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Eurovision Song Contest organizers prepared to remove Palestinian flags, symbols from upcoming event
Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said Thursday they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols at the show next week in Sweden.
The announcement came amid heightened tensions surrounding Israel’s participation in the annual music competition over its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Pro-Palestinian groups are expected to stage large protests in Malmo to raise awareness of their cause.
Michelle Roverelli, the head of communications for the European Broadcasting Union that runs the show each year, said ticket buyers are only allowed to bring and display flags that represent countries that take part in the event, as well as the rainbow-colored flag.
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The Geneva-based EBU reserves the right "to remove any other flags or symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalizing the TV shows," she told The Associated Press in a text message.
She was responding after Swedish newspaper Goteborgs-Posten reported Thursday that contest organizers had banned Palestinian flags and political banners at the event.
National flags are a common sight during the contest as fans cheer on their country’s acts and those they support.
The glitzy gala, which draws hundreds of millions of viewers each year, is hosting the event from May 7-11 in Malmo in southern Sweden, following last year's victory by Loreen for its performance of "Tattoo" last year.
Winners earn the right for their country to host the following year's event: Sweden is set to host for a record-equalling 7th time.
Swedish police have warned that security will be tight, citing a threat of terrorism in the wealthy Nordic country.
Pro-Palestinian activists who want Israel — a former winner — out of the Eurovision Song Contest have announced large rallies in downtown Malmo, several miles from the Malmo Arena contest venue.
Last month Swedish police said they had received an application for a demonstration in Malmo to burn a copy of the Quran before the contest. Sweden raised its terror threat level last year following a series of burnings of the Quran that triggered protests in the Muslim world.
In recent weeks, spillover reaction around the world to the nearly 7-month war between Israel and Hamas has fanned large protests on U.S. university campuses and beyond.
As a House Republican leader, here's our message on chaos, antisemitism for university presidents
Americans are watching in disgust as chaos spreads at college campuses across our country. Jewish students and faculty fear for their safety as antisemitism goes unchecked, and the rule of law is abandoned by morally bankrupt university leaders taking their lead from President Joe Biden.
Enough is enough. It is time to restore law, order, and moral decency to Columbia and universities across this country.
Speaker Johnson and House Republicans announced our plans to hold our higher education institutions accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students and condemn antisemitism. Billions of taxpayer dollars flow to these institutions in the form of federal student aid, research grants, and favorable tax treatment. To university presidents and administrators, our message is clear -- if you cannot keep your students safe, you will be held accountable.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) had to restore order on Columbia University’s campus Tuesday night after the preventable chaos that engulfed the university campus for weeks escalated to a new level when Hamilton Hall was stormed, defaced, and taken over by a pro-Hamas mob. Facility workers were held inside and the building was barricaded as these terrorist sympathizers hung a banner with a call for "intifada" outside the windows.
It’s not just Columbia. This is a moral rot that has taken root across American higher education institutions.
At Harvard University, a Palestinian flag was hoisted at University Hall where the American flag flies.
Jewish students were barricaded in the library at Cooper Union.
The University of Southern California canceled graduation due to the university being unable to guarantee the safety of students.
At Yale University, a Jewish student was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag at a demonstration.
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A woman was reportedly beaten unconscious by a pro-Palestinian mob at the University of California, Los Angeles for being Jewish.
Dozens of these occupations are happening around the country, often in a manner that breaks university rules and leads to increased targeting and harassment of Jewish students and faculty.
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In December, I exposed just how ingrained antisemitism has become at America’s so-called "elite" institutions of higher education when I questioned the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn in what has become the most-viewed congressional testimony in history. Those three university presidents could not answer the simple question, "does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct?"
On April 17th, Columbia University’s President Shafik and board members epitomized the failed leadership in another congressional hearing when they could not account for Columbia’s lack of response to antisemitism and anarchy on campus. Eight days ago, I was the first Member of Congress to demand President Shafik resign for her failure to disband the antisemitic mob consuming Columbia’s campus and ensure the safety of Columbia’s Jewish students. She instead negotiated with these self-proclaimed terrorists, allowing their antisemitic mob to grow.
There can be NO moral equivalency. It is time to send a clear message to the world that antisemitism has no place in America.
