Microsoft’s UAE deal could transfer key U.S. chips and AI technology abroad

 Microsoft President Brad Smith said the tech company's high profile deal with the United Arab Emirates-backed AI firm G42 could eventually involve the transfer of sophisticated chips and tools - a move that a senior Republican congressman warned could have national security implications.

In an interview with Reuters this week, Smith said the sales accord, many details of which are being reported here for the first time, could progress to a second phase that entails the export of crucial components of AI technology such as model weights, a crown jewel of AI systems that determine how powerful they are. Smith said there is no firm timeline for the second phase.

U.S. officials have said that AI systems could pose national security risks, for example by making it easier to engineer chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The Biden administration in October required the makers of the largest AI systems to share details about them with the U.S. government.

To move forward, the deal would require the approval of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Microsoft executives said the agreement has safeguards to protect Microsoft's technology and prevent it from being used by Chinese entities to train AI systems.

But those measures have not been made public, and some U.S. lawmakers question whether they are adequate.

The closed-door nature of the negotiations between two private companies over the terms and safeguards on transfers of U.S. technology have alarmed some lawmakers.

“Despite the significant national security implications, Congress still has not received a comprehensive briefing from the executive branch about this agreement," Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, told Reuters. "I am concerned the right guardrails are not in place to protect sensitive U.S.-origin technology from Chinese espionage given the (Chinese Communist Party's) interests in the UAE.”

The Commerce Department already requires notifications and, in several regions, export licenses to send AI chips abroad. But the Microsoft-G42 deal highlights gaps in U.S. laws as regulators rush to keep up with fast-moving technology.

At present, for example, there is no regulation restricting the export of AI models, though McCaul and a bipartisan group of lawmakers this week advanced legislation that would give U.S. officials more explicit power to do so.

Microsoft executives said the company welcomes a debate on a new legal framework governing the transfer of AI technology and that the deal with G42 requires the UAE firm to comply with U.S. regulations as they evolve.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-microsoft-uae-deal-could-032832457.html

Tango Discontinuation of TNG348 Program

 – The phase 1/2 clinical trial of TNG348, a USP1 inhibitor, is being terminated due to toxicity observed in the initial study cohorts –

– Cash runway extended into 2027, PRMT5 and CoREST clinical programs remain on track –

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240523266195/en/

Taro Shareholders Approve Merger with Sun Pharma

 Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (Reuters: SUN.BO, Bloomberg: SUNP IN, NSE: SUNPHARMA, BSE: 524715) (together with its subsidiaries and/or associates referred as "Sun Pharma") and Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TARO) ("Taro" or the "Company") today announced that the merger agreement between Taro and Sun Pharma was approved by the affirmative vote of Taro shareholders (including a vote of the majority of shares held by Taro shareholders unaffiliated with Sun Pharma) at an Extraordinary General Meeting and an Ordinary Class Meeting on May 22, 2024. The details of the merger agreement were announced on January 17, 2024.

https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/taro-shareholders-approve-merger-with-sun-pharma-302154199.html

Guardant Halted; FDA Panel to Assess Premarket OK Application for Shield Blood Test for Colorectal Cancer

 Guardant Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GH), a leading precision oncology company, today announced that Nasdaq has temporarily halted trading of the company's stock.

The Molecular and Clinical Genetics Panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Medical Devices Advisory Committee will meet today to review the premarket approval (PMA) application for ShieldTM, Guardant Health’s blood test to screen for colorectal cancer in average-risk adults.

The panel meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240523721275/en

German Parliament Votes To Decriminalize The Possession Of Child Pornography

 Are you starting to see a pattern yet? 

First there was the introduction of gender fluid and LGBT ideology into public schools, then there were sexualized drag queen performances for children, then leftist activists demanded that pedophiles be referred to as "MAPS" (Minor Attracted Persons) because "they can't help who they are attracted to," then California passed a law reducing charges for adults engaged in sexual relations with minors. 

Now, the German Parliament has forwarded a bill that makes possession and distribution of child pornography a misdemeanor instead of a felony, greatly reducing diminishing possible penalties.

German officials claim the new law is meant to address inconsistencies in previous child pornography laws which are sometimes applied to people who "receive images or videos through email or social media without their permission."  They also cited instances where two minors traded images and were charged with creation or possession of child pornography. 

Critics of the bill argue that the German government could have easily made legal adjustments for those specific exceptions to avoid innocent people being wrongly imprisoned.  Instead, they are trying to institute sweeping changes that reclassify the crime and give greater legal protections to an array of child predators.  The new law does not make exceptions for adult offenders.   

