North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other companies that are leading the development of artificial intelligence technology have agreed to meet a set of AI safeguards brokered by President Joe Biden’s administration.

The White House said Friday that it has secured voluntary commitments from seven U.S. companies meant to ensure their AI products are safe before they release them. Some of the commitments call for third-party oversight of the workings of commercial AI systems, though they don’t detail who will audit the technology or hold the companies accountable.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ron DeSantis is taking his presidential campaign to Utah on Friday, prioritizing a state where rival Donald Trump has struggled in the past and that could be a beacon of strength for the Florida governor’s stalled bid.

DeSantis is set to appear at the state Capitol with about a dozen supportive state lawmakers, meet with Republican Gov. Spencer Cox and attend a fundraiser.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is staking his reelection bid on the political and financial muscle of the Democratic National Committee.

As it prepares for a bruising 2024 contest, his campaign plans to raise and spend around $2 billion. But it will do so in coordination with the national and state Democratic parties, in an effort to establish a coordinated campaign around the country. The idea is to bolster field, volunteer and data organizations, and ensure they work jointly to promote Biden and down-ballot Democratic candidates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley released an unclassified document Thursday that Republicans claim is significant in their investigation of Hunter Biden as they delve into the financial affairs of the president and his son, and revive previously debunked claims of wrongdoing.

Grassley of Iowa has been working alongside House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., as Republicans deepen their probe of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, ahead of the 2024 election. Comer had issued a subpoena for the document from the FBI.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who worked as a politically appointed State Department official in former President Donald Trump’s administration was convicted Thursday of charges that he attacked police officers during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden heard testimony without a jury before he convicted the former official, Federico Guillermo Klein, and a co-defendant, Steven Cappuccio, of assault charges and other felony offenses stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama executed a man on Friday for the 2001 beating death of a woman as the state resumed lethal injections after failed executions prompted the governor to order an internal review of procedures.

James Barber, 64, was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — It was a routine collision on a busy Fargo street. But after Mohamad Barakat drove past, armed with 1,800 rounds of ammunition, numerous firearms and a grenade, tragedy ensued.

After the shooting ended on July 14, one police officer was dead, and two other officers as well as a woman in the crash were wounded, leaving authorities wondering what further carnage Barakat might have been planning.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is courting unions as a cornerstone of the country’s economic future with a speech at a Philadelphia shipyard on Thursday — just as some major unions are weighing strikes that could disrupt the growth he wants to campaign on in 2024.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Thursday on a new ethics code for the Supreme Court, an attempt to respond to recent revelations about justices’ interactions with wealthy donors and others. Republicans are strongly opposed, arguing the ethics bill could “destroy” the high court.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An IRS plan to test drive a new electronic free-file tax return system next year has got supporters and critics of the idea mobilizing to sway the public and Congress over whether the government should set up a permanent program to help people file their taxes without needing to pay somebody else to figure out what they owe.