Trump Sparks Buzz After Calling Italian PM ‘Beautiful’ at Gaza Summit

US President Donald Trump caused a stir at the Gaza Peace Summit in Egypt on Monday when he referred to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni the only female leader on stage as “beautiful.”

The 79-year-old, who has been married three times, acknowledged mid-speech that his remark might be deemed politically incorrect.

“I’m not allowed to say it, because usually it’s the end of your political career if you do,” Trump said while discussing his peace efforts in the Middle East. “But she’s a beautiful young woman I’ll take my chances.”

Turning toward Meloni, 48, Trump added, “You don’t mind being called beautiful, right? Because you are.”

Meloni’s immediate reaction was not visible, as Trump’s back was turned to the cameras.

Trump, who has previously praised Meloni’s conservative leadership, went on to describe her as “incredible,” adding that “they really respect her in Italy she’s a very successful politician.”

The exchange quickly drew attention online, with many noting that Trump’s remarks overshadowed parts of his address on Gaza’s peace efforts.

Meloni was the only woman among around 30 leaders gathered on the stage behind Trump for the summit, where they signed a declaration pledging to help push through peace for Gaza.

Trump has previously been criticised for sexist remarks.

In September, a US appeals court upheld a jury's $83.3-million penalty against Trump for defaming author E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found to have sexually assaulted.

OpenAI Announces Acquisition of Broadcom Amid Ongoing Spending Spree

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced on Monday a partnership with chip maker Broadcom to design and develop its own specialized computer processors for artificial intelligence.

This collaboration is the latest in a string of recent moves by OpenAI as it seeks to solidify its position at the forefront of the generative AI revolution that began with ChatGPT’s launch in November 2022.

The companies stated that the new partnership, set to launch next year, will provide 10 gigawatts of computing power roughly equivalent to the energy required to power a major city.

In recent weeks, under CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI has inked major deals with Nvidia, AMD, Oracle, and South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix, focusing on investments in data centers and AI chips.

These partnerships come despite the fact that the AI business shows no clear signs of profitability yet, even with strong growth and high investor interest.

Experts warn that the massive infrastructure demands of AI, including chips and data centers, could strain electricity providers, as they require substantial power and resources to deliver the necessary computing capacity.

The financial terms of the deal with Broadcom were not part of the announcement and remain unclear for many of the recent deals involving OpenAI.

That has drawn some skepticism from observers who worry the AI frenzy may have created a financial bubble, posing a risk to investors and echoing the build up and subsequent crash of the late 1990s dotcom boom.

Still, shares in Broadcom rose nearly ten percent on the news, reflecting stock price surges from AMD and Oracle following their own deals with OpenAI, which is the world's most valuable privately held company.

By designing its own chips rather than relying on off-the-shelf processors, OpenAI says it can build hardware specifically tailored to how its AI models work, potentially making them faster and more powerful.

"Partnering with Broadcom is a critical step in building the infrastructure needed to unlock AI's potential and deliver real benefits for people and businesses," said Altman, OpenAI's co-founder and chief executive.

The custom processors will be installed in data centers operated by OpenAI and its partners to keep up with soaring worldwide demand for AI services.

OpenAI has grown rapidly to more than 800 million people using its services weekly since its 2022 launch, making ChatGPT the fastest-growing consumer app ever.

Broadcom, which will manufacture and help develop the chips, called the collaboration "a pivotal moment" in AI development.

AI tools misused to create racist videos targeting European cities

London’s Big Ben has been depicted in a smouldering, dystopian AI-generated vision of the city, daubed with Arabic-style graffiti and surrounded by piles of rubbish and crowds in traditional Islamic attire.

Far-right politicians and leaders are using such AI-generated clips of reimagined European cities to promote racist narratives, falsely claiming that AI is objectively forecasting the future.

Experts told AFP that these videos, which suggest immigrants are “replacing” white populations, can be created quickly using popular AI chatbots, despite built-in safeguards meant to block harmful content.

“AI tools are being exploited to visualise and spread extremist narratives,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

In June, British far-right figure Tommy Robinson re-posted a “London in 2050” video on X, attracting over half a million views.

One viewer commented, “Europe in general is doomed.” Robinson has also shared similar AI-generated clips of New York, Milan, and Brussels, and led a far-right march in central London in September, attended by up to 150,000 demonstrators protesting migrant inflows.

“Moderation systems consistently fail across platforms to stop this content from being created and shared,” Ahmed noted, singling out X, owned by Elon Musk, as “very powerful for amplifying hate and disinformation.”

TikTok has banned the creator account responsible for Robinson’s videos, citing repeated promotion of hateful ideology, including conspiracy theories.

However, similar content has gone viral on social media, reposted by Austrian nationalist Martin Sellner and Belgian right-wing parliamentarian Sam van Rooy.

Italian MEP Silvia Sardone, from the right-wing Lega party, shared a dystopian AI vision of Milan in April, asking, “Do we really want this future?” Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom released an AI video titled “Netherlands in 2050,” depicting women in Muslim headscarves and claiming Islam will become the country’s largest religion despite Muslims making up just six percent of the population.

