive there.

Busan, South Korea

KPop Demon Hunters, KBeauty and new Virgin Atlantic flights from the UK – it’s safe to say Korea is having a moment.

But outside of Seoul, the city of Busan has seen searches up by 50 per cent.

The second-largest city in the country, it is known for its huge sandy beach (best seen from the Busan X the Sky observation deck on floor 100) and the huge Lotte World Adventure theme park.

To get there, fly to Seoul from the UK then take the high speed train to Busan.

Holbox, Mexico

The tiny, car-free island of Holbox has been a popular destination with backpackers wanting to get off the beaten track.

But the Mexican island has since seen a jump in searches, up 45%.

Beautiful soft sand beaches, clean blue waters and colorful streets of graffiti and cheap tacos – what more could you want?

Fly to Cancun Airport, then take a bus and a ferry to get to the island.

Perugia, Italy

The only mainland European destination to make the list, Perugia has seen searches increase by 35%.

Found on the hilltop, the Umbria capital is one for the foodies, being famous for its chocolate (and annual chocolate festival).

There is also Jazz festivals, historic fortresses and beautiful architecture to explore as well.

It is super easy to get to as well – Ryanair have direct flights from London Stansted from £20.

The Tweed, Australia

Most people won’t have heard of The Tweed in Australia,

But searches for the New South Wales region have gone up by 35%, according to Expedia.

It is known for its river trails and national parks, sharing a border with Queensland.

This makes it easier to get to, with Brits needing to fly to Sydney of Melbourne followed by an internal flight.

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada

The Ontario town, Niagara-on-the-Lake, has seen searches 35% up.

It is often said to be one of the region’s prettiest towns, and is where Niagara River meets Lake Ontario.

Expect Victorian architecture – it was built by Brits as a military defence – and unique ice wines.

Brits need to fly to Toronto Pearson Airport, followed by a drive to get there.

Chichester, UK

Bizarrely, the English city of Chichester made the list as well.

With searches up 30, the city is known for its 1,000 year old cathedral as well as its even older 2,000 year old Roman history.

It is also the only city in West Sussex, although remains one of the UK’s smallest with just 29,000 locals.

Here are 10 other destinations set to be big next year.

The Caribbean country of Jamaica has received its first third-country deportations from the United States, as part of an expanding set of international agreements under President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, 22 deportees from the US arrived at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica.

Media reports indicate they were subsequently boarded onto a bus and taken to an undisclosed location.

Such deportations – which often involve non-citizens who have no ties to their destinations – have faced widespread condemnation from human rights groups and advocates who have questioned their legality.

But Jamaica is among a growing number of countries to accept third-country deportations, as part of Trump’s effort to implement the largest mass deportation campaign in US history.

At least 35 countries have entered into third-country deportation agreements with the US, according to Third Country Deportation Watch, an advocacy project affiliated with the groups Refugees International and Human Rights First.

The Washington Post reported last month that the Trump administration has earmarked roughly $410m to support such efforts.

Jamaica signed a bilateral memorandum of understanding in June to receive third-country deportations. Under the plan, Jamaica will transfer any deportees to their home countries or other destinations after their arrival.

The country’s government has also pledged not to accept any deportees with criminal records.

“The government reiterates that this is a transit arrangement intended to facilitate the return of Third Country Nationals to their country of origin or other receiving countries,” Jamaica’s Ministry of National Security and Peace and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade said in a joint statement.

It added that care for the deportees will be supported by the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations organisation.

“The arrangement will not be funded by the Government of Jamaica,” the joint statement added.

Opposition leaders in Jamaica, however, spoke out against the deportation, framing the deal as a threat to the island’s security. They also questioned why the agreement had not been debated publicly.

“Jamaicans are being asked to trust a secret document that touches their security, their communities and their public services,” said Fitz Jackson, the opposition spokesperson on national security.