According to the Bundestag (Parliament), the bill stipulates that “possession and acquisition should be punishable with a minimum penalty of three months’ imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months’ imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months’ imprisonment. The offenses regulated in Section 184b of the Criminal Code are therefore classified as misdemeanors and not as crimes.”

It should be noted that the criminal classification for possession of sexual materials related to minors has shifted a number of times in Germany, with felony status applied most recently in 2021.  In other words, the German government decided after only three years that punishing pedophiles with longer prison sentences was just not fair.

The move has already been celebrated by a German pro-pedophile activist group known as Krumme-13, or simply K13.  the activist group has been described as a “self-help” organization for “pedosexuals.”  In a blog post written by its founder and dated May 17, K13 laments that “no politician in all factions apologized to the thousands upon thousands of those affected who fell victim” to the 2021 law which had made possession of child sexual abuse materials a felony."

In 2019 the German Bundestag accepted a petition outlining "children’s rights" which was drafted by Krumme-13.  The lobby group advocated for lowering the age of consent to 12 years old and legalizing child pornography. They announced on their website that a resolution developed by the group’s founder, Dieter Gieseking, had achieved enough votes to be added to the constitution, or Basic Law. 

Gieseking’s petition amends Article 6 of the Basic Law to add statements regarding children’s rights, and states that “children should be viewed as legal subjects with their own rights.”  Article II of the petition includes the "right to sexual self determination."  In other words, the group petitioned the German government to give children legal adult status (making them fair game for pedophiles), and the government seems to be taking them seriously.

Beyond the natural inclination of all moral people to be inherently disgusted by those who fetishize children, beyond the fact that pedophiles have long been seen as dangerous and malicious parasites that need to be removed from society, the root legal argument is one of consent.  It is an argument which leftist activist groups and political parties continue to ignore. 

Children cannot consent.  They are not mentally and emotionally mature enough to be capable of informed consent, which means they can be easily targeted for exploitation if they are not protected by the law and by their parents.  

The fact that this is a debate we are having in 2024 is mind boggling until you recognize what kinds of people we have lurking in the halls of power.  It's not hard to see the tip-toe that is happening today, with the eventual end game being the total legalization of child sex abuse in the name of "inclusion."  

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/german-parliament-votes-decriminalize-possession-child-pornography

Walmart, Target Unleash Price-Cut Tsunami As Working-Poor Hit Brick-Wall

 Some of the nation's largest retailers are rolling back prices in response to low-income consumers hitting a proverbial brick wall. These consumers have maxed out credit card debt and drained personal savings to dangerously low levels in the era of failed Bidenomics. This also comes after an underwhelming April retail sales report and several notes from Goldman warning about faltering low-income consumers:

• The Largest US Trading Desk Is "Getting Bearish On The US Consumer"
• Goldman Warns Consumers Are Cracking As Stagflation Threats Emerge
• Goldman's Commentary On Consumer Health Is An Ominous One

On Monday, Target announced, "It will lower everyday regular prices on approximately 5,000 frequently shopped items across its assortment. The retailer has just reduced prices on about 1,500 items, with thousands more price cuts planned to take effect over the course of the summer."

"Consumers will enjoy savings on everyday items such as milk, meat, bread, soda, fresh fruit and vegetables, snacks, yogurt, peanut butter, coffee, diapers, paper towels, pet food and more," the retailer said. 

One can't help but ask what influence (if any) the Biden administration had in potentially pressuring Target to lower prices. Food inflation is crushing the working poor, as Democrats are begging the president to lower prices by executive fiat. 

It wasn't just Target rolling back prices. Walmart, America's largest retailer, told analysts on an earnings call last week that it had begun reducing prices of grocery items. 

John Furner, Walmart US' chief executive, said stores have already issued 7,000 rollbacks. This move is intended to boost food sales in the second half of the year and prevent low-income consumers from trading down to Dollar Generals. 

Walmart noted that high-income consumers were trading down to the retailer, which helped drive sales in its grocery business last quarter. 

Walmart's disclosure last week and Target's announcement this week of price reductions on everyday items, with core cuts in food items, are direct responses to consumer fatigue after three years of high inflation. 

A recent FT-Michigan Ross poll showed persistent inflation has soured the mood of 71% of those surveyed. And maybe if the Biden administration's US Treasury, under Janet Yellen, wasn't spending like it was in a depression, $1 trillion every 100 days, then perhaps inflation could come back down to Earth. 

Joe Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, told the FT that Target unleashed price cuts on popular items to keep pace with Walmart. 

