By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House artificial intelligence council is meeting Monday, three months after President Joe Biden signed an executive order that aims to reduce the risks AI poses.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, who will convene the council meeting Monday, said in a statement the federal government had made significant progress in the prior 90 days on AI, saying Biden’s “directive to us is move fast and fix things.”

The White House said nine government agencies – including Defense, Transportation, Treasury, and Health and Human Services – submitted risk assessments to the Department of Homeland Security required under Biden’s order.

At the same time, efforts in Congress to pass legislation in Congress addressing AI have stalled despite numerous high-level forums and legislative proposals.

On Friday, the Biden administration said it was proposing requiring U.S. cloud companies to determine whether foreign entities are accessing U.S. data centers to train AI models through “know your customer” rules.

“We can’t have non-state actors or China or folks who we don’t want accessing our cloud to train their models,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters Friday. “We use export controls on chips. Those chips are in American cloud data centers so we also have to think about closing down that avenue for potential malicious activity.”

Last month, Raimondo said Commerce would not allow Nvidia “to ship is the most sophisticated, highest-processing-power AI chips, which would enable China to train their frontier models.”

Biden’s executive order invokes the Defense Production Act to require developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government before they are publicly released.

The Commerce Department plans to soon send those survey requests to companies. Raimondo told Reuters companies will have 30 days to respond.

“Any company that doesn’t want to comply is a red flag for me,” she said.

Top cloud providers include Amazon.com’s AWS, Alphabet’s Google Cloud and Microsoft’s Azure unit.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Stephen Coates)

MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) -A senior Russian lawmaker said Ukrainian military intelligence had been given a 15-minute warning before a Russian military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war entered an area where it was shot down on Wednesday, killing all on board.

Moscow accuses Kyiv of downing the Ilyushin Il-76 plane in Russia’s Belgorod region, killing 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers en route to be swapped for Russian PoWs.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Thursday the plane was struck by a Ukrainian-made surface-to-air missile.

Ukraine denied that it was given a warning. It has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed the plane but has challenged details of Moscow’s account and called for an international investigation.

“The Ukrainian side was officially warned, and 15 minutes before the plane entered the zone they were given complete information,” Andrei Kartopolov, a former general with close ties to Russia’s defence ministry, told lawmakers, according to the ruling United Russia party. He said Ukraine’s military command confirmed receipt of the warning.

His assertion contradicted statements by Ukrainian military intelligence that Russia had not informed it about the flight arrangements.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov, said that contrary to practice before previous PoW swaps, Kyiv had received no requests from Russia to refrain from attacks in the airspace where the plane was downed. He challenged Moscow’s version of events.

“No evidence has been provided for the charges … Nothing has been shown to prove the wreckage and the presence of people on board,” he said on national television on Thursday.

Conflicting narratives from both sides are a daily feature of a war now nearing the end of its second year. In this case the stakes are especially high, as it is the deadliest incident of its kind on internationally recognised Russian territory since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

The United Nations Security Council met on Thursday at the request of Russia to discuss the downed plane. The U.N. was not in a position to verify the circumstances of the crash, U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council.

“What is clear is that the incident took place in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ongoing war,” she said. “To avoid further escalation, we urge all concerned to refrain from actions, rhetoric, or allegations that could further fuel the already dangerous conflict.”

‘PROVOCATION’

The Russian defence ministry on Wednesday said that its air defences were active earlier in the morning and had shot down a Ukrainian drone in the region.

Yusov said Ukraine had been using reconnaissance drones in the area, and that Russia had launched attack drones. There was “no confirmed information” that Ukraine had hit any targets, he said.

“Unfortunately, we can assume various scenarios, including provocation, as well as the use of Ukrainian prisoners as a human shield for transporting ammunition and weapons for S-300 systems (being used in the war),” he told Radio Svoboda.

Fragments of what appeared to be a missile have been found at the site where the plane crashed in Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine, the TASS state news agency cited emergency services as saying on Thursday.

In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, Russian investigators said their “preliminary” conclusion was that the plane had been hit by an anti-aircraft missile from the Zenit rocket family, and a criminal investigation had been opened.

Ukraine said it had opened its own investigation into a potential violation of the rules of war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that greater clarity was needed, particularly when it came to who was on board, and he accused Russia of “playing with the lives of Ukrainian prisoners”.

Russia has sole access to the site of the crash, where TV pictures showed debris scattered over snowy fields. TASS said the plane’s flight recorders had been recovered and would be flown to Moscow for examination.