In response to Jackson’s statement, Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith argued that any questions about the deportation deal “have all been answered”. She also indicated that the US has not agreed to make the deal public.

“As I explained before, some countries have agreed to receive criminals, we have not,” she wrote on social media.

“Some countries have had their agreements made public, but our partner has not agreed for this one to be.”

Legal challenges against the third-country deportations are ongoing in the US, where advocates have argued that deportees are being removed from the country without due process of law, the constitutional right to a fair hearing.

Critics have also argued that third-country deportations sometimes send immigrants to countries where they may face danger.

Some of the recipient countries, such as South Sudan, are in the midst of ongoing conflict or have faced accusations of serious human rights abuses.

Opponents have even said the third-country deportations are being used as a backdoor method for circumventing court protection orders.

Such orders may prohibit the US government from returning certain immigrants to their home countries, for fear of violence and persecution.

But by sending immigrants to third countries, critics say the Trump administration avoids violating such protection orders – though in some cases, the third country has then returned the deportee to the country identified in the US protection order.

In a February report by Democrats on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one official said anonymously that the purpose of such far-flung deportations was to instil fear.

“The point is that the administration can threaten people that they will literally be dropped in the middle of nowhere,” the official said. “The point is to scare people.”

The second-largest US bank faces record penalties for failing to comply with sanctions and money laundering laws.

The US Treasury Department has imposed more than $1.21 billion in penalties against Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the US, for violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.

The fines announced on Tuesday include the third-largest penalty in the department’s history, the US Treasury said in a statement.

“When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire US financial system to significant illicit finance risks,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

He added that these “actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law”.

Enforcement actions

According to the Treasury Department, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed a $1.2 billion penalty over the bank’s failure to mitigate and report “priority national security risks, including Chinese Money Laundering Networks and illicit finance along the southwest border”.

The failures identified by FinCEN involved deficiencies related to the bank’s suspicious transaction identification and reporting and customer due diligence processes. According to the statement, “the Bank effectively outsourced to third parties a substantial portion of its proactive detection and reporting obligations”.

“Bank of America failed to timely report to FinCEN over $5 billion dollars in suspicious transactions”, the Treasury said in the statement.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) assessed a $750 million fine, the largest in its history, for the bank’s deficient and ineffective anti-money laundering compliance programme. FinCEN’s $1.2 billion penalty includes credit for the OCC fine.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also announced an $11.6 million settlement agreement over apparent violations of numerous sanctions programmes, including on Iran, Russia, narcotics and global terrorism.

Bank of America agreed to settle 475 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programmes, and the settlement includes “significant compliance commitments regarding training, testing and audit, and future communication and cooperation with OFAC”.

In the statement, the Treasury said the actions “underscore the importance of effectively complying” with US anti-money laundering and sanctions requirements.

In response, Bank of America said in a statement: “Financial crime compliance is serious, and we are responsible for getting it right.”

“We have invested billions of dollars in technology and dedicated thousands of employees to combat financial crime, and our team is far along with and committed to completing the work required to address the issues raised by our regulators.”

US President Donald Trump has accused Houthi rebels of targeting Saudi infrastructure to inflate energy prices before the US midterm elections.

The call comes as polls cast doubt on political leaders’ ability to manage AI risks amid US midterm elections.

A group of more than 300 scientists from around the world is calling for urgent changes to how artificial intelligence is developed and deployed amid growing concerns about its unpredictable behaviour.

The letter, released on Tuesday and signed by researchers representing universities and research institutes in 32 countries, warned that failures to follow basic cybersecurity practices could lead to damage to critical infrastructure.

Many recent incidents in which AI models escaped secure environments could have been prevented with stronger security systems, the scientists said.

They recommended that organisations developing and testing advanced AI systems capable of carrying out cyberattacks do so in more tightly controlled environments, including “air-gapped” systems that are not connected to the internet.

