International
Chilean President abandons his fiscal reform and presents new proposal
August 2|
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said on Tuesday that his government will not insist on a rejected tax reform bill and will promote new initiatives to raise the necessary funds to address some of its promised social proposals.
In June, the leftist ruler had said that his government would insist at the end of July in the Senate to resume the legislative processing of the tax adjustment.
Through a new Fiscal Pact, Boric said that the spending proposals involve resources for 8,000 million dollars to finance programs such as the Universal Guaranteed Pension to improve the lowest pensions, reduction of waiting lists in health, as well as greater investment in citizen security.
“This proposal considers the contribution made by growth, the reform of the state, the strengthening of tax oversight and taxes paid by the higher income sectors to be able to finance in this way the social expenses that are urgent,” he said in a televised speech.
“We are not going to insist in the Senate with the bill that was previously rejected”, he added.
Boric did not specify deadlines for the delivery and processing of the initiatives, or how much the total collection is expected to be.
The government’s new proposal will be divided into two projects, one to improve tax compliance and the other to adjust income tax focused on those with greater resources.
“This initiative will also include tax incentives for investment, productivity and formalization, as well as benefits for the middle class and a new regime for smaller companies,” he said.
He specified that the tax incentives would be equivalent to 0.5 points of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The first project includes measures that seek to increase tax collection through legal modifications that do not imply a tax increase, which would increase tax collection by 1.5% of the GDP in net terms, according to a government minute.
Meanwhile, the second will be focused on income tax for both companies and individuals and will include incentives for investment, productivity and formalization, as well as benefits for the middle class and the new tax regime for smaller companies, which would have a fiscal cost of 0.5% of GDP.
At the investment level, tax incentives such as semi-instantaneous depreciation and a tax credit fund for investments with a multiplier effect on activity, employment and environmental sustainability are proposed.
It also commits to reduce by 30% the processing time for mining projects, according to the minutes.
Additionally, the plan includes five priority areas of productive diversification that by 2026 foresees three or four new lithium projects, two thirds of the energy matrix with renewable sources, 10-12 projects in the development of green hydrogen and an increase in the digital economy.
The original tax reform bill was rejected in March by the deputies and the government could only insist on its passage through the Senate.
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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