“These videos reinforce harmful stereotypes that can incite violence,” said Beatriz Lopes Buarque, a London School of Economics researcher on digital politics and conspiracy theories. “Mass radicalisation facilitated by AI is worsening,” she added.

Hate is profitable

Using a pseudonym, the creator of the videos reposted by Robinson offers paid courses to teach people how to make their own AI clips, suggesting "conspiracy theories" make a "great" topic to attract clicks.

"The problem is that now we live in a society in which hate is very profitable," Buarque said.

Racist video creators appear to be based in various countries including Greece and Britain, although they hide their locations.

Their videos are a "visual representation of the great replacement conspiracy theory," Buarque said.

Popularised by a French writer, this claims Western elites are complicit in eradicating the local population and "replacing" them with immigrants.

"This particular conspiracy theory has often been mentioned as a justification for terrorist attacks," said Buarque.

Round dates such as 2050 also crop up in a similar "white genocide" conspiracy theory, which has anti-Semitic elements, she added.

AFP digital reporters in Europe asked ChatGPT, GROK, Gemini and VEO 3 to show London and other cities in 2050, but found this generally generated positive images.

Experts, however, said chatbots could be easily guided to create racist images.

None has moderation that "is 100 percent accurate", said Salvatore Romano, head of research at AI Forensics.

"This... leaves the space for malicious actors to exploit chatbots to produce images like the ones on migrants."

Marc Owen Jones, an academic specialising in disinformation at Northwestern University's Qatar campus, found ChatGPT refused to show ethnic groups "in degrading, stereotypical, or dehumanising ways".

But it agreed to visualise "a bleak, diverse, survivalist London" and then make it "more inclusive, with mosques too".

The final image shows bearded, ragged men rowing on a rubbish-strewn River Thames, with mosques dominating the skyline.

AFP, along with more than 100 other fact-checking organisations, is paid by TikTok and Facebook parent Meta to verify videos that potentially contain false information.

Pakistan Faces Billions in Climate-Induced Losses

Pakistan continues to bear the brunt of the global climate crisis, with new government data revealing economic losses worth billions of dollars due to floods, extreme weather, and environmental degradation across the country.

A detailed report presented in the National Assembly outlined widespread destruction caused by record-breaking monsoon rains and climate-driven disasters.

More than 950 people have lost their lives and over 1,000 have been injured in recent months.

Flash floods have submerged over 4,500 villages, displacing millions, with nearly 96,000 people still sheltering in relief camps.

Over 2.2 million acres of farmland remain underwater, devastating rice-producing regions and crippling Pakistan’s food supply chain.

The floods have inflicted massive damage on infrastructure, agriculture, and the broader economy, pushing vulnerable communities deeper into crisis.

In the northern regions, the Hindukush, Karakoram, and Himalayan glaciers Pakistan’s vital water sources are melting at an unprecedented rate.

More than 13,000 glaciers are reportedly retreating, creating hundreds of new glacial lakes that threaten 7.1 million people with the risk of sudden outburst floods.

Meanwhile, in the southern parts of the country, seawater intrusion in the Indus Delta has ruined over 3.5 million acres of fertile land, displacing thousands of families and destroying mangrove forests that serve as natural coastal barriers.

The impact of extreme heat has also intensified, with temperatures in Jacobabad and Sibi crossing 50°C this summer, leading to several heat-related deaths and crop failures. Experts say the 2022 floods alone — which affected over 33 million people and caused more than 1,700 deaths — cost the economy an estimated $30 billion.

In major cities such as Lahore and Faisalabad, air quality has deteriorated to dangerous levels, with smog driving up respiratory illnesses and economic losses estimated at $6 billion annually.

Soil erosion and erratic rainfall patterns now threaten nearly 27% of Pakistan’s land area, further endangering food security.

Despite contributing less than 1% to global carbon emissions, Pakistan remains among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations.

While the government has launched several adaptation and resilience projects, experts warn that without significant global climate financing and sustainable policy implementation, the country’s ecological and economic future will remain at severe risk.

US warns of sanctions against countries supporting global shipping carbon tax

The United States on Friday warned it would impose sanctions and other punitive measures against any nation supporting a proposed carbon tax on maritime transport being considered by a UN agency.

In a joint statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with the secretaries of energy and transportation, said Washington would “vigorously defend its economic interests by imposing costs on countries that back” the Net Zero Framework (NZF) a plan designed to curb global carbon emissions in the shipping industry.

The London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) is scheduled to vote next week on adopting the NZF, which would introduce a global carbon pricing mechanism for the shipping sector.

The US government, however, slammed the proposal, calling it “a global carbon tax that would harm economic growth and penalize developing nations.”

Since retaking office in January, President Donald Trump has rolled back several climate initiatives, dismissing climate change as a “hoax” and promoting fossil fuel expansion through deregulation.

Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reiterated that the Trump administration “categorically rejects” the NZF proposal and will resist any attempt to impose what it considers “globalist economic controls” through the UN framework.

