Controversial vaccine trial touted by RFK Jr gets go-ahead in Guinea-Bissau Recommended dose of hepatitis B vaccine will be withheld from thousands of newborns by Danish researchersA controversial research trial that will withhold hepatitis B vaccines from some African newborns was given approval to move forward this week.It is a central part of the vaccine vision for Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a longtime vaccine opponent.This article was amended on 13 October 2026. A previous version said CIDRAP first reported news that the research trial was approved by the Denmark ethics committee. Rolling Stone had actually reported the news first. Continue reading...
ICJ judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel peace prize for promoting international law Committee recognises work of South African who chaired UN commission that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in GazaThe Nobel peace prize has been awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African former UN human rights chief who chaired the UN commission that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza.The Norwegian Nobel committee said Pillay, who is serving as a judge at the international court of justice (ICJ), has "shown that legal measures can help prevent acts of war and violence". Continue reading...
Isaias strengthens to become first Atlantic hurricane of 2026 season Storm expected to make landfall on US's northern Gulf coast with risk of flash floods and isolated river floodingIsaias has become the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season, with wind speeds of 80mph and a minimum pressure of 975mb. It is expected to strengthen to a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the US's northern Gulf coast on Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).As a result of the strong El Niño, it has been a notably quiet Atlantic hurricane season. The first hurricane of the season has not formed this late since 8 October 1905, which pre-dates the satellite era (1960s) for tracking hurricanes that has allowed for more non-landfall hurricanes to be discovered. Continue reading...
Egyptian journalists plan weekend protest over detention of six colleagues Matsadaash staff allege torture and forced confessions after being held on charges of working for Muslim BrotherhoodEgyptian journalists are planning a new protest in Cairo this weekend after six colleagues were charged with terrorism offences amid allegations they had been tortured in police detention.Last week, Egyptian authorities arrested the journalists, from the independent factchecking and investigative platform Matsadaash, accusing them in a statement of being unlicensed and producing false news on behalf of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Continue reading...
Scientists discover 180,000 giant tortoises on one Seychelles island Free-roaming Aldabra population far exceeds human population of Seychelles after decades-long recovery programmeA survey of the world's largest free-roaming giant tortoise population has discovered that the once endangered species is thriving.A population of Aldabra giant tortoises lives on an island in Seychelles called Aldabra Atoll. Continue reading...
California coastal homes battered and bruised after weekend of intense waves and flooding Boardwalk destroyed in Long Beach and homes damaged, while Baja California in Mexico and Las Vegas also affectedSouthern California coastal communities are picking up the pieces after a weekend of extreme weather brought flooding that overtook city streets and intense waves battered beachside homes.The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel hit Mexico's Baja California over the weekend as well as southern California and Las Vegas. While meteorologists noted that Rachel weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it approached California, it still left a trail of destruction. Continue reading...
Regulators fined Bank of America (BAC) more than $1.2 billion on Tuesday over widespread failures in the banking giant's safeguards against money laundering and other illicit financial activity.
The Treasury Department said the nation's second-largest bank failed to properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions and to report more than $5 billion in suspicious activity, including transactions potentially tied to Chinese money-laundering networks, narcotics trafficking, and fraud.
The enforcement actions include a $1.2 billion penalty from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the third-largest fine in the Treasury Department's history after it fined crypto exchange Binance $3.4 billion in 2023 and TD Bank for $1.3 billion in 2024. The fine also includes a $750 million penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the largest ever imposed by that regulator.
The OCC penalty will be credited against FinCEN's assessment rather than added to it. Separately, a $11.6 million sanctions settlement brings the total penalties to more than $1.21 billion.
"Even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
Bank of America's stock fell more than 2% after markets closed on Tuesday. It reports third quarter earnings Wednesday morning.
The bank said it will include a "non-tax-deductible charge of $1.2 billion impacting net income by approximately 17 cents per share" in its third quarter results.