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets told Reuters he believed the incident was a planned Russian misinformation campaign. He said a list of Ukrainian PoW casualties, which was shared after the crash by Russian media, included soldiers already returned in a previous swap.

“The Russians will make loud statements but will not allow anyone in. They will not hand over any materials for analysis and will simply blame Ukraine,” he told national television.

(Reporting by Moscow and Kyiv bureaux; additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gareth Jones; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Ros Russell and Bill Berkrot)

(Reuters) -Home improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos said on Thursday it has eliminated a limited number of corporate positions in non-customer facing roles.

The Mooresville, North Carolina-based firm joins a growing number of U.S. companies that have trimmed their workforce as they seek to cut costs.

“Lowe’s is continually evaluating how to improve its operations. As part of this process, we have made some staffing changes that affect the jobs of a limited number of corporate associates in non-customer facing roles,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Bloomberg News had first reported on Lowe’s job cuts earlier on Thursday.

Separately, news website Business Insider is set to lay off around 8% of its staff, while eBay will cut about 1,000 roles.

Lowe’s had forecast a steeper drop in annual same-store sales in November, as inflation-hit consumers pulled back spending on home-improvement projects.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shilpi Majumdar)

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices gained about 3% on Thursday to settle at their highest since December after U.S. economic data showed faster-than-expected growth in the last quarter and as tensions in the Red Sea kept disrupting global trade.

Brent crude futures settled up $2.39, or 2.99%, to $82.43 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $2.27, or 3.02%, to $77.36.

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the disruption of shipping in the Red Sea corridor remained in focus.

Maersk said explosions forced two ships operated by its U.S. subsidiary that were carrying U.S. military supplies to retreat when they were transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, accompanied by the U.S. Navy.

“We are finally seeing energy markets wake up to the distinct possibility that these supply chain disruptions will rumble on for months yet,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

“The prospect of a military solution to ensure safe passage looks unlikely,” he added.

Yemen’s Houthi leader said on Thursday the group would continue targeting ships linked to Israel until aid reaches the Palestinian people in Gaza.

A Ukrainian drone attack on an oil refinery in southern Russia overnight also sparked supply worries, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

In the U.S., a larger-than-expected draw in crude inventories last week, primarily because of extreme cold, also supported prices. U.S. inventories fell by 9.2 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Data on Thursday showed the U.S. economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the fourth quarter, a positive demand indicator, Yawger said.

Oil prices also drew support from expectation China’s economy is recovering after the central bank announced a deep cut in bank reserves on Wednesday.

The market had been waiting for economic stimulus from China for the past several months, said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC. The bank reserves cut could boost oil demand, he added.

Elsewhere, however, the prospect of sustained high interest rates loomed.

The European Central Bank on Thursday retained its record-high benchmark rate of 4%, giving no hint that policymakers were contemplating policy easing.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning and Natalie Grover in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; editing by Mark Potter, Jason Neely, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Barbara Lewis and David Gregorio)

By Sinéad Carew and Amanda Cooper

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Global stocks edged up on Thursday while the euro fell as Europe’s central bank kept rates unchanged, and U.S. Treasury yields declined after data showed the U.S. economy grew more quickly than expected in the fourth quarter.

The U.S. economy grew as strong consumer spending defied recession predictions in 2023, with fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) increasing at a 3.3% annualized rate and full-year growth at 2.5%, according to the Commerce Department.

The U.S. dollar edged higher after the data prompted bets that the Federal Reserve would be in no rush to cut interest rates amid a generally stable economy.

But the euro came under pressure after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at a record-high 4% and ECB President Christine Lagarde said it was “premature to discuss rate cuts” for the euro zone economy, and that risks to economic growth are “tilted to the downside.”

“Probably why you’re seeing weakness in the euro is the differential between European growth rates and U.S. growth,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Wall Street stock indexes were showing some relief that the U.S. economy was holding up better than hoped. Peter Cardillo, chief market economist, Spartan Capital Securities, New York said the numbers “bode well for a soft landing.”

“Bottom line it’s a good report but it will likely induce the Fed to keep interest rates steady at least until the third or fourth quarter of 2024,” Cardillo said.

“The consumer is still spending and that bodes well for corporate America. The market’s focus is on inflation and the consumer.”

