US diesel prices have hit a new record, soaring past $6 per gallon this week US President Donald Trump has blamed Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for the ongoing diesel price shock, saying it was a result of Kiev’s attacks on Russian refineries. The national average price of diesel hit more than $6 per gallon on Friday, up from approximately $5.85 last week. The price has climbed some 60% compared to the same period last year, when diesel fuel cost some $3.71 per gallon. Market experts have mainly linked the hike to the conflict in the Middle East and the reignited hostilities between the US and Iran, which have prompted a renewed rise in crude oil prices. Trump, however, insisted that this was not the case, telling reporters while on a visit to Ireland that the diesel price spike was actually related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The US president said he had already raised the issue with the Uk...
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The group’s independent course and commitment to international law appeals to countries around the world, the Russian president has said International interest in BRICS “continues to grow” as the group’s values and independent approach attract countries around the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday. Speaking at a BRICS Outreach/BRICS Plus session that concluded its 18th summit in New Delhi, Putin pointed to the broad participation in the meeting as evidence of its growing appeal. “Our basic values and ideals, such as commitment to an independent and autonomous course and the desire to resolve problems collectively based on international law and the key provisions of the UN Charter, appeal to many around the world,” he said. BRICS has expanded significantly beyond its original five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – in r...
Industry leaders are backing closer oversight of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models OpenAI chief Sam Altman and xAI owner Elon Musk have backed calls to immediately slow the development of increasingly powerful AI models. Their statements came after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that AI could outpace human control and cause catastrophic damage within months. Four days ago, researcher Jacob Coxon publicly resigned from Anthropic, accusing both the company and his previous employer, OpenAI, of racing towards self-improving super-intelligence without “acting responsibly.” He also claimed that the technology could “kill us all” by the end of the decade. In a 3,800-word essay published on his personal website on Saturday, Amodei, who co-founded Anthropic with his sister Daniela in 2021, outlined “serious” dangers, including loss of control over AI sys...
Moscow and Kiev remain divided over territory despite progress on security and ceasefire mechanisms, Jared Kushner has said The territorial dispute between Moscow and Kiev remains the main obstacle to ending the Ukraine conflict, Jared Kushner, US special envoy and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has said. His comments came after he and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow and Kiev for high-level talks on ending hostilities. Speaking via video link at the annual YES 2026 conference in Kiev on Friday, Kushner said that Moscow “wants to discuss a way to resolve” the conflict, but “the hardest issue is still territory,” partly because the question is to a degree dictated by a battlefield situation that remains highly dynamic. “Seeing the advancement in the technology and the way that the battlefield has happened is, I think, beyond the expectation of both si...
Israeli insiders have described the targeting and profiling of Palestinians as “a video game” and “insanely fun” A new documentary alleging that Israel relied on powerful AI tools to kill thousands in Gaza has sent shockwaves through the Venice Film Festival, with one of the film’s insiders describing planning airstrikes as “insanely fun.” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has categorically rejected the film’s portrayal, insisting that the whistleblowers cannot be verified. The 80-minute-long film NAZA, which premiered on Thursday, is built around testimony from 24 anonymized Israeli military and intelligence insiders. Its title alludes to an Israeli military shorthand for expected “collateral casualties” in an attack. The film, which was made by two Israeli Oscar-winning filmmakers, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, received a roughly 25-minute standing ovation – the...
Earlier, two modeling agents accused of working with the late sex offender had been found dead amid the investigation French investigators have identified more “potential recruiters” who may have helped convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein obtain victims in France and elsewhere, a top prosecutor has announced. Speaking to France Inter on Thursday, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau gave an update on two investigations launched by her office in February after the release of millions of Epstein-related documents in the US. One probe is focused on human trafficking, including alleged recruitment, while the other covers possible money laundering and tax fraud. Epstein, who had extensive contacts among the international elite, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide but fueled conspiracy theories that he was mur...