"Financial crime compliance is serious, and we are responsible for getting it right," a Bank of America spokesperson said in an email statement, adding that the Charlotte, North Carolina based lender has invested "billions of dollars in technology" and dedicated "thousands of employees to combat financial crime" to resolve the deficiencies.
Regulators said Bank of America's failures extended across its transaction monitoring systems, customer due diligence, and internal oversight.
The bank failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions, including over $1 billion involving national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks.
FinCEN said Bank of America admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act and had effectively outsourced substantial portions of its suspicious activity detection responsibilities to law enforcement and other financial institutions.
The bank also prioritized revenue over compliance resources, according to Treasury, allowing suspicious transactions to go uninvestigated for extended periods.
The penalties come nearly two years after Bank of America agreed to a December 2024 cease-and-desist order requiring it to address longstanding weaknesses in its anti-money laundering controls.
The OCC said the bank failed to make sufficient progress despite that earlier enforcement action.
"Bank of America's poor response to its [Bank Secrecy Act] deficiencies is unacceptable," Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said, describing continued breakdowns in internal controls.
Separately, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced an $11.6 million settlement involving 475 apparent violations of sanctions programs targeting Russia, Iran, and other countries and activities.
As part of the latest enforcement actions, Bank of America must conduct a review of previously undetected suspicious transactions with an outside party and undergo independent assessments of its compliance controls.
Mike Mayo, a Wells Fargo equity analyst who covers the bank called the action a "black eye" for Bank of America while describing the one-time charge as "digestible."
David Hollerith covers a range of developments throughout the financial sector, from Wall Street to banking and asset management to crypto and fintech. Email him at david.hollerith@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DsHollers.
ROME (AP) - Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery Tuesday that confirmed that he has lung cancer, and doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican said.
Tests confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin after the surgery. It said the diagnosis had been suspected by preoperative tests and was confirmed during surgery.
The statement made no mention of treatment going forward, and the Vatican said doctors were not currently speaking of chemotherapy or other therapies pending the results of other tests. The Vatican press office noted the medical statement spoke of the "radical" removal of the lobe as an indication that doctors removed all suspect tissue in hopes of removing any lingering traces of the cancer.
Leo's lymph nodes also would have been removed and tested, to determine if the cancer had spread, and there was no word yet on those test results.
"Adenocarcinoma is the most common (type of lung cancer), also with the most favorable prognosis," said Dr. Stephen Liu, a lung cancer expert at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "While we know the diagnosis we now need to know the stage."
"We now need to know how big it is, how many spots in the lung are involved. Is it just one nodule, or more than one, and the lymph nodes, are they cancerous?" Liu said.
If the cancer has spread, more tests will be needed to determine what kind of therapy to pursue, he said. Options include chemotherapy, a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy or targeted therapy, which involves oral pills for specific cancers.
The Vatican says the surgery was successful
The 71-year-old was in the operating room for about three hours, the Vatican statement said. The surgery itself lasted approximately 90 minutes.
"The surgery was successful, and there were no complications," the statement said, adding that the pope later returned to his room.
The right lung is divided into three sections or lobes while the left has two. After one lobe is removed, the remainder of the lung can gradually compensate, especially in otherwise healthy and physically active people.
Leo had walked into Rome's Gemelli hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him. The Vatican said the surgery would be performed by a team led by Gemelli's chief thoracic surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.
The American pontiff has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy. He revealed the discovery of the localized nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced that he would have it removed.
Oncologists said prior to the operation that even if the nodule turned out to be cancerous, Leo's prognosis would be "excellent" since it would have been removed at an early stage.
The Vatican on Monday canceled all Leo's audiences through Oct. 20.
While Gemelli has a specific papal apartment that past popes have used, complete with a private chapel on the 10th floor, Leo will actually be staying in a nearby room since the papal apartment is undergoing renovations, according to the Vatican press office.
Recovery could allow November travel to South America
There was no word on whether Leo would be able to keep his planned trip to South America next month.
