Federal judge says Trump cuts to NIH grants are illegal, Politico reports
June 16 (Reuters) - A Massachusetts federal judge has declared the Trump administration's cuts to National Institutes of Health grants are "illegal" and "void," and ordered many of the grants be restored, Politico reported on Monday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump's plan to ban US states from AI regulation will ‘hold us back', says Microsoft science chief
Microsoft's chief scientist has warned that Donald Trump's proposed ban on state-level guardrails on artificial intelligence will slow the development of the frontier technology rather than accelerate it. Dr Eric Horvitz, a former technology adviser to Joe Biden, said bans on regulation will 'hold us back' and 'could be at odds with making good progress on not just advancing the science, but in translating it into practice'. The Trump administration has proposed a 10-year ban on US states creating 'any law or regulation limiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems'. It is driven in part by White House fears China could otherwise win the race to human-level AI, but also pressure from tech investors, such as Andreessen Horowitz, an early investor in Facebook, which argues consumer uses should be regulated rather than research efforts. Its co-founder, the Trump donor Marc Andreessen, said earlier this month that the US was in a two horse race for AI supremacy with China. The US vice-president, JD Vance, recently said: 'If we take a pause, does [China] not take a pause? Then we find ourselves … enslaved to [China]-mediated AI.' Horvitz said he was already concerned about 'AI being leveraged for misinformation and inappropriate persuasion' and for its use 'for malevolent activities, for example, in the biology biological hazard space'. Horvitz's pro-regulation comments came despite reports that Microsoft is part of a Silicon Valley lobbying push with Google, Meta and Amazon, to support the ban on individual US states regulating AI for the next decade which is included in Trump's budget bill which is passing through Congress. Microsoft is part of a lobbying drive to urge the US Senate to enact a decade-long moratorium on individual states introducing their own efforts to legislate, the Financial Times reported last week. The ban has been written into Trump's 'big beautiful bill' that he wants passed by Independence Day on 4 July. Horvitz was speaking at a meeting of the the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence on Monday when he said: 'It's up to us as scientists to communicate to government agencies, especially those right now who might be making statements about no regulation, [that] this is going to hold us back. 'Guidance, regulation … reliability controls are part of advancing the field, making the field go faster in many ways.' Speaking at the same seminar, Stuart Russell, the professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said: 'Why would we deliberately allow the release of a technology which even its creators say has a 10% to 30% chance … of causing human extinction? We would never accept anything close to that level of risk for any other technology.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The apparent contradiction between Microsoft's chief scientist and reports of the company's lobbying effort comes amid rising fears that unregulated AI development could pose catastrophic risks to humanity and is being driven by companies prioritising short-term profit. Microsoft has invested $14bn (£10bn) in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, whose chief executive Sam Altman who this week predicted that: 'In five or 10 years we will have great human robots and they will just walk down the street doing stuff … I think that would be one of the moments that … will feel the strangest.' Predictions of when human-level artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be reached vary from a couple of years to decades. The Meta chief scientist, Yann LeCun, has said AGI could be decades away, while last week his boss, Mark Zuckerberg, announced a $15bn investment in a bid to achieve 'superintelligence'. Microsoft declined to comment.
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
US senator Alex Padilla criticizes ‘petty' JD Vance for calling him ‘Jose'
JD Vance's decision to refer to California US senator Alex Padilla by the name of a terrorist conspirator showed how 'unserious' the Trump administration is, the lawmaker has said of the vice-president. 'He knows my name – he knows my name,' Padilla told MSNBC's The Weekend on Saturday, 12 days after the FBI forcibly removed him from a 12 June news conference hosted by US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem amid anti-immigration and customs enforcement (Ice) protests in Los Angeles. 'Look, sadly it's just an indicator about how petty and unserious this administration is. You'd think he'd take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously. 'We've got a lot of important work to do. But this is how the vice-president chooses to act, and that says a lot.' Vance's barb toward Padilla on Friday came during a visit to Los Angeles in which he accused mayor Karen Bass and California governor Gavin Newsom of encouraging violent anti-Ice protests to parry criticism from state officials. Local authorities had contended that, over their objections, Donald Trump's administration fueled the unrest by sending federal officers and military troops to the city. When a correspondent for the far-right Daily Wire asked about Democrats being placed in handcuffs by federal officers, Vance referred to Padilla as 'Jose Padilla', invoking the name of a US national who was accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb on behalf of al-Qaida in 2002. 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,' said Vance, who previously served on the US Senate alongside Alex Padilla. 'I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't a theater. And that's all it is.' The Republican's comments drew backlash from Democrats, prompting a spokesperson for Vance to say that the vice-president 'must have mixed up two people who broke the law.' Newsom called Vance out in a post on social media. 'JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate. Calling him 'Jose Padilla' is not an accident,' Newsom wrote. Newsom continued to take shots at Vance, posting that it was nice of Vance to 'finally make it out to California' and challenging him to a debate. 'Since you're so eager to talk about me, how about saying it to my face? Let's debate. Time and place?' the post read. Another social media post from Newsom's press office account addressed Trump and included a cartoonish depiction of Vance at a podium. 'Donald, you should send @JDVance out to California more often. He's absolutely crushing it!' In his interview with MSNBC, Padilla alluded to the fact that he had neither been arrested nor charged with any crimes after he was handcuffed and removed from the Noem news conference, saying, 'I didn't break any laws.' Padilla's removal – caught on video – occurred as he tried to ask questions about the White House's immigration policies, which were implemented after Trump won a second presidency in November despite having been convicted in criminal court of 34 felony charges of criminally falsifying business records in a case that involved payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. He told The Weekend that he would have no issue if Trump's immigration crackdown was aimed exclusively at 'drug dealers, violent criminals, dangerous criminals, et cetera'. 'Everybody is on board with that,' he said. But he mentioned recent news reporting that established most people being taken into Ice custody 'have no serious criminal convictions', as he put it. Padilla's removal from the Noem press briefing was just one of many instances of 'overreach' demonstrated by Trump's administration since he retook office in January, he said to The Weekend. 'We have no choice but to stand up – we have no choice but to speak up,' said Padilla, who joined the Senate in 2021. 'As painful as [the removal] was for me, for my family, it's not about me. 'If this is what this administration is willing to do to a senator trying to ask a question, imagine … what is happening in all corners of the country … when the cameras are not on.' Robert Mackey contributed reporting
