RUSSIA BLAMES U.S. FOR DRONE HIT; WHITE HOUSE DENIES ROLE

Russia on Thursday accused the U.S. of masterminding a drone attack on the Kremlin and said sabotage attacks by Ukraine behind Russian lines had reached “unprecedented momentum”.

The Kremlin has said Ukraine carried out the attack with two drones aiming to kill President Vladimir Putin — a charge which Kyiv has denied. “Decisions on such attacks are made in Washington,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Mr. Peskov said Mr. Putin was working in his office in the Kremlin as normal on Thursday but added that security measures in Moscow would be beefed up following the attack, which the Kremlin said occurred in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Russia has also reported a series of drone attacks on oil facilities and train derailments, blaming Ukraine. “The terrorist and sabotage activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are gaining unprecedented momentum,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. It added that Russia “reserves the right to take retaliatory measures.”

Meanwhile, the White House on Wednesday denied any involvement in an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin.

“We had nothing to do with this,” said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, on MSNBC.

“Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple,” he added.

Throughout its more than year-long offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has maintained that Kyiv is taking orders from Washington — accusing the West of leading a war against Russia by proxy.

ZELENSKY WANTS A SPECIAL TRIBUNAL TO JUDGE RUSSIA’S UKRAINE INVASION

Russian President Vladimir Putin must be brought to justice for his war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday in The Hague, calling for the creation of a special tribunal dedicated to judging Russia’s invasion. “We are going to set up a separate tribunal to show these people are not untouchable,” Zelensky told a news conference. “We need justice.”

The International Criminal Court, a permanent war crimes court based in The Hague, in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin for suspected deportation of kids from Ukraine, which would be a war crime. But the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression in Ukraine. The European Commission, among others, has said it supports the creation of a separate international centre for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine, that would be set up in The Hague. “We all want to see a different Vladimir here in The Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law,” Zelensky said in a speech earlier in the day, referring to Putin.

“I’m sure we will see that happen when we win, and we will win,” he said.

Major legal and practical questions remain around how a new court to judge aggression would be legitimised. Russia is not a member of the ICC and already rejects its jurisdiction.

AMID ALARM OVER AI, WH SUMMONS NADELLA & PICHAI

Washington : Amid alarming reports about the untrammelled growth and potential subversive power of Artificial Intelligence, the Biden administration on Thursday summoned top principals in the field, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, to the White House in an effort to establish government oversight and regulations in the field. The emergency White House meeting followed President Biden’s salutary advice that private sector companies have a responsibility to make sure artificial intelligence products are safe before they’re released, even as policymakers and public intellectuals warned of the threats and risks posed by AI, which made headlines after the overnight success of ChatGPT.

CEOs of leading start-ups OpenAI (Sam Altman) and Anthropic (Dario Amodei), were also called in for the meeting which was presided over by vice-president Kamala Harris, and drew in Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients, NSA Jake Sullivan, and director of science and technology policy Arati Prabhakar.

Ahead of the meeting, the White House announced a new $140 million investment to establish “trustworthy” AI enterprises. Although chump change compared to the billions private companies are pouring into the field —including Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI, the money will enable the National Science Foundation, headed byChennai-born Sethuraman Panchanathan, to set up seven new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes.

Concerns about the unbridled power of AI — in the face of the benefits and opportunities it is also expected to provide — has been coursing through the administration and Congress for weeks now, leading the White House to seek voluntary commitments from the principals to participate in a public assessment of their AI systems at a cybersecurity conferencein August. The administration has also pledged to release draft guidelines to ensure that the use of AI in government safeguards “the American people’s rights and safety,” while advising private companies to take into consideration the broad set of risks that could affect democratic institutions, jobs, and civil rights. In a factsheet released ahead of the meeting, the White House described AI as “one of the most powerful technologies of our time”, but warned that in order to seize the opportunities it presents, “we must first mitigate its risks”.