The world is watching. And House Republicans are leading where university presidents, far-left Democrats, and Joe Biden have failed.
Teacher captures images of 'very rare' bird never before seen in US
An amateur photographer captured a subject in Oregon last week that has bird lovers chirping — as it's said to be the first U.S. sighting of this particular species.
Some experts are calling it the "bird of the century."
"It’s just a very rare thing to have a country-first record in Oregon," Brodie Cass Talbott, senior educator and trips specialist for the Bird Alliance of Oregon, told Fox News Digital. "It might not happen again for decades."
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It was Michael Sanchez, a middle school band director from Washington, who was snapping photos of a waterfall at Hug Point State Recreation Site, just south of Cannon Beach, at sunrise on April 21.
"I got all the pictures that I could of the waterfall and then I just turned around and happened to see this little black bird," Sanchez told Fox News Digital, who said he later realized the bird was in fact blue in color.
"I'm a new photographer, so I thought ‘I’ve got to catch anything interesting.’ I snapped some pictures of the bird. It was a really good little model for me."
The little bird lingered, allowing Sanchez to adjust his camera settings, he said.
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"It stayed there on the sand, and it was all by itself," he said.
"I got my camera settings all figured out and took some pictures. Then, it flew up to some rocks after about a minute or two. I took some more pictures of it on the rocks and then, after a few moments, it flew away."
Sanchez said he didn't think too much of the bird, but after reviewing his photos, noticed that "the little black bird" was actually more colorful than he thought — blue with orange underparts to be exact.
After posting his photos to social media, Sanchez quickly found out he had encountered something quite rare.
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"It all kind of took off from there," he said. "I was excited because what a fun turn of luck for a brand new photographer…seeing this amazingly rare bird. It's been wild."
Birders from all over the country began reaching out to Sanchez to let him know the significance of his sighting — one of them letting him know that he had photographed "an extraordinarily rare bird, quite possibly the first sighting in the lower 48 states and, one of only two sightings ever on the continent," Sanchez said.
The bird causing all the commotion: the blue rock thrush, a mostly solitary bird that is native to Europe and Asia.
"It’s exceptionally rare," Cass Talbott said.
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"It's about as rare as they come because it’s the first one ever photographed in the United States," Cass Talbott added.
There's only one previous record in North America, which was in British Columbia in 1997, according to Cass Talbott.
Cass Talbott said he had the opportunity to observe the species while living in Asia.
"They hang out on the ground a lot," Cass Talbott said. "You'll usually see them sitting on a pile of rock somewhere, or a big rocky cliff. They're cute and sort of plucky and they just hop around a lot and eat a variety of bugs and other stuff."
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How a blue rock thrush may have arrived on the shores of Oregon is unclear, according to Tim Janzen, secretary of the Oregon Birding Records committee, the state organization that certifies bird sightings.
"My belief about this particular bird is that it is a vagrant," Janzen said. "I think it is going to be very likely accepted as a wild bird because it's not really near a shipping lane or anything else where we could say for sure that it came off of a ship. And even if it did make its way here, at least partly by ship, we're never going to know that."
Birder watchers flocked to Hug Point in the days that followed, hoping to catch a glimpse of the blue rock thrush — but to no avail.
"The thing that's unfortunate about this particular bird is that it didn't hang around," Janzen said.
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He went on, "Michael [Sanchez] took photos of it and then it up and disappeared — and nobody knows where it went."
A few days after Sanchez’s sighting, the American Birding Association issued a "rare bird alert," reporting that researchers on Southeast Farallon Island in San Francisco, California, photographed what may be a blue rock thrush.
It’s unknown if that bird, spotted around 500 miles from Hug Point, is the same one photographed by Sanchez.
It’s peak migration season currently, Cass Talbott said, and sometimes that could throw birds off-course.
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"Most songbirds migrate alone," he explained. "One potential thought was that it was migrating north, got blown off course by a heavy storm and either got blown so off course that it flew and flew until it landed [in] Oregon, or it got blown out into the ocean, it found a boat, it landed on the boat and it stayed there until the boat got to the west coast of the United States. That seems to be a leading theory."
Cass Talbot said sometimes birds land somewhere they're not supposed to, and never make it back home. But the public can help, he added.