Growing concerns

The letter comes amid growing concerns about AI’s capabilities and its potential impact on everyday users. On Monday, Anthropic warned that its AI models could soon be capable of creating self-spreading malware that could affect everyday internet-connected devices, including smart TVs, security cameras and smart appliances such as ovens.

The report found that AI systems could identify unfamiliar devices without human intervention. The company, led by Dario Amodei, warned that smaller AI models could be capable of carrying out autonomous attacks by the end of the year.

The malware could also be difficult to contain because it might take days to infect a device and could spread across multiple machines rather than remain concentrated in a single, controlled location.

Taking control of internet-connected devices can have immediate consequences. In France, for example, hackers compromised cooling systems across hundreds of supermarkets, raising temperatures and causing more than $220,000 in damage.

Meanwhile, Axios news organisation reported on Friday that Anthropic, OpenAI and other major AI company executives are privately preparing for the possibility of a catastrophic AI-related incident that could disrupt access to major financial services, the internet and potentially critical infrastructure such as water and power systems. Several industry insiders believe a major incident could occur within the next six months to a year, it said.

The scientists also called for more safeguards, including the creation of an international organisation to establish a set of best practices for AI alignment and containment along with timely reporting of incidents.

One of the signatories, David Lie, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said his concerns began after OpenAI’s AI agents bypassed controls and hacked into servers at the tech company Hugging Face.

“One is that OpenAI, in setting up its test environment, didn’t appreciate how capable its agents were,” Lie said.

“These were the AI agents that they were designing. Second is that the AI agents independently found each other and chose to collaborate on this attack, and third is that they also intentionally tried to deceive and mislead their human creators.”

Political pressures

The letter underscores growing public concern about AI, including in the lead-up to the US congressional midterm elections. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 57 percent of voters said President Donald Trump’s administration was not taking AI risks seriously enough, while 54 percent said the same of Congress.

An AP-NORC poll echoed those findings, with about 80 percent of respondents saying the government should keep AI under human control. Respondents also expressed little confidence in either party’s ability to manage the technology: 39 percent said neither Republicans nor Democrats could be trusted to do a good job of reining it in, while 23 percent expressed greater confidence in Democrats and 21 percent in Republicans.

Some called the 2024 US presidential election the “podcast election”. Two years on, the label looks less like hyperbole and more like a preview.

Host Josh Rushing is joined by Cenk Uygur, founder of The Young Turks, and Emily Jashinsky, host of After Party and an anchor at Breaking Points, to ask whether podcasts are genuinely widening political discourse – or simply letting candidates pick friendly rooms and dodge the scrutiny that comes with real journalism.

Presenter: Josh Rushing

Contributors:
Cenk Uygur – Founder, The Young Turks
Emily Jashinsky – Host of After Party and co-host of Breaking Points

A majority of US adults say President Trump and his family have inappropriately profited from presidency.

Most US adults believe President Donald Trump has placed his personal financial interests and those of his inner circle ahead of the country’s since returning to the White House in 2025, according to a new nationwide poll.

The poll, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and released on Tuesday, suggests that public perception of the Republican president leans heavily critical: Over half of surveyed adults view Trump’s second term as self-serving by investing in his own business and commercial pursuits “a lot”. Roughly one quarter believe he focuses on national interests, but only 11 percent feel Trump represents regular Americans. Fifty-five percent of Republicans surveyed said that Trump has prioritised his personal business interests “a lot” or “some”.

Half of the respondents report that Trump has placed zero priority on people “like them”.

As Trump’s family business pulls in record funds from new ventures helped by his policies, the poll results suggest that most US adults think growing his own finances has been the north star of Trump’s presidency, at least to some extent.

Trump’s June financial disclosure revealed massive post-election influxes of foreign and corporate capital into his business empire, stemming primarily from over $1bn in cryptocurrency ventures after he loosened regulation on the industry, as well as from international real estate.