SUDAN TRUCE EFFORTS IN TATTERS AS FIGHTING RAGES

Gunfire and explosions gripped Khartoum for a 20th straight day on Thursday leaving the latest ceasefire effort in tatters, a day after UN chief Antonio Guterres acknowledged the international community had “failed” Sudan.

As the latest ceasefire expired at midnight on Wednesday, the regular Army said it was ready to abide by a new seven-day truce agreed with South Sudanese mediators, but there was no word from its foes in the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

8 SCHOOL TEACHERS SHOT DEAD IN TARGETED ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN’S NW

Peshawar : Eight school teachers were killed on Thursday in two separate incidents of targeted shooting in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal district, bordering Afghanistan, in a case of possible sectarian violence, police said. A school teacher, identified as Muhammad Sharif, belonging to Teri Mengal tribe (Sunni tribe) was killed when his car was ambushed by unknown gunmen on road in the Upper Kurram tribal district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said. The incident angered Teri Mengal tribesmen who stormed the staffroom of the Govt Teri Mengal High School in the same district and killed seven teachers from Tori tribe (Shia tribe) to avenge Sharif’s murder, police added. The attackers fled after the attack. No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the region is known for sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shias.

CHINA URGES ‘HIGH VIGILANCE’ OVER NATO EXPANSION IN ASIA

China said Thursday “high vigilance” was needed in the face of Nato’s “eastward expansion” following a media report the alliance is planning to set up an office in Japan. Nato is planning to open its first liaison office in Asia, in Japan, to facilitate talks with security partners such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, with challenges from China and Russia in mind, the Nikkei Asia reported on Wednesday. Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said “Nato’s continual eastward expansion in the Asia-Pacific, interference in regional affairs, attempts to destroy regional peace and stability, and push for bloc confrontation calls for high vigilance from countries in the region”.

TRUMP JURORS SEE VIDEO OF EX-PREZ DEFENDING LEWD ‘GRAB ’EM’ REMARKS

Jurors in Donald Trump’s civil rape trial on Thursday saw a video deposition in which the former US president defended private comments he made in 2005 about grabbing women sexually without asking. Trump was asked by a lawyer for writer E. Jean Carroll, his accuser, about the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape, where he said on a hot microphone that “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. . . Grab ’em by the pussy. ”

The “Access Hollywood” tape was first made public in October 2016, a month before Trump was elected US president. “Historically, that’s true, with stars. . . if you look over the last million years,” Trump said in the video deposition taken last October and shown to the jury on Thursday, the seventh day of the rape trial in Manhattan federal court. The trial is expected to continue into next week after a day off on Friday. Carroll, 79, has testified that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.

U.K.’S SUNAK WARNS OF ‘HARD’ TEST IN FIRST ELECTORAL TEST WITH VOTERS

LONDON: U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives braced for heavy losses on Thursday in their first electoral test since he became the country’s third leader in the space of a few chaotic weeks last year. Surveys suggest that voters are worried about double-digit inflation and the crisis engulfing the National Health Service.

CHINA-BASED NETWORKS SOWING DISINFORMATION IN WEST: META

HONG KONG: A China-based online network tried to recruit protesters in Europe and set up a media firm in Britain as part of a disinformation campaign, Facebook owner Meta said. Meta said it had removed more than 100 Facebook pages and Instagram accounts, accusing them of violating its policies against inauthentic behaviour.

FLOODS, LANDSLIPS IN RWANDA KILL OVER 130, THOUSANDS LEFT HOMELESS

RUBAVU: Rwandans grieved on Thursday for lost loved ones and destroyed homes after powerful floods and landslips tore through the country killing at least 130 people and leaving many thousands homeless. The Western Province bordering Lake Kivu and the district Rubavu are some of the badly affected regions.

ERDOGAN TURNS AGAINST LGBTQ IN RUN-UP TO CRUCIAL VOTE ON MAY 14

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday launched a new attack against Turkey’s LGBTQ community in a bid to rally his conservative voters in the run-up to May 14 polls. The campaign is being hamstrung by a raging economic crisis and discontent over the government’s response to a February earthquake.