Oncologists often advise patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery - which would give the pope just the interval needed to make his planned Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, depending on his recovery.
The current itinerary for the trip is ambitious and the longest of his papacy to date, calling for Leo to clock just over 31,000 kilometers (19,000 miles) on a dozen flights and two helicopter rides, and a significant altitude change in Peru.
"He has decided to undergo surgery soon in order to not change his plans for future overseas trips, so there is no need to worry, as it is not an emergency," said Tokyo Cardinal Kikuchi Tsutomu, who saw Leo on Monday.
A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening. A nodule can be benign or malignant, and oftentimes surgical removal is recommended both to establish whether it is cancer and to treat a malignancy while it is still localized.
Pope was hospitalized for typhoid fever in 1985
This is believed to be the second hospitalization for Leo, who is known to be sporty and in good shape, with weekly tennis games and swimming.
As a young missionary priest, he came down with typhoid fever in 1985, soon after arriving in Chulucanas, Peru. The illness and hospitalization were a cathartic moment for him to decide to stay in the poverty and discomfort of Peru after living in relative comfort in Rome - a decision that ultimately paved the way to his papacy, according to an interview Leo gave to Elise Ann Allen in 2025 for "Pope Leo XIV: The Biography."
According to the book, Leo said he prayed to God to let him die rather than suffer the "horrible" pain of the fever. "I was hooked up to an IV, and I said, 'If this is your sense of humor, Lord, I think you could do a little better.'
"Obviously, I survived; I recovered, but it turned out to be a very significant moment for me, because it was like, 'Well, you've already dealt with the illness; you already see what the needs are here - the order, the Augustinians, the church are telling you, 'We need you here; go for it.' I never looked back."
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Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writer Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed to this report.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/pope-leo-xiv-set-enter-050053895.html
President Trump has begun to downplay his new deal with Russia after a plan to allow imports of Russian diesel into the US came under withering criticism, even from members of his own party.
"It's a deal for the world ... It's not a deal with me," Trump told reporters on Tuesday morning, repeating that it was "not a USA deal."
"They're releasing it to the entire world," Trump added, after making similar comments on Monday that the deal would help US farmers, but said, "It's not really a deal with me, it's a deal for the rest of the world."President Trump speaks to members of the media as he departs the White House on Oct. 13 to travel to Alaska for a rally. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
The contention is a marked shift since Trump announced the plans last week.
"I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia," he wrote on Truth Social, adding that it will be a "great announcement...for Americans and, indeed, the World."
The deal will include a quick release of 300,000 tons (about 2.2 million barrels) of diesel. That would then be followed by another 500,000 in November and 1 million tons "immediately thereafter" for a total of about 13.5 million barrels.
Calls on the president to 'immediately reverse course'
Blowback to the plan has been notable - even within Trump's own party.
A bipartisan group of senators called on the president to "immediately reverse course," in a letter signed by Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and John Curtis of Utah, along with three Democrats.
The plan has also received a lukewarm reception on the midterm campaign trail, with figures like Republican Mike Rogers, who is locked in a tight Senate contest in Michigan, distancing himself from it.
Some energy experts suggest the deal might run afoul of US law, while others suggest it simply won't work since Russia seems to lack enough excess diesel refining capacity to markedly increase exports and move US or global diesel prices.
Wholesale diesel prices are "not blinking over Russia/US 'deal'" Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, noted on Tuesday. "Truckers and farmers not going to see any relief anytime soon."
But Trump continued to defend the deal and dodged a question about another major critique, which is that it could fund Russia's war efforts against Ukraine.
"Nobody's told me anything," the president said Tuesday in response to whether Russia could use any of the funds to further attack Ukraine.
Trump also claimed without evidence that the deal had brought down prices and reaffirmed that his larger goal was to end the overall conflict.
He said of Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, "I think they both want it to end, you know, honestly, they both want it to end, and they don't know how to get to that point."