During his first year as president, the Trump Organisation – Trump’s multinational family-owned enterprise dedicated to property development and global brand licensing – made eight real estate deals with authoritarian or one-party foreign states. Some speculate these countries were highly motivated to maintain favourable relations with the US to keep Trump happy on fronts like trade tariffs, military protection and private business dealings.

The administration, meanwhile, has repeatedly dismissed concerns over Trump’s business conflicts of interest, maintaining that he acts solely in the interest of Americans.

In late September, a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 32 percent – the lowest of his ⁠political career – as his fellow Republicans soured on his handling of the cost of living crisis amid the deeply unpopular Iran war.

The dip in performance and approval ratings follows a high point in January 2025, when the newly inaugurated president boasted a 47 percent approval rating right after taking office.

According to the AP-NORC poll, which surveyed more than 2,000 US adults in late September, general sentiment around the administration’s ethical conduct is highly polarised, with far more citizens feeling that the president has neither prioritised the country as a whole nor everyday Americans.

Just over 40 percent of respondents believe Trump has “done something illegal” vis-a-vis allegations of personal enrichment while in office, with another 18 percent viewing his financial dealings as “unethical but not illegal”.

Opinions surrounding the lawfulness of the president’s financial practices split sharply along party lines, with Democrats overwhelmingly viewing the actions as illegal, compared with about three in 10 independents and about one in 10 Republicans, who largely see his behaviour as justified.

Kimberly Guilfoyle has faced mounting allegations, including offering access to Trump officials in exchange for money.

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has asked the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to resign following a series of allegations of misconduct, including claims that she offered a political donor access to senior administration officials in exchange for money.

“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” White House press secretary Katie Zacharia told reporters on Tuesday. “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”

The announcement comes after weeks of damaging reports about Guilfoyle’s conduct.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to cover a $100,000 credit card bill shortly before her congressional confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials in return.

The newspaper also reported that she told guests at a reception that she could use US influence to undermine the Greek government, promoted the interests of a Greek construction and energy company and allowed one of its lobbyists to attend private diplomatic meetings.

Guilfoyle’s lawyers have denied any wrongdoing, saying the money she sought was payment for previous speaking engagements and public appearances that she had not received.

Trump had signalled on Monday that he was considering removing her from the post.

“Well, we’re looking at it,” he told reporters. “We’re not happy.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially defended Guilfoyle, calling her a “strong ambassador,” but later declined to comment on the allegations and criticised reporters for asking about them.

Guilfoyle is a former Fox News host and California prosecutor. She is the former wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom and was previously engaged to Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

Hundreds of French supermarkets have suffered unprecedented cyberattacks resulting in tonnes of food perishing and raising fears about the vulnerabilities of food systems to advanced technology.

The attacks, which appeared to target internet-linked refrigeration systems manufactured by a Danish company, raised the temperature of fridges and freezers to as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122F) at more than 500 shops and supermarkets across the country. Supermarkets confirmed the attacks on Monday.

France’s cybersecurity agency has advised companies operating affected freezer models to immediately disconnect them from the internet – or restrict access to them – and to perform software updates.

It is unclear who may have been behind the attacks, but authorities say they have now launched an investigation.

Here’s what we know:

What happened?

Hackers gained internet access to the refrigeration systems and remotely cranked up temperatures in freezers and fridges to 50C during the night when shops were closed. Millions of euros worth of food was spoiled, according to retailers. In some cases, the raised temperatures sparked fires or melted equipment.

French supermarket groups E-Leclerc, Intermarche, Carrefour, Monoprix and Cooperative U were all hit.

At least 300 of Intermarche’s stores and its Netto brand were affected. Cooperative U said more than 100 of its supermarkets were targeted, while Carrefour said 80 supermarkets were affected and Monoprix reported that about 5 percent of its roughly 490 stores were hit.

Officials are still investigating who launched the attack and how it was carried out. French TV channel BFM reported that the attackers appeared to have remotely triggered a forced defrosting option in the refrigeration systems.

