The world's addiction to fossil fuels is a "Frankenstein's monster sparing nothing and no one", the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. "Our fossil fuel addiction is a Frankenstein's monster, sparing nothing and no one. All around us, we see clear signs that the monster has become master," Guterres said in a speech days after 2024 was revealed to have been the hottest year on record and Donald Trump began his second term as US president by pulling the country out of the Paris climate agreement and pledging to "drill, baby, drill" for more oil and gas. The fossil fuel industry gave 75m ( 60m) to Trump's campaign. Guterres said: "What we are seeing today – sea-level rise, heatwaves, floods, storms, droughts and wildfires – are just a preview of the horror movie to come."

For a century, Britain led the world based on innovations in coal and steam power. For a second century, America led the world based on electrification, materials science and mass production. And now, with AI promising to both boost the economy and bolster national security, America has a chance to lead in the century ahead. However, with China ramping up its investment in AI, pouring billions into data centers and integrating AI across its economy, we cannot take the outcome for granted. A recent expert report reveals that America has lost its lead in most key technologies to its rival.

SoftBank Group, OpenAI and Oracle are forming a half-a-trillion dollar venture in the United States that will develop artificial intelligence infrastructure with warp-speed-type support from the U.S. government. SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son will be the chairman of Stargate, the new company being formed, while SoftBank will be responsible for financial management of the venture. Arm Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed subsidiary of SoftBank, will provide chip technology. Microsoft, Nvidia and Oracle will also be key vendors.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched four missiles and 131 drones towards Ukraine overnight. The Air Force also said that 72 of the drones were destroyed while 59 disappeared without reaching their targets. Moscow's Ministry of Defence said its troops intercepted and destroyed 55 Ukrainian drones in six Russian regions overnight. Six drones were downed in Voronezh where, according to the region's Governor Aleksandr Gusev, falling debris started a blaze just six days after remnants of another intercepted drone triggered an earlier fire. Kyiv's military claimed responsibility for attacking an aviation manufacturing plant in Russia's Smolensk region where "combat aircraft[s] are being modernised and manufactured", as well as an attack on Voronezh which resulted in a fuel depot fire.

OpenAI kicked off the AI race in 2022 with the launch of its ChatGPT bot, which offered lifelike responses to questions and showcased the rapid advances in the technology. It has prompted a gush of investment, including in the specialised data centres needed to power the computing. But the projected surge in demand for the centres, which will require huge amounts of power to run and money to be built, has raised concerns about the impact on energy supplies and questions about the role of foreign investors. In one of his final acts in the White House, former President Joe Biden put forward rules that would restrict exports of AI-related chips to dozens of countries around the world, saying the move would help the US control the industry. He also issued orders related to the development of data centres on government land, which spotlighted a role for clean energy in powering the centres.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to 500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be 100 billion and could reach five times that sum. "It's big money and high quality people," said Trump, adding that it's "a resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration. Joining Trump fresh off his inauguration at the White House were Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle.

United States President Donald Trump has announced a 500bn joint venture with Texas-based tech firm Oracle, Japan's SoftBank and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence infrastructure. Trump made the announcement at a White House event on Tuesday that was joined by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison. Trump said the venture would be the largest AI infrastructure project in history "by far" and represented "a resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration. As you know, there's great competition for AI and other things and they are coming in at the highest level," Trump said. Shares of Tokyo-based Softbank Group soared more than 8 percent on Wednesday following the announcement.

Washington, DC – After Elon Musk made an apparent Nazi salute at an inauguration rally for United States President Donald Trump, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) rushed to defend the SpaceX founder. The self-described anti-Semitism watchdog and "leading anti-hate organization in the world" dismissed Musk's raised arm as "an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm" in a social media post on Monday. Months earlier, however, Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the staunchly pro-Israel ADL, compared the Palestinian keffiyeh to the Nazi swastika. Activists say the contrast between the ADL's hurried defence of Musk and its efforts to demonise Palestinians and their supporters shows that the group is more focused on silencing voices critical of Israel than it is on fighting anti-Semitism. "The ADL is being crystal clear about where it stands," said Beth Miller, political director at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son comment on President Trump's Stargate AI investment project on'Special Report.' The three tech CEOs who have joined forces in President Donald Trump's multi-billion dollar artificial intelligence infrastructure project defended the venture as an investment that "impacts all of humanity." "This is a very large investment that affects all of humanity," Oracle founder Larry Ellison told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier on "Special Report" on Tuesday. President Trump unveiled a massive AI infrastructure project from the private sector on the first full day of his second term in office on Tuesday. During a speech at the White House, Trump announced that Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle have joined forces for a project called Stargate to build data centers in the U.S. for powering AI.

OpenAI did not respond to questions about its lobbying efforts. But perhaps more important, the disclosure is a clear signal of the company's arrival as a political player, as its first year of serious lobbying ends and Republican control of Washington begins. While OpenAI's lobbying spending is still dwarfed by its peers'--Meta tops the list of Big Tech spenders, with more than 24 million in 2024--the uptick comes as it and other AI companies have helped redraw the shape of AI policy. For the past few years, AI policy has been something like a whack-a-mole response to the risks posed by deepfakes and misinformation. But over the last year, AI companies have started to position the success of the technology as pivotal to national security and American competitiveness, arguing that the government must therefore support the industry's growth.