The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the US government is preparing to send troops to Latin America under the pretext of combating drug trafficking in the region.
According to the US publication, 600 troops from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, NY, have already begun deploying to the jungles of Panama to conduct exercises alongside the local military.
In addition, it was reported that members of this detachment will participate in operations in other countries in the future: “The troops will eventually train with local forces in Colombia and Honduras, and could also support US Special Operations troops advising militaries conducting raids against accused drug traffickers, the officials said.”
The peoples of the region, alongside anti-imperialist and progressive forces, have long denounced decades of US military intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Various experts and analysts have shown that “war on drugs” projects have never led to the elimination of these illicit businesses. On the contrary, US military involvement has coincided with an increase in violence, drug production, but most importantly: neoliberal reforms. These reforms involve the dismantling and reduction of the state, the privatization of all possible dimensions of social life, and the destruction of social organizations that oppose neoliberalism.
Historically, this process of material dispossession has been facilitated by an expansion of US military presence, under the pretext of the “war on drugs.”
The report stated: “The deployments and growing headquarters, which have not been previously reported, along with the Pentagon’s recent movement of several MQ-9 Reaper drones from Africa to Colombia and Ecuador, mark the latest widening of the Defense Department’s fight against drug traffickers in the region.”
For several months now, US forces have been participating in intelligence activities and supporting military operations in Ecuador, whose government has entered into agreements with the US to allegedly fight organized crime. However, it was later revealed that these operations didn’t target drug traffickers at all. In at least one instance, The New York Times reported that the US and Ecuador bombed a dairy farm.
This collaboration is part of the new military and geopolitical strategy led by the Trump administration, embodied in the agreement known as “Shield of the Americas.” In recent meetings, several governments have committed to working with the United States so that their militaries can carry out joint operations in Latin American countries.
Regarding the possible itinerary of the soldiers who are expected to arrive in Panama, The New York Times reported: “The soldiers will move first into Panama, where they will take part in jungle training exercises, officials said. From there they will head to Colombia, where they will participate in what officials have called Southern Vanguard, an exercise scheduled to begin later this month. Other rotations will move into Honduras for training with local partners. Some of the troops could be used to provide additional security for US helicopters in the region, which have been providing support for US Special Operations forces.”
For about a year now, the United States has been conducting airstrikes on small boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean that Washington claims are linked to drug trafficking. Over 200 people have been killed in the strikes and the majority of the victims appear to be fishermen from Venezuela, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and other island nations. Victims’ families and survivors have vehemently denied any connection to criminal groups.
For its part, the US Embassy in Panama stated that The New York Times report regarding the deployment of several hundred US soldiers to the Caribbean nation is untrue: “The New York Times article alleging the deployment of 600 US soldiers to Panama is categorically false.”
The US Embassy reported that 120 US military personnel are currently participating in a training course in the Panamanian jungle, but that these troops will return to the United States on October 25 and therefore will not undertake the deployment announced by Colombia and Honduras. It did report that other US military personnel will participate in exercises in Peru.
“This is nothing new. The Jungle Operations Training Center has been operating for over a year as a school officially recognized by the US Army. US and Panamanian instructors jointly provide training in survival techniques and jungle operations,” the US Embassy in Panama said in its statement.
The controversy between The New York Times and US diplomatic officials over this report comes amid an evident increase in the US military presence in the region. In addition to operations in the Caribbean and the Pacific, there was the military incursion into Venezuela on January 3, 2026, which resulted in the capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, as well as the deaths of more than 100 people in Venezuela. Furthermore, President Trump himself has suggested that he could attack Cuba and any other country if US security is compromised.
The continuing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz could cause an increase in food insecurity in Asia and Africa, an UN official warned on Wednesday, October 14, asking both the US and Iran to allow free shipments, particularly of fertilizers.
“It is absolutely crucial to get the deal in the next few weeks. Otherwise, we will miss the planting session,” UN Under Secretary General Jorge Moreira da Silva told Reuters on the sidelines of the ongoing annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Bangkok, Thailand.
Almost one third of all global supplies of urea and around half of sulphur used to pass through the Strait of Hormuz before the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February and Iran blocked traffic through it in retaliation.
Most countries in Asia and Africa get their urea products, used in the majority of fertilizers worldwide, from the Gulf nations.