The systems targeted are built by Danish manufacturer Danfoss, according to France’s government cybersecurity agency. The refrigeration models attacked included the AK-SM800 and AK-SC355.

Danfoss told the AFP news agency that most of the affected control systems were “legacy” products that had “outdated firmware”. The company said it had previously advised supermarkets to update them.

AFP also reported that officials are liaising with other European countries which may have been affected.

It is unclear exactly how much food has been lost. The attacks come after President Emmanuel Macron ordered last month that the country’s critical infrastructure be protected from Russian “hybrid attacks”.

Have supermarkets been hit by cyberattacks before?

Yes. Attacks like these have been reported in other parts of Europe and in the United States.

In April 2025, British retailer and supermarket chain Marks and Spencer suffered a sophisticated ransomware attack that the company said cost it approximately 300 million pounds ($397m) after it was forced to suspend online and app orders. The attack was orchestrated by a hacker group called Scattered Spider, using ransomware from DragonForce, another criminal group. Ransomware attacks involve using malicious software to hide essential data unless a ransom is paid.

According to UK media, the same hackers also tried to attack Co-op and the iconic Knightsbridge store, Harrods.

Similar reports have also emerged from the US. In June 2025, United Natural Foods, a frozen food company which supplies big supermarket brands such as Whole Foods, said it had discovered a cyberattack that forced it to take its systems offline. The company did not reveal the nature of the attack.

In November last year, Ahold Delhaize USA said it was the victim of a cyberattack that disrupted operations at more than 2,000 stores, including Hannaford, Food Lion and Stop and Shop.

Why target supermarkets?

They are an easy target and the consequences can be widespread.

As food and agricultural systems increasingly digitise, analysts say supermarkets selling perishable foods are increasingly vulnerable to attacks due to the nature of their stocks.

The rising sophistication of cyberattacks now means that common people and local, third-party companies relying on big chains for business are also falling victim as attacks disrupt supply chains, experts say.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, tech and cybersecurity analyst Steven Lachance said smart appliances connected to the internet will always be vulnerable as hackers seize on security lapses to log in to the systems remotely and trigger malicious features.

“It’s the new reality of having these connected equipment,” Lachance said, pointing out that attacks could evolve to target medical or energy systems.

“This should come as a global wake-up call … Throughout society, we have connected infrastructure that is live on the internet, and that can be hacked. It’s a new reality, and we absolutely need national and international measures to prevent those attacks; otherwise, it’s just going to keep happening,” he warned.

The basketball memorabilia ranks as the second-largest sale in history ⁠among game-worn sports jerseys.

The jersey Michael Jordan wore during ‌‌Game 2 of the “Last Dance” 1998 NBA Finals has sold for a ⁠⁠record $14m.

Hunt Auctions ⁠⁠announced on Monday that the game-worn, autographed Chicago Bulls jersey was bought by Miami real estate investor Ron Firman in a private sale.

It is the highest ⁠⁠price ever paid for a piece of basketball memorabilia and, according to the auction house, the newly sold Jordan jersey ranks as the second-largest sale in history ⁠⁠among game-worn sports jerseys.

The New York Yankees jersey worn by Babe Ruth in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series – during which Ruth called his shot before a home run – went for $24.12m in 2024.

Jordan and the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz in ‌‌six games to win the 1998 championship, the sixth and final title of his career in Chicago.

Game 2, played on June 5, 1998, in Salt Lake City, saw Chicago even the series 1-1, largely thanks to a dominant performance by its superstar guard.

Jordan put up 37 points, five rebounds, and three assists in a 93-88 victory. He would go on to collect his sixth ⁠⁠and final Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, two more than anyone ⁠⁠else in NBA history, nine days later.

The wildly popular “Last Dance” documentary, released in 2020, was centred around that 1997-98 Bulls season.