"We like to remind folks that we can help these birds make sure they do get back to where they're supposed to be going by doing things like turning out the lights during migration, keeping cats indoors and making windows bird-safe," Cass Talbot said.
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Sanchez said his students are excited about his bird photos — and he’s encouraging them to look for beauty all around them.
"I'm a musician, so that’s where my artistic background comes from," he said.
"It might be really hard [in] some places to find it, but there's nothing wrong with looking for the beauty no matter where you are — and to keep our eyes and hearts open."
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MLS goalie, wife arrested after nightclub fight in Florida
A Major League Soccer goalkeeper and his wife were arrested early Sunday morning after a fight outside a nightclub in Florida, police said.
Orlando City’s Mason Stajduhar, 26, and his wife Tatiana, 25, were charged with disorderly conduct during an incident in Orlando at around 1 a.m. ET, Fox 35 Orlando reported, citing arrest records. Responding officers arrived to see Mason allegedly trying to get back inside the club.
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The club manager told officers the couple was "being disrespectful and causing a scene at the front entrance of the nightclub" and allegedly berated female employees at the door, the station reported.
According to an affidavit, Mason said one of the bouncers at the club hit his wife and wanted to re-enter the club. He reportedly admitted to resisting security officers in an attempt to check on his wife.
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Tatiana Stajduhar was allegedly "screaming obscenities" at officers who arrested her husband. She allegedly pushed an officer with an open hand but was not charged with battery on an officer and resisting arrest with violence. Police said "discretion was used," according to Fox 35 Orlando.
"The Club is aware that goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar was arrested early Sunday morning. We are currently gathering more information and will have no further comment at this time," Orlando City said in a statement.
Stajduhar is in his fourth season with Orlando City. He has made one start this season and 12 starts overall with the club. He previously played for Orlando City B in USL League One and the Tulsa Roughnecks in the USL Championship.
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Charlotte killings highlight the risks police face when serving warrants
Arrest warrants must be served to alleged criminals if society is going to function. But there is no guarantee of safety for police officers knocking on their doors.
The grim risks came into stark relief Monday when four law enforcement officers were killed in North Carolina while serving an arrest warrant. The attack in Charlotte left four other officers wounded and became the worst attack on police in the U.S. since 2016.
The tragedy underscores the limits of even the best-trained officers and the unpredictability of the alleged criminals being served.
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"A lot of these guys don’t want to go back to jail," said Tre Pennie, executive director of the National Fallen Officer Foundation. "And if it’s not a surprise, they got time to prepare. They’re going to do everything they can to keep from going back to jail."
Law enforcement can never control more than half of the situation, said Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association.
"They can be 100% correct in everything they do," he said, but the "suspect and or suspects are responsible for the other 50%."
Here is what we know about the shooting in Charlotte and other fatal shootings of officers serving warrants.
A U.S. Marshals Task Force of officers from different agencies arrived in a residential neighborhood to try to capture Terry Clark Hughes Jr., authorities said. He was wanted for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon and fleeing to elude in Lincoln County, North Carolina.
The task force was fired on as they approached the house, and Hughes, 39, was killed in the front yard, authorities said.
An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a 40-caliber handgun were found at the scene. An AR-15 is able to penetrate traditional body armor and allowed the shooter to "unload several rounds towards our officers within a matter of seconds," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said.
He said more than 100 spent bullets were recovered, though it wasn’t clear how many were fired by the suspect. At least 12 officers also fired guns.
Authorities in Charlotte will likely conduct an "after-event analysis" that will include interviewing officers and neighbors, said Alexis Piquero, a University of Miami criminology professor.
The lessons learned will be of interest to law enforcement agencies across the country, he said, to make sure officers "can prevent this from ever happening again."
Piquero, who is a former director of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, said the serving of warrants by police often occurs as planned and runs "fairly smoothly."
And while officers prepare for danger, shootings are unavoidable because officers can't predict how a suspect will react. All it takes is "a high-caliber weapon (and a) person with really evil intentions," he said.
Three officers were killed while serving warrants in 2022, according to the FBI’s Center for the Study of Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted.
Their deaths amounted 5% of the 60 law enforcement officials who died that year because of felonious incidents. Those are defined by the FBI as deaths that are the "direct result of a willful and intentional act by an offender."