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo FinanceThis article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance at https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/article/not-a-usa-deal-trump-downplays-russian-diesel-plan-in-the-face-of-gop-criticism-182030595.html
Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, resigned on Tuesday amid allegations of improper conduct while denying the claims and vowing to "vigorously defend" herself.
In a lengthy post on her personal X account on Tuesday morning, Guilfoyle thanked President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for "entrusting me with the extraordinary privilege of representing the greatest country in the history of the world."
Guilfoyle also denied the "recent allegations" against her. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to pay off a $100,000 American Express credit card bill ahead of her confirmation as ambassador in exchange for access to administration officials.
"These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity," Guilfoyle wrote. "I have dedicated my professional life to fighting for justice, standing up for what is right, and defending the values that make America exceptional. I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service."
Earlier Tuesday, Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, announced during her first briefing that the administration had asked Guilfoyle to resign.
"We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign," Zacharia said when asked about the status of her employment in Athens. "She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well."Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks as President Trump listens at a Greek Independence Day reception at the White House in 2025.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House for Alaska on Tuesday, Trump said Guilfoyle - a former Fox News host who served as an adviser to his presidential campaign and was the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. - "wasn't a member of my family."
"She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago," Trump said. "She went to Greece. She was doing a good job but we didn't like what we were reading … I didn't like what I read."
On Monday, Trump told reporters that the administration was considering firing Guilfoyle.
"Yeah, we're not happy," he said.
Guilfoyle, 57, was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Greece in September 2025. According to the Journal, as Guilfoyle was preparing for her Senate confirmation hearings, she asked Eric Deters, a former Kentucky gubernatorial candidate and Trump donor, to send a $100,000 wire transfer to help pay down her American Express account "in a way that wouldn't leave a paper trail."
The report cited text messages between Guilfoyle and Deters.
"Honey please I need you to get this done for me today," she texted Deters, according to the Journal.Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks during the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
A lawyer for Guilfoyle initially told the Journal that she disputed the authenticity of the messages. In a statement released late Sunday, her attorneys denied that she had done anything wrong and said she was seeking payment for appearance fees that predated her ambassadorship.
After the report was published, Deters told NBC News that he viewed Guilfoyle's request as a "quid pro quo."
"She was so desperate for that $100,000. It was a quid pro quo," Deters said. "She said I could ask her for anything and everything in Trump world. There was no request too big."This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/white-house-asks-for-kimberly-guilfoyles-resignation-as-us-ambassador-to-greece-after-report-she-asked-donor-to-pay-her-100k-credit-card-bill-154738704.html
White House press secretary's debut draws criticism but Trump says she was 'very good' White House press secretary's debut draws criticism but Trump says she was 'very good'Katie Zacharia responded after criticism of her first White House press briefing on Tuesday, telling Newsweek via email that "I am grateful to serve President Trump as Press Secretary, and I will diligently and effectively amplify his successful agenda."During her debut at the podium, Zacharia announced that the White House had asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign.Yet much of the reaction to Zacharia's debut centered on its brevity. She spent just 14 minutes at the podium and took questions from only three outlets before ending the briefing as President Donald Trump prepared to depart the White House for a campaign trip to Alaska.Zacharia, a conservative commentator who most recently worked for Trump's social media company, was named press secretary on Friday, succeeding Karoline Leavitt, who left the administration in August to spend more time with her family.Her first appearance offered an early glimpse of how Zacharia intends to approach the job. She told reporters that her goal was to "amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump's incredible agenda for the American people" while describing Trump as "his own best spokesperson."Speaking to reporters before his trip to Alaska, Trump responded to a question about Zacharia's briefing, saying only, "I thought she was very good."But the brevity of the appearance, along with Zacharia's delivery and handling of questions, quickly generated criticism from former White House communications officials, journalists and commentators.White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House on October 13, 2026, in Washington.