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Nations react to US strikes on Iran with many calling for diplomacy
Several close U.S. allies urged a return to the negotiating table in the wake of American strikes on Iran that fueled fears of a wider conflict, while noting the threat posed by Tehran's nuclear program. Some countries and groups in the region, including those that support Iran, condemned the move while also urging de-escalation. U.S. President Donald Trump had said Thursday that he would decide within two weeks whether to get involved in Israel's war with Tehran. In the end, it took just days. Washington hit three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday. It remained unclear how much damage had been inflicted, and Iran said it reserved the right to 'resist with full force.' Some have questioned whether a weakened Iran would capitulate or remain defiant and begin striking with allies at U.S. targets scattered across the Gulf region. Here is a look at reactions from governments and officials around the world. United Nations U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was 'gravely alarmed' by the use of force by the United States. 'There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,' he said in a statement on the social media platform X. 'I call on Member States to de-escalate.' 'There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy.' United Kingdom British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for Iran to return to the negotiating table to diplomatically end the crisis, saying stability was the priority in the volatile region. The U.K., along with the European Union, France and Germany, tried unsuccessfully to broker a diplomatic solution in Geneva last week with Iran. Starmer said Iran's nuclear program posed a grave threat to global security. 'Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the U.S. has taken action to alleviate that threat,' Starmer said. Iraq The Iraqi government condemned the U.S. strikes, saying the military escalation created a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East. It said it poses serious risks to regional stability and called for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis. 'The continuation of such attacks risks dangerous escalation with consequences that extend beyond the borders of any single state, threatening the security of the entire region and the world,' government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in the statement. Iraq has close relations with both Washington and Tehran, and it has attempted to balance those over the years. The country also has a network of powerful Iranian-backed militias, which so far have not entered the fray. Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia expressed 'deep concern' about the U.S. airstrikes, but stopped short of condemning them. 'The Kingdom underscores the need to exert all possible efforts to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, and avoid further escalation,' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Saudi Arabia had earlier condemned Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and military leaders. Qatar Qatar, which is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, said it 'regrets' escalating tensions in the Israel-Iran war. Its Foreign Ministry in a statement urged all parties to show restraint and 'avoid escalation, which the peoples of the region, burdened by conflicts and their tragic humanitarian repercussions, cannot tolerate.' Qatar has served as a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas war. Oman Oman, which served as mediator in the nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S., condemned the airstrikes, saying they escalated tensions in the region. The U.S. airstrikes threaten 'to expand the scope of the conflict and constitute a serious violation of international law,' a spokesperson for Oman's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Hamas and the Houthis Both the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hamas have condemned the U.S. strikes. In a statement on Sunday, the Houthi political bureau called on Muslim nations to join 'the Jihad and resistance option as one front against the Zionist-American arrogance.' Hamas and the Houthis are part of Iran's so-called Axis of Resistance, a collection of pro-Iranian proxies stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave the Islamic Republic considerable power across the region. Lebanon Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the U.S. bombing could lead to a regional conflict that no country could bear and called for negotiations. 'Lebanon, its leadership, parties, and people, are aware today, more than ever before, that it has paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region,' Aoun said in a statement on X. 'It is unwilling to pay more.' Lebanon's new leadership — which came to power after a devastating war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group — has urged the country to avoid being dragged into more conflict as it tries to rebuild itself and pull itself from a yearslong economic crisis. Hezbollah has not taken military action against Israel in solidarity with its key ally Iran, and has not yet commented on Washington's overnight strikes. China A commentary from China's government-run media asked whether the U.S. is 'repeating its Iraq mistake in Iran.' The online piece by CGTN, the foreign-language arm of the state broadcaster, said the U.S. strikes mark a dangerous turning point. 'History has repeatedly shown that military interventions in the Middle East often produce unintended consequences, including prolonged conflicts and regional destabilization,' it said, citing the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. It said a measured, diplomatic approach offers the best hope for stability in the Middle East. European Union The European Union's top diplomat said Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, but she urged those involved in the conflict to show restraint. 'I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on social media. Italy Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Iran's nuclear facilities 'represented a danger for the entire area' but hoped the action could lead to de-escalation in the conflict and negotiations. New Zealand New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters urged 'all parties to return to talks.' He wouldn't tell reporters Sunday whether New Zealand supported Trump's actions, saying they had only just happened. 'Diplomacy will deliver a more enduring resolution than further military action,' he said. Japan Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters Sunday that it was crucial to calm the situation as soon as possible, adding that the Iranian nuclear weapons development also must be prevented. Ishiba, asked if he supports the U.S. attacks on Iran, declined to comment. Australia Australia, which shuttered its embassy in Tehran and evacuated staff Friday, pushed for a diplomatic end to the conflict. 'We have been clear that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security,' a government official said in a written statement. 'We note the U.S. President's statement that now is the time for peace.' "We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.'
