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When US President Joe Biden recently signed off on a $80m grant to Taiwan for the purchase of American military equipment, China said it "deplores and opposes" what Washington had done. To the casual observer it didn't appear a steep sum. It was less than the cost of a single modern fighter jet. Taiwan already has on order more than $14bn worth of US military equipment. Does a miserly $80m more matter? While fury is Beijing's default response to any military support for Taiwan, this time something was different. The $80m is not a loan. It comes from American taxpayers. For the first time in more than 40 years, America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise. This is happening under a programme called foreign military finance (FMF). Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, FMF has been used to send around $4bn of military aid to Kyiv. It has been used to send billions more to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Egypt and so on. But until now it has only ever been given to countries or organisations recognised by the United Nations. Taiwan is not. After the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, it continued to sell weapons to the island under the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act. The key was to sell just enough weapons so Taiwan could defend itself against possible Chinese attack, but not so many that they would destabilise relations between Washington and Beijing. For decades, the US has relied on this so-called strategic ambiguity to do business with China, while remaining Taiwan's staunchest ally. FULL STORY

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Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Friday praised the Palestinian militant group Hamas for exposing what he called a weakened Israel and threatened to intervene in the war to protect Gaza from Israeli attacks. Nasrallah delivered a major speech in Lebanon, his first since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October, as fighting has raged between Hezbollah and Israel on the borders. The speech played on video in the capitol of Beirut, where crowds of supporters gathered to listen. The Hezbollah leader, appearing furious and emotional, said Gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe under an Israeli siege and announced that he could “adopt any option at any time” to respond to the crisis, which he said is in the “national interest” of Lebanon. He also warned that Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians could spark a war. “What the Israelis do to Lebanon will also determine how we will act,” he said. “All options are on the table on the Lebanese front.” Hezbollah and Israeli soldiers have primarily traded artillery and rocket fire in recent weeks, but the fighting has been near daily and the deadliest in years. Nasrallah’s threats of escalation come after Israel has encircled Gaza City, the Hamas stronghold, and is now fighting in the urban area. FULL STORY

Artificial intelligence will eventually mean no one needs to work, Elon Musk told Rishi Sunak last night. In conversation with the Prime Minister, the tech billionaire compared AI to a 'magic genie' that would bring a time when 'no job is needed'. Mr Musk said people could still work 'for personal satisfaction' if they wanted, and one of the future challenges would be finding 'meaning in life'. Mr Sunak replied: 'I'm someone who believes work gives you meaning.' Speaking in front of tech bosses and journalists, Mr Musk said: 'You can have a job if you want to for personal satisfaction, AI can do everything. 'I don't know if that makes people comfortable or uncomfortable. It's both good and bad. 'One of the challenges in future will be how do we find meaning in life. We won't have universal basic income but universal high income. It'll be good for education - it'll be the best tutor.' Speaking at Lancaster House following the AI summit at Bletchley Park, Mr Musk described 'a future of abundance where there is no scarcity,' calling AI a 'magic genie'. But he then quipped that those fairytales rarely end well. FULL STORY

AI-powered stem separation software was used to lift John Lennon's vocals from a demo tape to create the new version of Now And Then, released yestertday. The Beatles release their final song. 45 years in the making, Now And Then features vocals recorded by John Lennon in the '70s and extracted from a demo cassette using AI-powered stem separation technology. Thanks to advances in stem separation made over the past few years, Peter Jackson (maker of the Get Back documentary series) and a team of engineers were able to extract Lennon's vocal from the demo to be mixed into a new version of the song, featuring newly-recorded bass and drums from Paul and Ringo, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in 1995. Stem separation software separates recordings containing multiple instruments into their constituent parts, or stems; this made it possible for the producers to integrate Lennon's vocal with other musical elements when mixing the song's new version. When the remaining Beatles first considered recording the demo in 1995, this software didn't yet exist, so the song was shelved. Stem separation tools utilize a form of machine learning wherein the software is trained using thousands of existing songs to understand and recognize the frequency bands that individual elements of a mix, such as vocals, guitars and drums, typically tend to occupy. ARTICLE

Newcastle are spread thin but dreaming big, Ten Hag is under fire and West Ham face their bogey team Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend Newcastle are spread thin but dreaming big, Ten Hag is under fire and West Ham face their bogey team Guardian sport Ten Hag must bear brunt for United Fulham v Manchester United (Saturday, 12.30pm, all times GMT) West Ham cross capital to their bogey team Brentford v West Ham (Saturday, 3pm) Kompany must show return on investment Burnley v Crystal Palace (Saturday, 3pm) De Zerbi out to dodge another Everton rout Everton v Brighton (Saturday, 3pm) FULL LIST AND ARTICLE