In 2021 and 2020, two officers died each year while serving an arrest warrant, FBI data shows. Five officers died in 2019 while serving search or arrest warrants.
Recent fatal shootings include the killing of two sheriff's deputies in Cobb County, Georgia, in 2022. They were attempting to arrest a man wanted on theft charges when another man confronted them with a gun, authorities said. A shootout ensued when the armed man refused commands to drop his weapon.
In 2021, a Houston police officer was killed and another was wounded while they were attempting to arrest a man on drug charges, police said. The man they were trying to arrest was also killed.
In 2020, a Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed as he served a homicide warrant at a home, officials said. Several people were arrested, including the fugitive being sought.
Eells, of the National Tactical Officers Association, said police must consider a multitude of factors before serving a warrant.
"There are so many tangibles that come to play. It's like trying to wrap your arms around Jell-O and then pick it up," he said. "It's not easy."
Among the things officers will want to know is the criminal histories of the people being arrested.
"Have they demonstrated a propensity for violence? Have they been known to carry weapons?" said Eells, who served more than 30 years with the Colorado Springs Police Department. "Are they involved in gang activity?"
Mental illness as well as drug and alcohol abuse are also valuable details. So is any formal weapons training or known access to body armor.
Then there's the suspect's location. Do police have to go through a fence? Is there a ring camera? Is it an apartment complex with a lot of people around? Maybe it's safer to arrest the suspect away from home.
"They’ll go through this planning process until they arrive at a decision where they think they’ve mitigated the factors that they can control with regard to risk," Eells said. "But there will still always be inherent risk. We cannot eliminate it."
'No leadership': Resurfaced post comes back to haunt Biden after anti-Israel protests sweep the nation
A 2020 social media post by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden blaming then-President Trump for violence in the United States is drawing renewed criticism after violence has erupted on college campuses nationwide stemming from anti-Israel protests.
"Remember: every example of violence Donald Trump decries has happened on his watch," Biden posted on Twitter, now known as X, in August 2020. "Under his leadership. During his presidency."
Social media users have looked back on that post in recent days, given the increased violence and arrests being made as anti-Israel activists have caused chaos on over a dozen college campuses in recent weeks.
"It's now the year 2024, three full years into Joe Biden's presidency and Jewish students are being blocked from their college campuses, and being told to stay home and remote learn," conservative political commentator Stephen Miller recently posted on X.
BIDEN ADMIN ACCUSES ISRAELI MILITARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN STUNNING CONDEMNATION
"Is this the soul of the nation healed?"
"Joe Biden has looked the other way as Democrat foot soldiers hijack universities across America," Fox News Contributor Lisa Boothe told Fox News Digital. "He's more concerned about winning votes in Dearborn, Michigan, than condemning the 20-year-olds cheering for intifada."
Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer told Fox News Digital that Biden "would be well served by reading his old tweets and taking action."
"There are antisemitic uprisings on campuses across the country, and all Joe Biden can do is passively sit there and hope they go away," Fleischer said. "He’s shown no leadership, despite this being far worse than the two-day Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville."
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David Avella, chairman of GOPAC and a veteran Republican strategist, told Fox News Digital that polling shows Americans feel less safe after three years of Biden.
"Gallup reported more than 75% of Americans believe there's more crime in the country than there was in 2022," Avella said.
"Whether Biden’s statements condemning violence are hollow have less impact on his reelection then the fact that Americans feel less safe. Forty percent of Americans said they were afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of their home," Avella continued. "The last time we were at this level was 1993. In the next election, President Clinton was at 46% approval and Republicans gained 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and gained eight seats in the Senate. President Biden is at 39% approval and Americans are watching violence occur every day."
Conservatives on social media have recently resurfaced other posts from Biden during the summer of 2020, including a post where he said, "Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?"
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.
"President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful," White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement on Tuesday. "Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful — it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America."
Sen Mike Lee targets university grants, cites 'woke DEI programs,' anti-Israel riots
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is taking on university subsidies from the federal government as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs expand and schools lose control over antisemitic protests and riots across the country.