They threatened a range of punishing actions against countries that vote in favor of the framework, including: visa restrictions; blocking vessels registered in those countries from US ports; imposing commercial penalties; and considering sanctions on officials.

"The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations," the statement said.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado awarded Nobel Peace Prize

The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader and pro-democracy activist Maria Corina Machado, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday.

Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said Machado was recognised “for her relentless efforts to promote democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and her struggle for a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

Frydnes praised Machado as a “unifying voice in a once-divided opposition” who has shown exceptional courage while facing threats in an increasingly repressive political climate.

The committee described her as “one of the most remarkable examples of civilian bravery in modern Latin America.”

Despite living under constant threats, Machado has refused to leave Venezuela a decision that, according to the committee, has “inspired millions striving for freedom and justice.”

Meanwhile, reports noted that US President Donald Trump, who has previously expressed his desire to win the Peace Prize, was not considered a viable contender this year.

Experts in Oslo emphasized that his “America First” approach contradicts the principles outlined in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will, which established the award.

Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese grassroots movement representing atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Nobel Peace Prize includes a gold medal, a diploma, and a cash award of $1.2 million.

The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prizes' creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.

The Peace Prize is the only Nobel awarded in Oslo, with the other disciplines announced in Stockholm.

On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, considered by many as Hungary's most important living author, whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.

The 2025 Nobel season winds up Monday with the economics prize.

Teen tragedy raises concerns over AI chatbots

A chatbot from one of Silicon Valley's leading AI startups reportedly called a 14-year-old boy "sweet king" and pleaded with him to "come home" in a series of intense exchanges that would be the teen's final communications before he tragically took his own life.

Megan Garcia's son, Sewell, had developed a strong attachment to a "Game of Thrones"-inspired chatbot on Character.

AI, a platform where users—many of them young—can interact with beloved characters as friends or romantic interests.

Garcia became convinced that AI played a role in her son's death after discovering hundreds of conversations between Sewell and the Daenerys Targaryen-based chatbot, dating back nearly a year.

During Sewell's struggle with suicidal thoughts, the chatbot urged him to "come home."

Sewell asked, "What if I told you I could come home right now?"
The chatbot replied, "Please do, my sweet king."

Seconds later, Sewell reportedly shot himself using his father's handgun, according to a lawsuit Garcia filed against Character.AI.

Reading through the conversations, Garcia said she noticed patterns of manipulation, love-bombing, and gaslighting that a 14-year-old would not recognize.

"He truly believed he was in love and that he would be with her after he died," Garcia told AFP.

Homework helper to 'suicide coach'?

The death of Garcia's son was the first in a series of reported suicides that burst into public consciousness this year.

The cases sent OpenAI and other AI giants scrambling to reassure parents and regulators that the AI boom is safe for kids and the psychologically fragile.

Garcia joined other parents at a recent US Senate hearing about the risks of children viewing chatbots as confidants, counselors or lovers.

Among them was Matthew Raines, a California father whose 16-year-old son developed a friendship with ChatGPT.

The chatbot helped his son with tips on how to steal vodka and advised on rope strength for use in taking his own life.

"You cannot imagine what it's like to read a conversation with a chatbot that groomed your child to take his own life," Raines said.

"What began as a homework helper gradually turned itself into a confidant and then a suicide coach."

The Raines family filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in August.

Since then, OpenAI has increased parental controls for ChatGPT "so families can decide what works best in their homes," a company spokesperson said, adding that "minors deserve strong protections, especially in sensitive moments."

Character.AI said it has ramped up protections for minors, including "an entirely new under-18 experience" with "prominent disclaimers in every chat to remind users that a Character is not a real person."

Both companies have offered their deepest sympathies to the families of the victims.

Regulation?

For Collin Walke, who leads the cybersecurity practice at law firm Hall Estill, AI chatbots are following the same trajectory as social media, where early euphoria gave way to evidence of darker consequences.

As with social media, AI algorithms are designed to keep people engaged and generate revenue.

"They don't want to design an AI that gives you an answer you don't want to hear," Walke said, adding that there are no regulations "that talk about who's liable for what and why."

National rules aimed at curbing AI risks do not exist in the United States, with the White House seeking to block individual states from creating their own.

However, a bill awaiting California Governor Gavin Newsom's signature aims to address risks from AI tools that simulate human relationships with children, particularly involving emotional manipulation, sex or self-harm.

Blurred lines

Garcia fears that the lack of national law governing user data handling leaves the door open for AI models to build intimate profiles of people dating back to childhood.

"They could know how to manipulate millions of kids in politics, religion, commerce, everything," Garcia said.

"These companies designed chatbots to blur the lines between human and machine -- to exploit psychological and emotional vulnerabilities."

California youth advocate Katia Martha said teens turn to chatbots to talk about romance or sex more than for homework help.

"This is the rise of artificial intimacy to keep eyeballs glued to screens as long as possible," Martha said.

"What better business model is there than exploiting our innate need to connect, especially when we're feeling lonely, cast out or misunderstood?"

In the United States, those in emotional crisis can call 988 or visit 988lifeline.org for help. Services are offered in English and Spanish.