Israel’s stated war aim is to destroy Hamas; Hamas wants Israel to commit such barbarities in response to its attack that it loses international support International calls for a ceasefire in Gaza are growing louder as the scale of destruction and humanitarian suffering visited on its population becomes ever clearer. Others, including the UN, call for at least a “humanitarian pause”. Is either likely? And could they pave the way to peace? Ceasefires, like peace processes, only work when both belligerents are either willing or can be persuaded to accept one and stick to it. In Gaza, this looks unlikely. In Syria in 2015-16 and in Sudan this year, similar attempts have failed dismally. In Ethiopia, a ceasefire with Tigray was achieved only after the two sides had fought each other to a standstill, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives. At this stage, both the Israeli government and Hamas probably calculate they have more to gain from a continuation of fighting. Israel’s stated war aim is to destroy Hamas as a fighting and political force and free all the Israeli hostages. An immediate ceasefire would hinder at least the first. It would also signal that Israel accepts restraint on its retaliation, unacceptable to a government – and people – shocked by the slaughter inflicted on them by a group explicitly committed to destroying their state. Echoes of the past are too strong. For many, Israel’s very survival depends on hitting their enemies harder than they are hit. So even if a ceasefire involved the release of all Israeli hostages, it would not suffice. The implication that it would be followed by negotiations with Hamas is, for many Israelis, still beyond the pale. Hamas’s war aim (unstated, and therefore speculative) is presumably to provoke Israel to commit such barbarities in response to its terrorist attack that it loses international support and becomes, ultimately, forced to make major concessions to the Palestinians in the form of a genuinely autonomous state. The longer the fighting continues, the more Israel’s moral case weakens. Even some Israelis recognise that their window of opportunity for retaliation is limited. FULL ARTICLE

A majority of the British public now hold positive views about the impact of immigration on the UK, despite intense political rhetoric surrounding the issue, according to an academic survey. The European Social Survey, which has sampled attitudes every two years since 2001, said British views on immigration and its economic and cultural impact had undergone “a complete about-turn” over the past two decades, becoming significantly more favourable after 2016. The survey asked people to rank out of 10 whether immigration was bad or good for the economy, whether cultural life was undermined or enriched, and whether it made the country a better or worse place to live, with 10 being the most positive. The latest poll, for 2022, shows that for the first time a majority of respondents thought immigration was very positive for the UK economy (59% ranking between seven and 10), enriched the country’s cultural life (58%), and made the country a better place to live (56%). In 2002 just 17% were very positive about the economic benefits, 33% thought it was culturally enriching, and 20% thought it made the UK a better place to live (2016: 44%, 46% and 39%). Although the government has pledged to reduce immigration, and MPs regularly claim curbing the net inflow of migrants is a critical issue for UK voters, the survey suggests public attitudes have evolved significantly in recent years and are far more positive than politicians assume. FULL STORY

Trump’s eldest sons claimed on Thursday that they had no knowledge of the financial statements at the heart of the family’s $250m fraud trial. Eric and his older brother Donald Trump Jr claimed in court that they had relied on accountants and others to make sure their financial records were correct. But lawyers for the New York attorney general presented evidence that the two brothers had been presented with paperwork that suggested they had prior knowledge of statements a judge has ruled “clearly contain fraudulent valuations”. Eric Trump’s comment came as lawyers quizzed the brothers about their knowledge of the financial statements that prosecutors argue prove the Trumps were instrumental in a scheme to inflate the family’s perceived wealth for financial gain. “I never had anything to do with the statements of financial condition,” Eric Trump testified. In a sometimes tetchy exchange, Eric Trump was asked about emails that showed subordinates asking for information about Trump’s financial reports. “Hi Eric, I’m working on your dad’s annual financial statement,” read one email from Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s former controller, asking for details about a Trump property. Eric Trump consistently denied specific knowledge and said he was “not very familiar with my father’s statement of financial condition”. At one point Eric Trump said “we’re getting tripped up” and said he had not realized at the time that he was being asked for information related to financial statements. “People in the company have conversations with you all the time, and you provide them with answers when you can,” said Trump. “I think I was 26 years old,” he added. “I was not aware of it, I never worked on it, and I didn’t know about it until this case came into fruition.” FULL STORY