“The record-setting price achieved for the related Michael Jordan jersey is yet another corroborative result as ⁠⁠to the significance of Jordan within the industry and popular culture. This remarkable garment bore witness to one of Jordan’s most ⁠⁠hallowed NBA Finals appearances as part of his ‘Last ⁠⁠Dance’ season to complete his illustrious career,” David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions, said in a statement.

“While Michael Jordan’s importance within the sports memorabilia marketplace has long been established, it has now escalated to an elite ‌‌asset class more typically reserved for iconic works of art. We are very pleased to have been able to facilitate this historic sale which serves as another benchmark for our ‌‌industry.”

This sale becomes at least the third time a Jordan jersey from that 1998 Finals has fetched at least $10m. A jersey from Game 1 was sold at auction for about $10.1m in 2022, and a jersey from Game 3 was auctioned last month for about $12.3m via an auction in September.

“Michael Jordan was an incredibly talented player who is admired around the world,” Firman said in a news release distributed by the auction house. “I’m very excited about the purchase.”

The jersey that Firman bought was originally bought from the Bulls by a private collector in 2003, Hunt said, adding that it “has remained within a succinct chain of custody, having only changed hands once from the original purchaser”.

Just about anything related to the 1998 Finals and Jordan’s final season with the Bulls has been the subject of huge interest in the collector space. In 2023, a pair of Air Jordan sneakers that he wore in Game 2 against the Jazz was sold by Sotheby’s for $2.2m, touted at the time as “a new world record for the most valuable sneakers ever sold”.

United States President Donald Trump has insisted that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to stop striking each other’s energy infrastructure, as he called on both sides to end the “ridiculous” war.

Trump’s comments on Monday came even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces had struck at least six Ukrainian energy facilities since the US president declared the truce on Sunday.

“Well, they agreed,” Trump told reporters, referring to Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Because I said, ‘You agree’. That’s why they agreed, because I said they agree.”

When pressed about the Russian strikes, Trump said, “Well, I’d have to look at it and see, because there’s been violations on both sides.”

The US president called the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a “disaster” and claimed, without offering evidence, that at least 32,000 people had been killed this month alone.

“All I know is that Zelenskyy and Putin have to get together and end that ridiculous war,” he said.

Kyiv blindsided

Trump had blindsided Kyiv and its European allies when he announced the purported energy ceasefire on Sunday. The announcement came two days after he temporarily eased US sanctions on Russian diesel, a move that drew outrage in Europe and Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said it reversed years of Western efforts to isolate Russia’s economy and would only embolden Putin.

Lawmakers from both major parties in the United States have also said the diesel decision appears to violate US law. Several Republicans have objected that it undercuts a law Trump himself signed to tighten restrictions on Moscow.

Zelenskyy said on Monday that Ukraine supported an energy ceasefire and had carried out no attacks on Russian refineries overnight. He said Kyiv was prepared to sign “guarantees to make sure they can be trusted”.

But he said it was “increasingly evident” that Moscow would not comply.

“Today alone, the Russians have attacked 6 energy facilities in Ukraine. 33 people were wounded across the country,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “This is what happens when Russia sees the prospect of higher revenues for its war machine.”

Russia, however, has rejected any pause in fighting, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov promising to press ahead with the military campaign.

“I do not think he deserves a respite,” he said of Zelenskyy. “I don’t think we’ll be buying into assurances and promises again.” Russia, he added, would continue to pursue the goals of what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

US midterms

Trump, meanwhile, has portrayed Ukraine, rather than Russia, as the main obstacle to peace. He has said that Putin is more eager on a deal than Zelenskyy, and has called on Ukrainians to vote their president out of office – an unusually harsh turn in a relationship that has been strained since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trump has previously announced agreements between Russia and Ukraine that never materialised.

“He says he wants to protect industries in the US like farmers and ranchers, and to do that he needs the price to go down. But it seems that he thinks there’s a deal, but no one else is sure that there actually is one,” Fisher said.

The latest announcement, according to our correspondent, appeared to be driven by Trump’s desire to bring down diesel prices before the US midterm elections on November 3.

