International
The Foreign Ministry of Chile protests against Colombia for Petro’s controversial statements about Jadue
The Foreign Minister of Chile, Alberto van Klaveren, delivered on Monday a harsh note of protest to Colombia in which he described as “unacceptable” and “imprudent” the statements of the president of this country, Gustavo Petro, who asked for the release of the mayor of the municipality of Recoleta in Santiago de Chile, the communist Daniel Jadue.
“They do not know the democratic trajectory of our country, as well as the existence of a rule of law,” the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs added in his account of X.
Petro said on his social networks that Jadue, in pretrial detention for more than a month accused of several crimes of corruption, is “prisoned by Pinochet’s jurisprudence imposed on free beings.”
In addition, he published a video of Gabriela Rivadeneira, one of the members of the International Justice Committee for Daniel Jadue, who demands his release and assures that imprisonment is because it can “end the great business of pharmaceutical companies.”
The president of Colombia released his statements on the same day that the hearing of review of the mayor’s precautionary measures was held at the request of the defense, but the court decided to keep the maximum and leave him in prison because he considers it “a danger to the security of society.”
In the morning, the spokeswoman for the Government of Chile, Camila Vallejo, said that Chile “has a rule of law” and “separation of powers,” and stressed that the changes in the Chilean political system “determine” by Chile, “not authorities from other countries.”
“The Executive cannot be giving its opinion, or less intervening on judicial proceedings that are underway, either for the commune of Recoleta or for another case,” he added.
Petro’s words put at risk the good relations between the governments of both countries and the mutual admiration that both presidents – Petro and that of Chile Gabriel Boric – have expressed several times.
Petro’s second and most recent visit to La Moneda in Chile took place in September last year, in the context of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état.
Jadue, a 56-year-old graduate in architecture and sociology of Arab origin, is one of the main leaders of Chilean communism. He played the presidential primaries of the left against Boric and, from his hand, the Communist Party settled on the front line of Chilean politics.
The politician of Chile is prosecuted for unfair administration, fraud, bribery, bankruptcy crime and tax fraud. All this within the framework of the management of the Chilean Association of Municipalities with Popular Pharmacies (Achifarp), of which he was president.
International
Three Killed, Four Injured in Shooting Near Seattle’s Space Needle
Three people were killed and at least four others, including a young child, were injured in a shooting near Seattle’s iconic Space Needle on Sunday, authorities said.
The shooting occurred during the annual Bite of Seattle food festival, held in one of the city’s busiest tourist areas. Police have arrested one suspect and are searching for a second individual believed to be involved.
Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis said officers responded to reports of gunfire at about 6:00 p.m. local time (0100 GMT Monday).
“Two individuals were shooting at each other,” Davis said, adding that investigators recovered two firearms at the scene.
Authorities confirmed that three people died as a result of the shooting. The identities of the victims have not yet been released.
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson said members of the State Patrol’s SWAT team had been deployed to assist Seattle police with the investigation.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson described the incident as a “horrific act of violence.”
“Our focus is on those who lost their lives, those fighting to recover, and the families standing beside them,” Wilson said in a statement.
Susan Gregg, a spokesperson for Harborview Medical Center, said the hospital admitted four victims: a young child, a 23-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman and another woman whose age was not immediately known and who required emergency surgery.
According to police, the hospitalized victims are in stable condition.
Witnesses told local television station KIRO that they heard multiple gunshots before crowds fled the festival area.
“At first I thought it was fireworks, and then everyone started running,” witness Nick Bate told the station.
Another witness told AFP that panic spread immediately after the shooting.
“We just started running. I didn’t even look to see where the shooter was. I just kept hearing the gunfire,” the witness said.
International
China Accuses U.S. AI Firms of Using Chinese Models to Train Artificial Intelligence
China on Monday accused U.S. artificial intelligence companies of using Chinese AI models to train their own systems, escalating tensions in the technological rivalry between the world’s two largest economies.
In a statement, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it has evidence that “many U.S. artificial intelligence companies have distilled Chinese models during their research, development and training processes.”
Model distillation is a machine learning technique that transfers knowledge from a larger, more advanced model to a smaller and faster one, allowing it to perform efficiently while requiring fewer computing resources. The approach is widely used across the AI industry.
U.S. officials have previously argued that Chinese firms employ distillation on a large scale to unlawfully replicate proprietary American AI systems. Beijing dismissed those allegations, calling them unfounded.
According to the Chinese ministry, Washington’s accusations “lack both factual and legal basis, apply double standards in practice, and represent a typical act of AI hegemony.”
“China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry added.
The statement comes days after a senior White House official accused Chinese startup Moonshot AI of secretly copying Anthropic’s most advanced AI model to develop its Kimi K3 system.
Moonshot’s latest model drew significant attention across the U.S. technology sector following its release, reigniting debate over China’s growing competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that Washington could impose sanctions on China as the administration considers restricting or banning foreign-developed open-source AI models, many of which are built using model distillation techniques.
International
Costa Rica Seeks to Expand Extradition Law to Target Organized Crime
Costa Rican President Laura Fernández announced that her administration will submit a constitutional reform bill to Congress on August 3 aimed at expanding the legal grounds for extraditing Costa Rican nationals accused of serious crimes.
Under current legislation, Costa Rican citizens can only be extradited to face prosecution abroad for international drug trafficking and terrorism. The proposed reform would broaden that list to include a wider range of organized crime offenses.
Speaking before the Legislative Assembly while presenting a broader package of public security initiatives, Fernández said the proposal seeks to strengthen the country’s fight against transnational criminal organizations.
“We are going to expand the grounds for extradition to include serious crimes,” the president said.
The initiative would allow the extradition of Costa Rican nationals accused of financing drug trafficking or terrorism, money laundering, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, arms and organ trafficking, contract killings, organized crime-related homicides, cybercrime and cyberterrorism.
“We will not stop in our national crusade against organized crime or in our relentless war against drug trafficking,” Fernández said.
A political ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, Fernández took office in May after campaigning on a promise to adopt a tougher stance against organized crime, which she has linked to the recent rise in violence in Costa Rica, a country long regarded as one of the safest in Latin America.
Costa Rica currently permits the extradition of its own citizens only for international drug trafficking and terrorism, following a 2025 constitutional amendment promoted by former President Rodrigo Chaves, who now serves as the country’s Minister of the Presidency and Finance.
Three Killed, Four Injured in Shooting Near Seattle’s Space Needle
China Accuses U.S. AI Firms of Using Chinese Models to Train Artificial Intelligence
Costa Rica Seeks to Expand Extradition Law to Target Organized Crime
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