The Utah Republican introduced the No Subsidies for Wealthy Universities Act in the Senate on Thursday, with Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., introducing a companion version in the House. The measure is also co-sponsored by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
"The tax dollars of hardworking American families are going to ultra-wealthy universities, like Columbia and Harvard, supporting woke DEI programs while churning out graduates who despise our country and riot for the destruction of Israel," Lee said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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The senator's bill would address the issue of subsidies and grants being used to bolster DEI and facilitate them by scrutinizing what are referred to as indirect cost reimbursements. While direct costs are easily tracked and are used for items such as lab equipment, indirect costs are more difficult to predict and include the carrying out of such grants.
Lee's measure looks to eliminate the indirect cost reimbursements on these federal subsidies for research for any universities that boast endowments greater than $5 billion. For those with endowments less than $5 billion but still more than $2 billion, they would be capped at 8%. All other institutions would face a 15% cap for the indirect costs.
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He said that the emphasis being placed on DEI at U.S. universities, as well as the current anti-Israel protests and riots, prompted the legislation, slamming both as "a disgrace."
"If they want to trash their reputations as academic institutions, they can do so on their own dime," Lee said.
In his own statement, Cline said, "Billions in taxpayer dollars intended for scientific research at wealthy universities, like Columbia and Harvard, are being hijacked to finance radical DEI agendas."
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"This misuse of funds is a blatant betrayal of American taxpayers. Congress has a duty to intervene, ensuring that these dollars are dedicated to legitimate research purposes, not to advance the Left's political doctrine on our campuses," he wrote.
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The bill would specifically target the use of indirect costs reported for compensation to DEI staff by requiring the amount for this purpose to be reported to Congress annually.
Columbia University, which has been the subject of national media attention for the past two weeks due to an anti-Israel encampment that effectively shut down the New York school, racked up the most in indirect costs associated with research grants. The Ivy League school received $471 million in fiscal 2022, per calculations made by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, citing federal data.
Under Lee's proposal, the school would be required to report how much of this money is going to DEI administrators.
Reading wedding vows privately or during the ceremony: Which is more preferred?
If you’ve decided you want to write your own personalized vows for your wedding, there are a few different ways you can share them with your partner.
There is no right or wrong way to share your vows, and this isn’t going to look the same at every wedding.
Talk through the options with your partner to find the one that makes the most sense for you.
MUST-HAVE INFORMATION ON ANY WEDDING WEBSITE
Read on to uncover three different options for how you can share vows on your wedding day.
One option, and a popular one, is to read your vows in front of your family and friends at the ceremony. This is a great way to add a personal touch to your wedding ceremony and give guests a look into your love story.
Some don’t find sharing vows this way favorable, though, if they aren’t comfortable speaking in front of a large group of people.
Vows are often very sentimental, and it can be difficult to share those deep feelings with your partner in front of a large crowd.
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If you do decide to read your vows in front of your family and friends but are nervous about doing so, focus on your partner and try to shut out all the other outside distractions.
Looking your partner in the eyes can bring a sense of calm and make you feel as if it's just the two of you, even though you’re in front of a crowd.
One wedding trend on the rise is having a "first look."
With a first look, the bride and groom see each other at a designated time before the ceremony, as opposed to the more traditional way of the couple to be wed not seeing each other until the ceremony.
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The first look also provides an intimate way to share vows with one another. When the couple meets before the ceremony, they can read out their vows to each other without everyone else listening.
This is also ideal for those who wish to have a shorter ceremony.
If you want a way to share loving vows with your partner but don’t want to read them out loud, you can write a note to be provided to them ahead of time.
Have your vows written out and give them to a bridesmaid or groomsman to deliver to your significant other on the morning of your wedding day.
Having the loving words of your significant other to read during a stressful morning of getting ready for the big day can provide you with a sense of calm.
Even if you do decide to read your vows out loud, whether that be private or in front of guests, sending notes back and forth to your partner can be a sentimental addition to the day.
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US soccer great Carli Lloyd shares IVF journey to get pregnant: 'It truly is a miracle'
U.S. soccer legend Carli Lloyd opened up about her struggles with infertility and using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to get pregnant as she announced she will be having her first child.
Lloyd detailed her pregnancy journey in an article for Women’s Health. She opened up about the disappointment she felt for months trying to get pregnant while also feeling as though she was in a "race against the clock—my 40-year-old biological clock."