Or, in our view, the administration likely nudged the retailers to drop prices or risk being attacked by 'greedflation' buzzwords by Biden's social media team. 

Feldman expects the price cuts by Walmart and Target will "likely expand to the rest of retail."  

Consumers are likely to vote with their empty wallets this election season. Research firm NIQ said the effects of inflation have led to consumers spending a third more on consumer packaged goods than they did in 2019. 

"I don't think we're going to see much in the way of wholesale declines in prices," Steve Zurek, vice president of pricing and promotion thought leadership at NIQ, said, adding that the outlook for prices was vastly different from two years ago: "It's not going to be everything going up."

Should consumers celebrate retailers lowering prices? Possibly, but don't expect substantial relief anytime soon. 

In addition to major retailers, McDonald's recently considered returning $5 meal deals because low-income people are broke. 

Great job, Bidenomics! The working poor has been crushed, set back a generation because of persistent inflation, produced by out-of-control spending by the federal government. 

Goldman's trading desk this morning noted, "The theme of challenging 1Q consumer results has continued." This followed an underwhelming Target earnings report. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/walmart-target-unleash-price-cut-tsunami-working-poor-hit-brick-wall

Drinking Water Warning Issued Nationwide

 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an enforcement alert Monday urging water utility systems to take immediate actions to protect the nation's drinking water from cyberattacks.

According to the EPA, recent federal inspections revealed that 70 percent of U.S. water systems inspected do not fully comply with requirements in the Safe Drinking Water Act. The agency added that some systems have "critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities, such as default passwords that have not been updated and single logins that can easily be compromised."

Possible impacts of cyberattacks include interruptions to water treatment and storage and damage to pumps and valves, along with alteration of chemical levels to hazardous amounts, the EPA said.

"In many cases, systems are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is to have completed a risk assessment of their vulnerabilities that includes cybersecurity and to make sure that plan is available and informing the way they do business," EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said in a press release.

When reached by Newsweek via email Monday afternoon, the EPA pointed to additional information in today's press release and enforcement alert.

The warning said China, Russia and Iran have "disrupted some water systems with cyberattacks and may have embedded the capability to disable them in the future."

Late last year, an Iranian-linked group, "Cyber Av3ngers," targeted multiple organizations, including a small Pennsylvania town's water provider. Earlier this year, a Russian-linked "hactivist" group attempted to disrupt operations at several Texas utilities. In addition, a cyber group linked to China, "Volt Typhoon," has compromised information technology of multiple infrastructure systems, including drinking water, in the U.S. and its territories, the alert stated.

"By working behind the scenes with these hacktivist groups, now these (nation states) have plausible deniability and they can let these groups carry out destructive attacks. And that to me is a game-changer," Dawn Cappelli, cybersecurity expert with risk management firm Dragos Inc., told the Associated Press (AP).

Monday's alert follows a warning in March over concerns about potential cyberattacks against U.S. water systems.

The March letter, sent by the White House and the EPA to all 50 U.S. governors, noted that threat actors affiliated with the Iranian Government Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have executed several "malicious cyberattacks" against U.S. infrastructure, such as drinking water systems.

"Drinking water and wastewater systems are an attractive target for cyberattacks because they are a lifeline critical infrastructure sector but often lack the resources and technical capacity to adopt rigorous cybersecurity practices," Michael S. Regan, EPA administrator, and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a March 18 letter to all 50 U.S. governors.

The EPA said it will train water utilities for free to assist with addressing some of the issues. McCabe said water providers shouldn't use default passwords and need to develop a risk assessment plan that addresses cybersecurity. Also, water systems need functioning backup systems.

However, some fixes are more complex. AP reports that there are approximately 50,000 community water providers in the U.S. Many utility companies have a small staff and a minimal budget, which means the basic needs—clean water and keeping up with the latest regulations—are the primary focus.

"Certainly, cybersecurity is part of that, but that's never been their primary expertise. So, now you're asking a water utility to develop this whole new sort of department" to handle cyberthreats, Amy Hardberger, water expert at Texas Tech University, told AP.

Kevin Morley, manager of federal relations with the American Water Works Association, told AP that overhauling a utility system is often arduous and expensive, saying that community water systems are going to need substantial federal funding to develop resources to combat cyberattacks.

He also noted that small and large water companies have unique and evolving needs and resources.

"Let's bring everybody along in a reasonable manner," Morley told AP.

Newsweek reached out to the American Water Works Association via email Monday for additional comments.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/drinking-water-warning-issued-nationwide/ar-BB1mJREg