On Thursday at 02:54 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 96.62 points, or 0.26%, higher at 37,903.01. The S&P 500 rose 9.93 points, or 0.20%, to 4,878.48 while the Nasdaq Composite lost 10.37 points, or 0.07%, to 15,471.55.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 nations, was up 0.2%. Earlier Europe’s STOXX 600 index closed up 0.3%.

Treasury yields fell as investors bid up prices after the data showing faster-than-expected economic growth, along with an inflation pace on track to meet the Fed’s 2% target.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes fell to 4.1299% compared with its U.S. close of 4.178% on Wednesday. The two-year yield, which rises with traders’ expectations of higher Fed fund rates, touched 4.3118% compared with a U.S. close of 4.378%.

In currencies, the euro was down 0.4% on the day at $1.0834, having lost 1.82% in a month.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies of other major trading partners, was up 0.3%.

The dollar rose 0.21% against the yen to 147.81. This was after the yen on Wednesday staged its largest one-day rally against the dollar in a month after hints of rate increases to come in Japan.

In commodity markets, oil prices rose on Thursday to the highest since late November following the U.S. data, and as tensions in the Red Sea kept disrupting global trade.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up 3%, or $2.27 at $77.36 a barrel. Brent crude finished up 2.99%, or $2.39, at $82.43. [O/R]

In precious metals, spot gold prices rose 0.25% to $2,017.62 an ounce.

Earlier, China markets had surged on the back of revived investor confidence that helped offset a more muted performance elsewhere, while the euro held steady against the dollar ahead of a European Central Bank meeting.

Chinese blue-chips staged a robust rally, with the Shanghai Composite closing up 3% in its largest daily gain in nearly two years, after a series of measures by Beijing authorities to prop up the economy and the stock market.

(Additional reporting by Herbert Lash in New York, Dhara Ranasinghe in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore: Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Will Dunham, Miral Fahmy and Chizu Nomiyama)

(Reuters) -Lowe’s Cos is eliminating some corporate positions, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday citing a company spokesperson.

The staffing changes will affect the jobs of a limited number of corporate associates in non-customer facing roles, the report added citing the spokesperson.

Lowe’s did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The retailer had forecasted a steeper drop in annual same-store sales in November, as inflation-hit consumers pulled back spending on home-improvement projects.

The Mooresville, North Carolina-based firm joins a growing number of U.S. companies trimming their workforce as they seek to cut costs.

News website Business Insider is laying off around 8% of its staff, while eBay will cut about 1,000 roles.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

By Jennifer Rigby

CAMBRIDGE, England (Reuters) – Two laboratories in Britain and South Africa, which were at the forefront of tracking new coronavirus variants during the pandemic, have teamed up to keep the focus on genomic surveillance globally as the COVID emergency recedes.

The teams said they were worried governments and funders may pull back from such surveillance, despite its potential to better monitor many infectious diseases, from malaria to cholera.

“One of the big benefits that came from the pandemic was this huge global investment in infrastructure,” said John Sillitoe, director of the Genomic Surveillance Unit (GSU) at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, one of the two partners.

In genomic surveillance, scientists first get data about the genetic material of a virus or organism in a process called sequencing. Then they analyse the data from several samples to look for similarities and differences between them, for example to track how the virus is changing or spreading.

The process has been around for decades, but came to the forefront as scientists and public health teams tracked the fast-changing coronavirus.

But Sillitoe said he feared assets needed for the process – like sequencing machines bought in the pandemic – were now “sitting idle” in some countries, which would be a missed opportunity.

“We have a lot of blind spots, both on pathogens and on regions,” said Tulio de Oliveira, director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch University, the other lab in the partnership. During COVID, his team confirmed the discovery of the Beta and Omicron variants.

De Oliveira, who will also join the GSU as a deputy director, said the potential for other diseases was huge.

For example, work by the two labs, as well as a global climate-related disease consortium, has doubled the number of sequences available for dengue, chikungunya, and malaria-carrying mosquitoes in just the last year, he said.

The labs will work together to share resources as well as supporting partners in disease surveillance globally with expertise and materials, alongside wider World Health Organization-led efforts, de Oliveira and Sillitoe said.

(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Nick Macfie)

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Thursday to highest since early December after U.S. economic data showed faster-than-expected growth in the last quarter and as tensions in the Red Sea kept disrupting global trade.

Brent futures rose $1.85, or 2.31%, to $81.89 a barrel at 2:02 p.m. EST (1902 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.76, or 2.34%, to $76.85.