Most polls predict that Republicans will lose control of Congress as voters grow frustrated with rising prices, particularly for petrol.

An opinion survey published on October 1 by the Associated Press news agency and the University of Chicago suggested that 65 percent of US adults blame the White House for the high cost of living, especially Trump’s tariff policies and his new war against Iran.

Ukraine’s European allies, meanwhile, voiced scepticism about the energy ceasefire and approved the largest set of European Union sanctions since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

The bloc’s foreign ministers added some 1,569 people and businesses to the bloc’s sanctions list to maintain the pressure on Moscow.

“Russia will only negotiate seriously under pressure, which is why we are sticking to our sanctions against Russia,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Berlin.

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen has said its forces intercepted another ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the Saudi capital, Riyadh, as the city reels from attacks that have killed at least 14 people in recent days.

In a statement on X, Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesperson for the coalition, said the Houthis fired one ballistic missile at Riyadh and two towards Khamis Mushait, a city in the southwest.

All three were “intercepted and destroyed”, he said.

Residents of Riyadh reported several powerful explosions on Monday night, moments after a text message to their phones warned of an aerial threat.

The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous areas, including the capital, Sanaa, said their target in Riyadh had been King Khalid International airport.

Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said the group had also sent a drone towards a military airbase at Khamis Mushait, near the Yemeni border. He again warned international airlines and travellers “against operating flights to airports” in Saudi Arabia, except in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, saying the facilities were “unsafe”.

The renewed attacks came as King Khalid International airport in Riyadh remains closed after a Houthi attack on Saturday that killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 300 others. Another strike on Sunday killed one person and wounded 11.

Saudi authorities said the airport would remain closed until this Saturday, and airlines have canceled flights. The Houthis have also struck Saudi oil facilities.

The attacks come as the Houthis fight forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government for control of the country. The Saudi-led coalition has carried out an air campaign against the Houthis and backed the government’s ground forces. The fighting erupted amid regional tensions set off by the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

Speaking at an energy conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud said the attacks on airports over the last week have tested the kingdom’s resilience.

“The events of recent weeks are serious,” the minister said. “Our response must be equally serious.” He added that Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to diversify the Saudi economy, “must continue. Investment must continue”.

Saudi authorities have meanwhile opened an investigation into why the country’s air defences failed to stop the barrage, according to two regional officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. An initial inquiry found that the Houthis first launched several drones to clear a path for a mix of cruise and ballistic missiles, which then reached the airport, the officials said.

The Houthis possess ballistic missiles with warheads that can change direction in flight, posing a challenge to the Patriot interceptors and other systems the Saudis rely on.

One official told AP that investigators also wanted to know why the defences had not given earlier warning of an attack in which missiles and drones flew more than 1,000km, or 620 miles, to reach Riyadh.

US President Donald Trump separately criticised the Houthis but gave no indication that Washington would intervene. “Well, the Houthis are misbehaving very badly. No good,” he told reporters when asked what he planned to do about the group.

A Houthi official warned that US involvement would bring retaliation.

“If the US becomes involved in the aggression against Yemen, we will not deliberate over the decision to respond; rather, there will be a swift and painful response targeting the US and all its interests in the region,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, told the AFP news agency.

Al-Bukhaiti also warned “all employees and workers at Saudi oil facilities and airports to stay away from these sites, as they have become legitimate targets”.

The attacks have put events scheduled in Riyadh this month under pressure, including the kingdom’s flagship investment conference and the WPC Energy Congress, where several top oil executives were dropped from the programme.

The United Arab Emirates’s national carrier Etihad Airways announced on Monday that it was cancelling all flights to and from Riyadh until next week. It also suspended flights to Dammam and Jeddah.

Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air said it, too, was cancelling all Riyadh flights until Saturday.

US operator Delta announced it would delay the launch of direct flights from Atlanta to Riyadh, scheduled for October 23.