Network urged to apologize to ‘every single viewer’ after host Jesse Watters seemed to advocate violence against Arab Americans Fox News must apologize to its viewers, a White House spokesperson said, after the rightwing channel’s host Jesse Watters seemed to advocate violence against Arab Americans, amid heightened tensions over the Israel and Hamas war in Gaza. On Wednesday evening, on the highly rated Fox show The Five, Watters said: “If you’re an Arab American in this country, and you rip down posters of Jewish hostages, American hostages, no. No, no, no. Someone is going to get punched in the face.” In a statement sent to the Guardian, the White House deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates, called Watters’ remarks “unacceptable” and said: “Fox News owes an apology to every single viewer for this sickening attack on the rights and dignity of their fellow Americans.” Israel says more than 1,400 people were killed and more than 5,400 injured when Hamas launched surprise attacks on 7 October. More than 240 hostages were taken. According to the Gaza health ministry Israeli strikes have killed more than 9,000. The same source says nearly 24,000 Palestinians have been injured. In the US, amid protest and counter-protest, instances of posters of hostages taken by Hamas being removed from public display have been widely reported. On Wednesday, Watters also said: “I want to say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world. We – and when I say we I mean the west and western technology – have created the Middle East. We made them rich. We got that oil out of the ground, our military protects all of these oil shipments flying around the world, making them rich. We fund their military. We respect their kings. We kill their terrorists. OK? But we’ve had it. We’ve had it with them!” FULL STORY

Former President Trump on Thursday referred to those jailed over their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol as “hostages” during a rally with supporters in Texas. Trump walked on stage at a Houston rally to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” as he typically does. But when it concluded, a song in which Trump collaborated with a chorus of inmates detained on charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection began to play, and the former president stood saluting. “Well, thank you very much, and you know what that was,” he said to open the rally. “I call them the ‘J-6 hostages,’ not prisoners. I call them the hostages, what’s happened. And you know, it’s a shame.” In the song “Justice for All,” which was released on multiple streaming services in March, Trump is heard reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The 45th president’s portion on the track follows a chorus of Jan. 6 inmates, credited on the song as the “J6 Prison Choir,” who sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The end of the song features the chorus repeatedly chanting “USA!” Money raised from the song was reportedly directed to families of the Jan. 6 mob who participated on the track. Trump has repeatedly expressed sympathy for rioters charged in connection to Jan. 6, when his supporters violently clashed with law enforcement and stormed the complex to try and halt the certification of President Biden’s 2020 victory. FULL STORY

Deadly strikes on a Palestinian refugee camp have fueled another wave of anger, renewed war crimes accusations and raised questions about the military strategy Israel is using as it prosecutes a war on Hamas that has racked up thousands of civilian deaths. Israel says the strike this week in the city of Jabaliya, which killed dozens, targeted a command center against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that raided southern Israel last month, killed more than 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages. But the strike has met fierce criticism from human rights groups and Arab countries, because Israel is bombing densely populated areas in its campaign to defeat Hamas. “I don’t think Israel should be bombing any civilian areas,” said Imad Harb, the director of research and analysis at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. “I don’t see what is accomplished, honestly. I don’t think anything is going to be accomplished by bombing more civilian areas, by creating more craters in the ground.” The refugee camp is located in the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya, which has a population of more than 170,000. Israel had told people in the north of Gaza to move southward, but that is difficult for much of the population. Harb said the longer the war goes on with such a high civilian cost, the more likely Israel will face calls to stop the bloodshed, noting that President Biden has called for a “humanitarian pause” to get aid to battered Gazans. “I think American politicians and the administration are seeing that — not only in the United States but across the world — this is not a popular war,” he said, assessing U.S. officials may come to the conclusion that “we cannot go on like this.” FULL STORY

