New rule ends open-ended stays and requires extensions after fixed visa periods for students and foreign media
Kuwait suffered one of its worst nights of Iranian retaliatory attacks since the Middle East conflict began, with strikes on a vital oil facility and a second power plant hit in as many days
President Donald Trump has said the US will ‘take over’ the Strait of Hormuz, accusing Iran of breaking the deal
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo was convicted in absentia along with 15 RSF commanders and allies
Beijing’s planned restrictions underscored the country’s chokehold over an industry that is critical to the global economy
The death of Senator Lindsey Graham leaves key US allies like Ukraine, which have at times struggled to influence the Trump administration, without one of their most effective conduits to the White House. Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at Hudson Institute, joined Balance of Power and said there's momentum for Congress to pass a Russia sanctions bill that had been championed by Senator Lindsey Graham. (Source: Bloomberg)
The Trump administration has asked OpenAI to limit the release of its next model, GPT-5.6, to only a small set of government-approved partners before any wider release, citing security concerns, according to a source familiar with the matter. Why it matters: This marks the first time the U.S. government has preemptively asked an American AI company to restrict the launch of a model before release. Driving the news: The White House's Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy asked OpenAI to limit the rollout of GPT-5.6 as the administration builds a framework for testing and evaluating the security of new models, per the source. The Information reported earlier Thursday that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared the plans for a limited rollout in a memo to employees. "We've made clear to the U.S. government that this is not our preferred long term model, and will work with them and others in industry to achieve a more sustainable approach for future releases," Altman said in the memo, according to The Information. Between the lines: The source told Axios that OpenAI has been proactively working with the administration on the model release since before Anthropic revoked access to its frontier models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, over a rare Commerce Department directive. The White House has been looped in on the capabilities of OpenAI's new model and has been able to preview its abilities. Behind the scenes: Altman discussed GPT-5.6 with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday, Axios has learned. Lutnick wanted to be sure all relevant parts of the government have tested and approved the model, a source familiar with the situation told us. The source said the government intervened because GPT-5.6 has "Mythos-like" capability, not because the administration is suddenly taking a heavier hand."This is what's happening with models of that caliber," the source said. The models are so powerful that the administration wants to be sure the co
By Khalil Ashawi DAMASCUS, July 12 (Reuters) - Syria's new parliament convened for the first time on Sunday, 19 months after rebels led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad, a milestone in the country's political transition despite the chamber's current limited powers. Sharaa, in a speech at parliament in Damascus, told lawmakers to "make this council a model of responsibility and competence" and described it as "a platform for truth and justice"
BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers will on Monday explore whether there is enough support for new measures to curb trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to diplomats and officials. The discussion will be based on a confidential paper by the European Commission that floats three different options - an import licensing system, prohibitive tariffs or a ban, a senior EU diplomat and a European official said