Lloyd wondered why her body was "failing me" after treating her body like a temple for years as she helped the U.S. women’s soccer team to World Cup titles and Olympic gold medals. She started her IVF journey in April 2023 but suffered a roadblock when she was told three embryos made it after she had 20 eggs retrieved.
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"So it was a waiting game that we literally had no control over," she added. "And it’s hard. I felt all the emotions during my career—stress, worry, fear, anxiety—but I’d never felt all the emotions that IVF brought on. I felt completely out of control. It’s an indescribable roller coaster unless you go through it."
Lloyd said she hoped to be able to get pregnant and be able to work the Women’s World Cup "and everything would be absolutely perfect." She conveyed it was far from that.
She said she and her husband, Brian Hollins, waited until October 2023 to try the embryo transfer. She said she did all the things she needed to try and help the transfer go smoothly, but waiting was "torture" for her.
Lloyd said she received a call from her doctor again – more bad news.
"I wasn’t pregnant. I felt sick to my stomach," Lloyd said. "He was heartbroken for us. He said that even when you take all these steps, there’s only a 60% chance of a successful transfer with genetically normal embryos, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
"He suggested we go ahead with another retrieval since now was the time to get as many embryos as we could for future children. That afternoon, I had to put a smile on my face, wipe away tears, and shoot some social media content. Life went on."
Lloyd said she began to second guess herself about everything she consumed. She said her emotional state was different and spent a lot of nights crying.
It did not stop her from trying IVF for a third time. She said she changed her approach this time around, spending more time with nature and meditating through journaling rather than worrying about things she ultimately could not control. She said she and her husband took a December trip to the Bahamas and learned that four embryos made it to the six-day threshold and two were genetically normal.
The next transfer process began in January with another trip to Arizona planned. She was able to get blood work done while she was on the trip. The day after, the results came in.
Lloyd was finally pregnant.
However, the soccer great said she was not exactly out of the woods just yet. She had a few more rounds of testing to be done, and her doctor expressed one concern about a potential miscarriage. Lloyd said she kept doing what she was doing to put her mind at ease – journal, nature and putting her faith in God.
Lloyd said she would go back each week to get an update on the baby and each time, there was a heartbeat. After 10 weeks, she graduated from the fertility clinic to an ob-gyn.
On Tuesday, she shared her story with the world.
"It is still hard to believe I am pregnant. It truly is a miracle, and we are so excited to be parents!" she said.
Lloyd added that she wanted to share her story using IVF to show "other women that it’s OK to struggle."
"It’s OK to feel broken and to feel hopeless, but to never give up and to keep going."
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State Department wants China, Russia to declare that AI won't control nuclear weapons, only humans
A State Department official is pushing Thursday for China and Russia to declare that only humans – and not artificial intelligence – will make decisions on deploying nuclear weapons.
Paul Dean, an official in the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability, said during a press briefing that the U.S. has already made "a very clear and strong commitment that in cases of nuclear employment, that decision would only be made by a human being.
"We would never defer a decision on nuclear employment to AI. We strongly stand by that statement and we’ve made it publicly with our colleagues in the UK and France," he continued.
"We would welcome a similar statement by China and the Russian Federation," Dean added, noting that "we think it’s an extremely important norm of responsible behavior."
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The State Department has said that Secretary of State Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke about "artificial intelligence risks and safety" during a meeting last Friday in Beijing.
"I do think that there is a real opportunity right now as countries increasingly turn to artificial intelligence to establish what the rules of responsible and stabilizing behavior will look like. And I think it’s – this is a conversation... that I think all major militaries and major economies – like the United States and China – have to deal with," Dean said Thursday.
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He mentioned that the U.S. and 54 partners – not including China and Russia -- have endorsed a political declaration on responsible uses of military AI, which will "ensure there is no accountability gap in the use of artificial intelligence in the military, and ensure that the applications are designed and used according to rigorous technical specifications, with some designs built in to ensure that there can be safeguards and that the technology can be used in a responsible way."
"This technology will really revolutionize militaries across a range of applications," Dean also said. "And I would emphasize here that the issue is not limited to battlefield use but these technologies will be used by militaries across the entire range of their operations on efficiencies and logistics, decision making. And I think this presents great promise and I think there’s significant upside in this, but of course, as with all new technologies, there are risks if the technology is not used in a responsible way."