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Emmanuel Macron accuses Elon Musk of supporting “a reactionary international” in a world in “disorder”

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Elon Musk on Monday of “supporting a new reactionary international” and interfering in the elections of other countries, such as Germany.

“Ten years ago, if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new reactionary international and intervene directly in elections, including Germany, who would have imagined it?” he asked during a speech before the annual conference of French ambassadors.

Macron warned of the “uncertainty” that lives a world increasingly in “disorder”, marked by the return of imperial impulses, the questioning of information and knowledge and the “very violent” questioning of humanism.

He warned that there is “an international of reactionaries” that represents “great private financial interests”, which takes advantage of the fact that “our liberal democracies have not been sufficiently effective” in protecting the middle class.

“We must achieve an agenda for the defense of democracy”

“We must achieve an agenda for the defense of democracy,” with counter-powers, and he also warned that large technology companies, while offering new possibilities, are also making States feel threatened by their growing power.

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Faced with this situation, he reached out to the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, assuring that the future tenant of the White House “kinds that he has a solid ally” in France.

He added that Trump, who will take office in two weeks, has “a lucid ambition about the transatlantic relationship” between the US and Europe, and recalled that France “knew how to work” with Trump during his first term in 2016-2020.

Macron also acknowledged that “if you are weak and defeatist, there is little chance of being respected by President Trump’s United States.”

The French head of state extended his criticism of Russia and Iran. Regarding Russia, he said that it “has changed” in the way it exerts its “aggressiveness towards Europeans,” and recalled its political and electoral interference last year in Romania, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.

Macron on Ukraine: “There is no quick and easy solution”

He also accused Moscow of “de facto globalizing” the war in Ukraine, which in his opinion is one of the great strategic challenges for Europe.

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Macron acknowledged that “there is no quick and easy solution to that conflict,” but also recalled that there will be no solution without the Ukrainians, something that Europe would not accept either.

And about Iran, he said that his ballistic program “threatens European territory” and that he has been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as in the conflicts in the Middle East.

“The Iranian issue is one of the main ones that we will deal with with the new US Administration,” he summarized.

Macron also warned about the “very important” risk of “regression” in the international fight against climate change, for which he said he is responsible for the recent disasters in Spain and in the French department of Mayotte.

“There is no justification for the continuation of Israel’s military operations”

On Gaza, he said that “there is no justification for the continuation of Israel’s military operations” in that territory and said that this year must mark the progress for the materialization of Palestinian aspirations.

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The French president also focused on international trade, which in his opinion must be “rethought”, because Europeans “have been too naive”, and gave as an example the dispute with China over electric cars.

“If there is no loyalty in trade, it is not possible to produce competitively in Europe,” he said, so he asked to “defend European production capacity at every step of the value chain.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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“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.

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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.

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“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.

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