Given the fact that global fertilizer supplies from Russia had already been affected due to the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia imposed by the EU and US, the restrictions on the Gulf have intensified already existing shortages pushing up prices and making farming more expensive for the majority of farmers.
Food prices are already rising in different countries in Asia and Africa and it is expected that if the supply constraints remain the same, food production could be impacted and prices will rise further in the coming days, affecting millions of people in the region.
The crisis is further intensified due to the rising cost of oil, particularly diesel which is extensively used in farming.
The Strait of Hormuz was the source of around a quarter of world energy supplies before the war. Despite the claims that supplies of energy have been normalized in recent days the global oil prices remain much higher than the pre-war period.
According to a Reuters’ report, fertilizer supplies from the Strait of Hormuz have remained negligible despite resumption of other shipments including the oil in recent weeks.
The UN set up a taskforce to facilitate the passage of fertilizers through the Strait of Hormuz in March itself. The taskforce has proposed an interim arraignment to resume the fertilizer supplies through the region with the consent of both the US and Iran.
Iran has demanded that it will only allow normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz after the US ends its war, lifts its naval blockade on the country, and fulfills its obligations under the interim peace deal signed in June.
The US claims the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are redundant and refused to lift the blockade.
Reuters reported the US State Department reiterating on Wednesday that it will continue to target Iran, accusing it of disrupting freedom of navigation and taking the global economy hostage.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) carried out a fresh attack on a small vessel in the Gulf of Oman, allegedly linked to the IRGC on Wednesday.
The US and President Donald Trump have also repeatedly claimed the Strait was fully under its control and free for all kinds of navigation. CENTCOM also reiterated on Wednesday that Iran has no navy to control the Strait.
However, Iran has refuted the US claims, citing fresh attacks on several ships trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz without its prior permission.
At least two ships, one container ship and a large bulk carrier, reportedly bound for Singapore, sank after allegedly being hit by projectiles on Wednesday.
The IRGC also claimed that another tanker was hit by the Iranian Navy on Thursday after it ignored repeated warnings. The ship carrying oil caught fire in the attack.
“The Americans claim that the Strait of Hormuz is open and they control it, but this claim is far away from the realities on the ground,” Ali Ozmaei, IRGC Navy chief, said on Tuesday, asking the US armed forces to “step into the field and see who is in control of it.”
It blamed US restrictions on media reports for a wrong impression about the status of the shipping through the Strait and repeated that all ships wanting to transit through it must obtain prior Iranian permission if they want to avoid any kind of mishap.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar reportedly warned businesses using low-cost Chinese AI models could face cybersecurity risks and said Western alternatives offered greater protection.
Speaking to Bloomberg at the International AI Summit in Dublin, Friar urged companies considering Chinese models to assess the safety and security risks.
OpenAI and rival Anthropic face growing competition from open-weight AI models, particularly those developed in China. Users can download and run them on their own hardware, often at a lower cost than leading US alternatives, with comparable performance on some tasks.
Chinese releases accounted for the largest share of generative AI model downloads on hosting platform Hugging Face in August, reported the outlet.
OpenAI and Anthropic mainly offer closed models which cannot be downloaded or modified. Both companies have argued open alternatives pose greater risks.
Anthropic head of international Guillaume Princen voiced similar concerns about open-weight models at the event.
“I can’t talk for open models. But by definition, there’s more risk with them,” he said.
The comments follow several cases of advanced AI systems behaving unexpectedly during cybersecurity tests.
In July, OpenAI disclosed its models had breached systems operated by AI start-up Hugging Face during an authorised cybersecurity evaluation.
Anthropic has also disclosed examples of model misbehaviour, including a Claude model submitting a false tip related to a homicide investigation, Bloomberg reported.
Friar nevertheless cautioned US AI companies against slowing releases.
“I do think that we need to pace it but not slow it down so much that we get this imbalance on who has access to the tools that potentially, from a cyber perspective, create real mission-critical issues in the world,” she said.
Katti plans exit
Also yesterday, Sachin Katti, OpenAI’s infrastructure lead, stated on LinkedIn he plans to leave his position on 15 November but will continue to support the company as an advisor.
“After an incredible year at OpenAI, I’ve decided to move on to build something new,” he stated.
Prior to joining OpenAI in November 2025, he held various technology roles at Intel, including Chief Technology and AI Officer.