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The pandemic has caused sustained harm to the brain health of people aged 50 or over, rapidly speeding up cognitive decline regardless of whether or not they caught Covid, researchers have discovered. Almost 780 million people were killed or made ill by the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization. Health experts are now learning more about the indirect effects of the biggest public health crisis in a century. A study has found that cognitive function and working memory in older adults declined more quickly during the first year of the pandemic between March 2020 and February 2021, even if they were not infected with the virus. The trend continued into 2021/22, suggesting an impact beyond the initial lockdowns. The research is the largest of its kind to link the pandemic conditions – and the enormous lifestyle shifts triggered by lockdowns and other Covid restrictions – to sustained cognitive decline. The acceleration in cognitive decline has been exacerbated by a number of factors since the arrival of Covid, the researchers said. These included an increase in loneliness and depression, a fall in exercise and higher alcohol consumption, as well as the effects of the disease itself. The study, led by the University of Exeter and King’s College London, was published in the Lancet Healthy Longevity journal. Anne Corbett, a professor in dementia research and the lead at Exeter for the Protect study, said: “Our findings suggest that lockdowns and other restrictions we experienced during the pandemic have had a real lasting impact on brain health in people aged 50 or over, even after the lockdowns ended. “This raises the important question of whether people are at a potentially higher risk of cognitive decline, which can lead to dementia. “It is now more important than ever to make sure we are supporting people with early cognitive decline, especially because there are things they can do to reduce their risk of dementia later on.” She advised people concerned about their memory to see their GP. FULL ARTICLE

Russia has shelled more than 100 settlements over the last 24 hours – more than in any single day so far this year – Ukraine has said as its commander-in-chief warns the war with Russia is moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting, a phase that could allow Moscow to rebuild its military power. It comes amid reports that North Korea has supplied Russia with two months’ worth of artillery shells. The Russians have fired millions of shells on cities, towns and villages since invading in February 2022, reducing several settlements to rubble across the eastern part of Ukraine. “Over the last 24 hours, the enemy shelled 118 settlements in 10 regions,” Igor Klymenko, the Ukrainian interior minister, wrote on social media. “This is the highest number of cities and villages that have come under attack since the start of the year.” Ukraine also reported a Russian attack on an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, a central industrial city. There were no casualties but it took almost 100 firefighters several hours to put out the resulting fire, Klymenko said. The overnight shelling in the north-eastern Kharkiv region killed one person, and another was killed in the southern Kherson region, local officials said. Ukraine’s government and the west fear Russia will escalate its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of the cold winter, as it did last year. FULL STORY

Summary More than 400 people have left Gaza as the Rafah crossing to Egypt opens to civilians for the first time in more than three weeks 335 foreign passport holders and 76 injured Gazans have been able to leave so far, Palestinian officials say British and US passport holders are among those who have exited the territory, according to officials US President Joe Biden says the opening of the crossing is the result of "intense and urgent diplomacy" In Gaza, phone and internet services are completely cut, the provider Paltel says The BBC World Service is launching an emergency radio service for Gaza on MW 639kHz, daily at 1500GMT from Friday Israel has been bombing Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 people with 239 people kidnapped as hostages The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 8,700 people have been killed since Israel's retaliatory bombing began FULL STORY

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has offered some of the first in-depth remarks about the fate of hundreds of Americans stranded in Gaza by the Israel-Hamas war. During testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee in support of the White House’s request for $14bn in additional military aid to Israel, Mr Blinken said nearly 1,000 people with ties to the US, comprising American citizens and their family members, are still trapped in the bombarded Palestinian territory. “We are working on every single day,” he testified on Tuesday, saying the State Department has sent 5500 communications including phone calls and WhatsApp messages to Americans stuck behind the siege line. “I’m focused on this intensely,” he added. “My entire department is as well, both in the region and here, we are working with various parties to try to facilitate their departure from Gaza.” The secretary said Hamas, the militant group and political party which rules the Gaza strip, is responsible for the delay in getting Americans out. Israeli-Americans have been able to depart on emergency flights and a charter boat. “The impediment is simple: it’s Hamas,” Mr Blinken continued. “We have not yet found a way to get them out through whatever place by whatever means that Hamas is not blocking.” FULL STORY

Russia makes first known arrests of its own soldiers after 2022 invasion on suspicion of killing Ukrainian civilians. Two Russian soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of killing a family of nine, including two young children, in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha. Russian media reported that the killings took place last Friday night and the suspects had used machine guns with silencers to kill the family at night in their sleep. It is the first known case of Russia arresting its own soldiers on suspicion of killing Ukrainian civilians since it invaded in 2022, despite ample evidence collected by independent human rights groups, journalists and the UN showing that Russian soldiers have systematically committed war crimes during their invasion of Ukraine. FULL STORY

