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Chinese President Xi Jinping cast Beijing as the champion of a new global AI order in Shanghai, pledging open-source technology for the developing world through a 29-country body rivalling Washington's initiative.

This comes as President Trump alleged Chinese meddling in the 2020 election in a primetime address, and as seven countries took defensive action against Iranian missiles amid a sixth night of US strikes.

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1️⃣ 🇺🇸🇨🇳 President Trump alleges Chinese meddling in 2020 election: In a primetime address three months before the midterms, President Trump accused China of trying to sway the 2020 vote and claimed voter data in 18 states was "bought, stolen or hacked," without presenting evidence the information altered any outcome. The claims contradict a 2021 US intelligence assessment that concluded with "high confidence" China did not interfere, and Beijing dismissed them as "entirely fabricated."

2️⃣ 🇮🇷 Gulf states come under Iranian fire: Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan and Syria all took defensive action against Iranian missiles and drones overnight as the US mounted a sixth straight night of strikes on Iran, which local media said hit civilian infrastructure including a bridge in Hormozgan province where at least seven people were killed. Iran says 38 people have been killed in US attacks since June 22, while China and Pakistan called for an immediate ceasefire to save the "hard-won" deal.

3️⃣ 🇬🇧 Burnham becomes Labour leader, takes office Monday: Andy Burnham will officially become leader of the governing Labour Party after running unopposed, clearing the final hurdle before replacing Prime Minister Starmer on Monday as the UK's seventh leader since 2016. The former Greater Manchester mayor has pledged to fix "the big things that politics has neglected," arguing Britain took "a series of wrong turns in the 1980s," though he arrives largely unknown to voters outside Manchester.

4️⃣ 🇲🇽🇺🇸 President Sheinbaum rejects US cartel claim: President Sheinbaum pushed back on the DEA chief's assertion that Mexico's government and cartel networks are "one and the same," saying the remarks seemed "more like a political statement than one backed by evidence" and urging the US to fight trafficking at home. The exchange came as the US Treasury designated two more Mexican criminal organisations as foreign terrorist organisations.

5️⃣ 🇺🇦 Protests in Kyiv as President Zelenskyy defends minister's sacking: More than 1,000 protesters gathered outside the presidential office after President Zelenskyy dismissed popular Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, confirming relations had broken down between the ministry and commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. Fedorov accused the top brass of Soviet-style methods and blocking reform, as the crisis overshadowed Prime Minister Starmer's farewell visit to Kyiv.

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Major Story

🇨🇳 President Xi pitches China-led AI order

Chinese President Xi Jinping cast Beijing as the champion of a new global AI order at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, urging countries to seize the "historic opportunity" of open-source AI and pledging to help developing nations build their own capabilities.

His speech pitched the newly launched World AI Cooperation Organisation, which has signed up 29 member countries, as a rival to the US-led "Pax Silica" initiative, though he avoided naming Washington.

President Xi warned against "new historical injustices" from unequal access to the technology and, in his most extensive remarks yet on AI safety, called for systems to remain under human control with early-warning mechanisms against loss-of-control scenarios.

The conference underlined the shifting landscape, with Beijing startup Moonshot unveiling what it described as the world's largest open AI model a month after the US pulled Anthropic's frontier models over security concerns.

The speech comes as the two powers prepare for their first government-level AI talks of President Trump's term, with 35 countries behind Washington's AI Opportunity Statement and Kazakhstan the only nation signed up to both camps.

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Other News

1️⃣ 🇺🇸🇮🇶 Chevron nears Iraq oilfield deals and Hormuz bypass: The US supermajor is set to sign two memoranda of understanding moving it closer to developing the West Qurna 2 field, which produces about 460,000 barrels per day, and the Nassiriya project. Chevron is also studying export pipelines that would carry Iraqi crude to the Mediterranean without passing through the Strait of Hormuz, with Washington backing the rebuilding of the Kirkuk-Baniyas line to Syria.

2️⃣ 🇧🇷🇺🇸 Brazil vows reciprocal tariffs over US 25% duty: Brazil called the new tariff on some 3,000 items unjust and politically motivated, with Foreign Minister Vieira describing Secretary Rubio's criticism of President Lula as "offensive to the Brazilian people." The duties hit about 18% of Brazil's exports, worth an estimated $7.4bn, despite the US running a nearly $42bn trade surplus with Brazil last year.

3️⃣ 🇺🇸🇨🇳 US slashes foreign journalist visas, China warns of response: The Trump administration will cut visas for foreign journalists from open-ended stays to a fixed 240 days, and to just 90 days for Chinese journalists, with DHS saying the change improves vetting. Press freedom groups condemned the move as destroying international journalists' ability to report from the US, and China's foreign ministry called it "discriminatory," reserving the right to take reciprocal countermeasures.

4️⃣ 🇷🇺🇺🇦 CIA says Russian recruits survive 20-30 minutes at front: CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Russian recruits arriving on the front lines survive an estimated 20 to 30 minutes before being killed or wounded, the first time a senior US intelligence official has confirmed the war's toll on Moscow, attributing it to low-cost AI-powered drones. CSIS researchers put Russian casualties at 1.4 million, including as many as 450,000 dead, with the casualty ratio reaching nearly 8-to-1 this year.

5️⃣ 🇺🇸🇮🇷 US Marines board tanker as strikes expand to bridges: Marines boarded the M/T Wen Yao in the Gulf of Oman to enforce the renewed blockade of Iranian ports, with CENTCOM saying it has redirected three vessels attempting to run it since Tuesday. The US also expanded its airstrike campaign to bridges in southern Iran in line with President Trump's infrastructure threats, while Iran has asked the Houthis to be prepared to close the Red Sea oil route, Reuters reported.

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