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the disruption of shipping in the Red Sea corridor remained in focus.

Maersk said explosions forced two ships operated by its U.S. subsidiary that were carrying U.S. military supplies to retreat when they were transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, accompanied by the U.S. Navy.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi leader said the group would continue targeting ships linked to Israel until aid reaches the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“We are finally seeing energy markets wake up to the distinct possibility that these supply chain disruptions will rumble on for months yet,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

“The prospect of a military solution to ensure safe passage looks unlikely,” he added.

A Ukrainian drone attack on an oil refinery in southern Russia overnight also sparked supply worries, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

In the U.S., a larger-than-expected draw in crude inventories last week, primarily because of extreme cold, also supported prices. U.S. inventories fell by 9.2 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Data on Thursday showed the U.S. economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the fourth quarter, a positive demand indicator, Yawger said.

Oil prices also drew support from expectation China’s economy is recovering after the central bank announced a deep cut in bank reserves on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, however, the prospect of sustained high interest rates loomed.

The European Central Bank on Thursday retained its record-high benchmark rate of 4%, giving no hint that policymakers were contemplating policy easing.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning and Natalie Grover in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; editing by Mark Potter, Jason Neely, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Barbara Lewis and David Gregorio)

By Aditya Soni

(Reuters) -Microsoft will let go of 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, it said on Thursday, the latest cuts in the technology sector that has extended massive layoffs over the past years into 2024.

The cuts represent about 8% of the overall Microsoft Gaming division and will mostly happen at Activision Blizzard.

Blizzard President Mike Ybarra and Chief Design Officer Allen Adham are also leaving the company, while a previously announced survival game by Blizzard has been canceled, Microsoft said.

The news comes months after Microsoft closed its $69 billion deal for Activision Blizzard, boosting its heft in the videogaming market with best-selling titles, including “Call of Duty”, to better compete with industry leader Sony.

“Microsoft’s announcement that it will be laying off 1,900 video game workers makes clear that, even when you work at a successful company in an extremely profitable industry, your livelihood is not protected without a voice on the job,” Communications Workers of America (CWA) said.

“We will continue to support workers at Microsoft and across the video game industry who want to have a union voice on the job,” it added.

Several other big firms such as Alphabet, Amazon.com and ebay have also laid off thousands of staff in recent weeks to lower costs and boost profitability.

Overall, more than 21,000 workers have been let go of in 76 tech companies in January, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi.

The tech sector shed 168,032 jobs in 2023 and accounted for the highest number of layoffs across industries, according to a report by Challenger, Gray and Christmas earlier this month. That included more than 10,000 cuts at Microsoft.

Analysts and industry experts have said they expect fewer layoffs this year, with firms that are racing to catch up in the AI space more likely to downsize to offset the billions of dollars they are spending on the technology.

The Verge was the first to report the news on the latest job cuts by Microsoft.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Arun Koyyur and Krishna Chandra Eluri)

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Thursday after U.S. economic data showed faster-than-expected growth in the last quarter and as tensions in the Red Sea continued to disrupt global trade.

Brent futures rose $1.52, or 1.9%, to $81.56 a barrel at 12:40 p.m. (1740 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.44, or 1.9%, to $76.53.

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the disruption of shipping in the Red Sea corridor remained in focus.

Maersk said explosions forced two ships operated by its U.S. subsidiary that were carrying U.S. military supplies to retreat when they were transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, accompanied by the U.S. Navy.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi leader said the group would continue targeting ships linked to Israel until aid reaches the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“We are finally seeing energy markets wake up to the distinct possibility that these supply chain disruptions will rumble on for months yet,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

“The prospect of a military solution to ensure safe passage looks unlikely,” he added.

A Ukrainian drone attack on an oil refinery in southern Russia overnight also sparked supply worries, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

In the U.S., a larger-than-expected draw in crude inventories last week, primarily because of extreme cold, also supported prices. U.S. inventories fell by 9.2 million barrels last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Data on Thursday showed the U.S. economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the fourth quarter, a positive demand indicator, Yawger said.

Oil prices also drew support from expectation China’s economy is recovering after the central bank announced a deep cut in bank reserves on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, however, the prospect of sustained high interest rates loomed.

The European Central Bank on Thursday retained its record-high benchmark rate of 4%, giving no hint that policymakers were contemplating policy easing.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning and Natalie Grover in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; editing by Mark Potter, Jason Neely, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Barbara Lewis)