King Charles has spoken of Britain’s “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence” committed against Kenyans during their fight for independence, but stopped short of an apology despite human rights groups demanding one. The monarch made the comments in a speech, delivered during a banquet in Kenya held in his honour, in which he referred to the “greatest sorrow” and “deepest regret” for the “wrongdoings” of the past. While Kenya’s president, William Ruto, praised the king’s “exemplary courage” in shedding light on “uncomfortable truths”, he described the colonial reaction to African struggles as “monstrous in its cruelty”. He added that “much remains to be done in order to achieve full reparations”. Earlier, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) urged King Charles to offer an “unequivocal public apology”. “We call upon the king, on behalf of the British government, to issue an unconditional and unequivocal public apology (as opposed to the very cautious, self-preserving and protective statements of regrets) for the brutal and inhuman treatment inflicted on Kenyan citizens,” the KHRC said. The commission has claimed 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the British administration’s counter-insurgency. Addressing Ruto at the banquet, the king said: “The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret. “There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty – and for that, there can be no excuse. “In coming back to Kenya, it matters greatly to me that I should deepen my own understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected. FULL STORY

Three men found guilty of terrorist crimes including attacks on immigrants and critical infrastructure. Three Finnish men who embraced neo-Nazi ideology have been found guilty of committing crimes with terrorist intent including plotting attacks against immigrants, critical infrastructure, and their perceived political opponents. Prosecutors told the court that the men had produced semi-automatic weapons using a 3D printer in preparation for a “race war” against their opponents. The main suspect, Viljam Lauri Antero Nyman, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison on charges of aggravated firearms offences committed with terrorist intent as well as training to commit a terrorist act. Nyman, 29, was also convicted of a narcotics charge at Tuesday’s hearing at Paijat-Hame district court. His two accomplices received a sentence of one year and nine months in prison and a suspended prison sentence of seven months, respectively. They were charged with the terrorism-related crimes of manufacture of firearms and training to use them. The public broadcaster YLE said the case marked the first terrorism conviction in Finland that was linked to far-right ideology. The crimes took place between 2021 and 2023. The defendants believed that protecting the superiority of the white population justified the use of violence against perceived enemies including immigrants, ethnic and religious minorities, and anti-fascists, prosecutors said. The men also plotted attacks on civilian infrastructure such as electricity grids and railways. FULL STORY

A toxic culture of government incompetence, backstabbing and misogyny was laid bare at the Covid public inquiry on Tuesday with messages revealing Boris Johnson’s dismissive attitude to millions of old people at risk from the virus. The former prime minister’s top aide Dominic Cummings was accused of “aggressive, foul-mouthed and misogynistic” abuse after messages showed he tried to sack the senior civil servant Helen MacNamara, saying No 10 was “dodging stilettos from that cunt”. Johnson’s chaotic indecisiveness delayed lockdown measures, the inquiry heard, while he had told senior advisers the Covid virus was “just nature’s way of dealing with old people” and he was “no longer buying” the fact the NHS was overwhelmed during the pandemic. Bereaved relatives reacted to the fresh evidence with horror after a bruising session of the Covid inquiry, with Cummings and Lee Cain, the former No 10 director of communications, questioning Johnson’s suitability for leading the country during the pandemic. Susie Flintham, a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “The nastiness, arrogance and misogyny at the heart of government during the pandemic is core to the awful decision-making that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths and tore families like mine apart. When you see that these figures had such a shocking disregard for each other, you can only imagine the disregard they had for families like mine.” In a lengthy session before the inquiry, Cummings claimed the cabinet had been “largely irrelevant” to Covid policy in 2020, and that he was “reflecting a widespread view” that if anything understated the problem, when he used expletive-laden descriptions of ministers including “useless fuckpigs”, “morons” and “cunts”. FULL STORY

As the conflict between Israel and Hamas intensifies, an unlikely development has emerged - China playing the part of peace broker. But there are limits to what it can achieve. China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, discussed the conflict with officials in Washington at the weekend amid fears of a bigger regional war. The US has pledged it would work with China on trying to find a resolution. Mr Wang has also spoken to his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts after China's Middle East special envoy Zhai Jun flew to the region to meet Arab leaders. It has also been one of the most vocal proponents of a ceasefire in UN meetings. There are hopes China could tap into its close relationship with Iran, which backs Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to de-escalate the situation. US officials apparently pressed Mr Wang to "urge calm" with the Iranians, reported the Financial Times. China is Iran's biggest trade partner, and earlier this year Beijing brokered a rare détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Tehran says it "stands ready to strengthen communication with China" on resolving the situation in Gaza. FULL STORY