Katie Zacharia's 14-Minute White House Briefing
Zacharia began the briefing with prepared remarks highlighting Trump's campaign rallies ahead of the November 3 midterm elections and touting the administration's record on issues including energy, tariffs and immigration.She took her first question from Breitbart News and said she would continue the "new media" rotation introduced under Leavitt that opened briefing-room access to additional media organizations.Zacharia also made the biggest news of the briefing when she confirmed that Trump had asked Guilfoyle to resign following allegations of improper conduct."She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well," Zacharia said.But after taking questions from only three outlets, including one question about how she plans to balance her family life with the new job, Zacharia brought the briefing to a close as Trump prepared to leave the White House."In fact, I am going to end it because President Trump is heading out to Marine One for our historic trip to Alaska, and we can ask him all of the questions out there," she said.
Current, Former White House OfficialsReact to Zacharia's Debut
Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, gave Zacharia high praise after her first appearance in front of the press.He told Newsweek via email: "Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team. She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary."However, some criticism also came from within Trump's orbit, according to CNN.CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene reported that several White House officials and presidential advisers described Zacharia's appearance as "awkward" or "stilted," particularly as she read her opening statement.Trump has shown a willingness to make quick changes to his White House communications operation. The most notable example came in 2017, when Anthony Scaramucci lasted just 10 days as White House communications director. The White House said at the time that Trump believed comments Scaramucci had made about colleagues were inappropriate for someone in his position.Treene noted that Trump publicly praised Zacharia after the briefing and that some people she spoke with believed the president would give his new press secretary the benefit of the doubt.Former Biden White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield described Zacharia's performance as a "rocky start" during a CNN appearance on Tuesday.Bedingfield said a press secretary needs to project confidence and demonstrate enough command of administration policy to field questions across a wide range of subjects."She wasn't able to do that," Bedingfield said, while acknowledging that it was Zacharia's first day. "To send somebody out to the podium who seems incredibly unprepared, unable to answer five, six, seven, eight questions. I mean, typically these briefings can last as long as 45 minutes, an hour."Bedingfield called the performance "very unimpressive right out of the gate" but also questioned whether Zacharia had been given sufficient time to prepare after being named to the position only four days earlier."It is unusual for a press secretary to come into the job and go straight out to the podium like that," Bedingfield said, calling the position "one of the hardest in the entire administration."
WH Press Secretary Katie Zacharia delivers her opening remarks at first press briefing: "I have wanted to work for him for a very long time. I am looking forward to working with each of you as well, especially as we are in the middle of the midterm blitz." pic.twitter.com/aTNHbqc6lM- CSPAN (@cspan) October 13, 2026
Former Biden White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki offered a more blunt assessment."Well that briefing was basically an SNL skit…except it wasnt…will have a lot more to say at 9pm," Psaki, now an MS NOW host, wrote on X.The reactions placed immediate scrutiny on Zacharia as she began a job that requires serving as a public face for the administration and managing the White House operation responsible for responding to reporters.Bedingfield argued that the latter responsibility could prove just as consequential as Zacharia's televised appearances."The press secretary's job is only in part what you see on camera," she said, pointing to running the press shop and overseeing responses to journalists as other major elements of the position.Former Trump White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews, who resigned after the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, also contrasted Zacharia's debut with predecessors Leavitt and Kayleigh McEnany."Love them or hate them: Kayleigh McEnany and Karoline Leavitt came out swinging in their first press briefings," Matthews wrote on X. "They were sharp, confident, prepared, and proved they had the chops for the job right out of the gate."She described Zacharia's performance, by comparison, as "a rather underwhelming debut," pointing to the three questions she took and her "heavy reliance on her notes.""Not exactly in command of the briefing room," Matthews added.Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who worked under President George W. Bush, offered a more positive assessment, telling Fox News Tuesday that Zacharia benefited from having substantive announcements to make despite the brevity of her debut. He pointed to her disclosure that Trump had added Kentucky to his upcoming travel schedule and her announcement that the administration had asked Guilfoyle to resign."There's nothing that makes the job of the White House press secretary easier than delivering hard news, things that nobody knows about, that your job is to reveal it for the first time on behalf of the president," Fleischer said. He added that the announcements "gave her substance" and "gave her something serious to talk about, not just talking points."Fleischer added: "Talking points are indeed an important part of that job, but making news is even more important."
