Briefly

UNITED STATES

Research firm finds AI agent threats

An artificial intelligence research firm said on Wednesday AI agents tried to hack into a Canadian government website, while Canada said there were no indications its systems were compromised. AI research firm Transluce said the attempts exhibited tactics "consistent with prior observed agent activity that we have attributed to OpenAI in a similar time frame". But it added that it was not confidently attributing these attempts to OpenAI. The agents attempted to access Library and Archives Canada on May 28 and June 9, Transluce said in a blog post. Transluce said it disclosed the action to the Canadian government on Monday. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said on Tuesday it was aware of reports of suspected AI agent activity. "There is no indication that government systems have been compromised at this time," it said in a statement.

2nd judge blocks fee for H-1B visas

A second federal judge on Wednesday blocked an unprecedented $100,000 fee that US President Donald Trump has imposed on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers. US District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California, ruled that US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department failed to follow necessary rulemaking processes before implementing Trump's fee. Gilliam, appointed by then-president Barack Obama, a Democrat, granted a request by a coalition of unions, employers and nonprofits to block the agencies from implementing Trump's fee pending the outcome of a lawsuit they filed in October. The fee was temporarily blocked in June by a federal judge in Boston, ruling in a separate case brought by 20 states. A Boston-based appeals court in July declined to pause that decision.

JAPAN

2 dead, 3 injured in 4-vehicle accident

A four-vehicle accident involving trucks occurred on an expressway that crosses Tokyo Bay in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Thursday morning, leaving two people dead and three others taken to the hospital, local media reported. The accident occurred inside an underwater tunnel on the expressway and involved three trucks and a tractor-trailer. The tractor-trailer is believed to have crashed into a line of trucks stuck in a traffic jam, the report said, citing police.

EUROPEAN UNION

Nations seek migrant center outside bloc

The EU was expected to discuss further ways to boost migrant deportations on Thursday, as a group of nations forges ahead with divisive plans to send failed asylum-seekers to return centers outside the bloc. Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands have been exploring options to set up such centers. The five EU countries involved have so far declined to say which nations they have been in talks with.

AGENCIES-XINHUA