International
16,000 evacuated from Kabul airport in past 24 hours: Pentagon
AFP
Around 16,000 people were evacuated over the past 24 hours from Afghanistan through the Kabul airport, the Pentagon said Monday, as the US speeds toward completing its airlift by an August 31 deadline.
General Hank Taylor told reporters that 61 military, commercial and charter flights involving a number of countries flew out from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the 24 hours to 3:00 am Monday (0700 GMT) carrying people escaping the country after the Taliban seized power.
Of the total evacuated that day, 11,000 were taken out by the US military airlift operations, Taylor said.
Taylor said the number of people relocated from Afghanistan since July on US flights hit 42,000, with 37,000 of those since the intense airlift operations started on August 14 as the Taliban moved to take Kabul.
That includes “several thousand” US citizens, and thousands of Afghans who worked for US forces, who had applied for or received special immigrant visas, and Afghans seen as at risk to Taliban attacks for their work in non-governmental organizations, the media, and other jobs, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby said focus remains on getting US evacuation operations done by the August 31 deadline set for the US pullout from the country by President Joe Biden.
That would require withdrawing the 5,800 US troops who have essentially run airport operations and maintained security since August 14, as well as large amounts of equipment brought in to support their mission.
German, British and French officials said Monday that evacuations on their part could continue after August 31, and said they want the US force to stay in place to help the international airlift.
On Tuesday leaders of the G7 group of wealthy nations will meet virtually on Afghanistan.
“Whether or not the US can be persuaded to stay is a matter for the prime minister (Boris Johnson) tomorrow in the G7 meeting,” British armed forces minister James Heappey told Sky News.
Britain currently chairs the G7, also comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Kirby did not categorically rule out Washington extending the deadline, although the Taliban have said they will hold the US to it.
For the United States, Kirby said, “The goal is to get as many people out as fast as possible.”
“The focus is on trying to do this as best we can, by the end of the month,” he said.
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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