Experts Critique Katie Zacharia's Performance
Democratic strategist Melissa DeRosa also praised Zacharia's debut during an appearance on Fox News, arguing that the new press secretary avoided becoming the story."I thought that she presented well," DeRosa said, adding that Zacharia did not come across as combative as some previous Trump press secretaries.DeRosa said she initially worried that Zacharia's first appearance could become a "process story," with observers dissecting her delivery rather than focusing on the administration's message. Instead, she argued, Zacharia delivered significant news and quickly left the podium."She came out loaded with news and then she dropped the mic and walked away," DeRosa said. "I think from a strategic perspective, that was a really smart move."Beverly Hallberg, president of District Media Group and a senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum, also criticized Zacharia's first appearance while acknowledging the difficulty of making a debut at the White House podium."There's grace" for it being Zacharia's first day, Hallberg wrote on X, but she argued that White House press secretary "isn't the kind of position where you should be learning on the job.""You should already be prepared to step into the role, with understandable room to work through the kinks," Hallberg said. "It's completely normal for a press secretary to be nervous during her first appearance, but I'm hoping she'll find her groove because that wasn't a strong start."Hallberg, who works as a media coach, focused much of her criticism on Zacharia's presentation. She said the new press secretary relied too heavily on her notes, spoke too slowly and appeared visibly nervous. She also criticizing Zacharia's eye contact and tendency to stumble over words.The debut nevertheless underscored one aspect of Zacharia's philosophy toward the position: She does not intend to compete with Trump for the role of chief messenger.Zacharia explicitly described the president as "his own best spokesperson," and her decision to end the briefing so reporters could question Trump directly reinforced that approach on her first day behind the lectern.Newsweek's reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Dave Siminoff.
This article originally appeared on NEWSWEEK at https://www.newsweek.com/katie-zacharia-responds-after-criticism-of-first-white-house-briefing-12562774
Engineer arrested after listening device found in OpenAI conference room Engineer arrested after listening device found in OpenAI conference roomWASHINGTON (AP) - An engineer at OpenAI has been charged with secretly installing a recording device inside a conference room in what officials said Tuesday was an effort to capture sensitive conversations about the company's technology. The employee, identified as a 35-year-old Saudi national named Abdulrahman Alfozan, was arrested Friday, a week after the ChatGPT maker discovered an audio recording device hidden in the conference room, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco. The complaint did not identify the company, but the company confirmed in a separate statement that it had discovered a "sophisticated recording device that was hidden inside one of our offices," reported the finding to the FBI and fired the employee. "We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier. We referred the matter to the FBI, and we're grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest. The FBI's investigation is ongoing and we will continue to support their work," an OpenAI spokesperson said. "At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data. The employee was terminated," the statement said. The complaint does not detail what Alfozan might have wanted to do with any captured communications. Alfozan made his first court appearance Tuesday on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. The recording device was found September 30 concealed in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in the conference room, according to the complaint. Though the conference room where the recording device was found did not have a camera at the time it was installed, closed-circuit television footage inside the company's offices revealed that Alfozan was near the conference room on a half-dozen occasions last month despite not having any authority to access the space, the complaint says. The company subsequently added a camera to the room that last week captured Alfozan entering and checking behind the television where the recording device was installed, according to the FBI. The complaint also he also used a productivity tool to make multiple inquiries about the company's building addresses, meeting rooms, meeting-room capacities and calendars. Before his arrest last week, the complaint says, Alfozan left an unattended bag in a different room in the building that included his wallet, identification and another recording device.This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/employee-arrested-listening-device-found-211029589.html