CNBC reported Uday Ruddarraju, who has been serving as OpenAI’s CTO of compute, will replace Katti and lead the company’s overall compute organisation.
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Telus Digital is now a deployment partner for Germany-founded AI customer service specialist Parloa, expanding its enterprise services portfolio with support for the latter’s AI agents.
Under the agreement, businesses will buy the platform directly from Parloa and use Telus Digital for integration, change management, managed services, and other professional work. Telus Digital will also introduce Parloa’s technology to existing and prospective clients.
Parloa’s agents handle authentication, bookings, payments, and order enquiries, transferring conversations to a human when personal assistance is needed.
The company cited its own research to illustrate the shortcomings of existing customer-service tools. Its study of 10,000 enterprise websites and 4,000 chat interactions found fewer than 9% of chatbot conversations reached a resolution, while only about 10% of escalation attempts connected users with a person.
Separately, its Consumer Patience Index, a survey of 1,001 US consumers conducted by Propeller Insights, found nearly a third would switch brands to avoid being put on hold.
“Consumer expectations are high, and brand loyalty is fragile,” stated Parloa CRO Chris Silver. “They need to have their issue solved, the first time, on their preferred channel and with no unnecessary delays.”
The agreement expands Parloa’s delivery capacity in North America and Europe. Its platform runs on Microsoft Azure and supports multiple AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT series. The company stated it complies with GDPR and meets ISO 27001 and SOC 2 standards.
Telus Digital global SVP of growth Will Mayo framed the partnership around cost, arguing high volumes of repetitive contact-centre interactions can increase the cost to serve without improving customer experience. He said Parloa’s agents could handle routine requests and transfer more complicated cases to a person.
Telus Digital stated Parloa will complement rather than replace its existing tools because no single product is likely to cover every client requirement. Its portfolio already includes conversational AI combining voice, generative AI and agentic automation.
Backed by parent company Telus, the digital services division operates with more than 83,000 employees across over 35 countries.
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A high-stakes legal showdown between two giants of the mobile industry reached a critical turning point, as a US jury found Arm breached its long-standing Architectural Licence Agreement (ALA) with Qualcomm.
According to a statement by Qualcomm released yesterday (13 October), a jury in a US district court determined Arm failed to honour its contractual commitments and intentionally acted to disrupt Qualcomm’s business operations.
The decision marks a major escalation in the bitter dispute between the semiconductor heavyweights. The verdict follows what Qualcomm characterised as a prior court win last year in the ongoing legal battle over custom CPU architectures, licensing rights, and the deployment of advanced silicon design.
Qualcomm framed the outcome as a defence of open market competition and a validation of its technology roadmap.
“Together with Qualcomm’s prior court victory, this outcome further exposes Arm’s broader intentions to harm Qualcomm and its ecosystem,” Qualcomm said. “This outcome is a victory for innovation and competition, and we remain focused on developing and delivering industry-leading semiconductor products including our Oryon CPUs to customers and consumers worldwide.”
While Qualcomm claimed victory, Arm stated it yesterday it was “pleased with jury’s decision today finding for Arm on four claims and awarding only one dollar in damages on each of Qualcomm’s other two claims”.
“Despite Qualcomm’s pursuit of this case in an attempt to deprive Arm of billions of dollars under our licence agreements, the jury’s verdict confirms that Arm operated in good faith under its technology licence agreement and its award of only two dollars confirms the merit of Arm’s arguments in the case.”
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot seven rounds into the vehicle of a New York father while his five-year-old son was in the car on the afternoon of Thursday, October 8. Oscar Belgal, a Dominican man, who had just picked up his son from school, was hit in the neck but survived the shooting.
He is currently being detained by ICE in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being discharged from the hospital Thursday night. His lawyers have reported that he still has a bullet lodged in his body more than 24 hours after being shot.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that they were conducting a “targeted enforcement operation,” calling Belgal a “criminal illegal alien.”
Local officials describe the incident differently. In a press conference, held by immigrant rights groups and officials a couple hours after the shooting, speakers described that disguised agents approached Belgal’s vehicle with their guns drawn. When Belgal started to move his vehicle forward at least one agent opened fire. Video emerged online of one of the agents carrying a large gun that reports say was a modified AR-15.
“They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to press later that night.
“There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents.”
The mayor claimed that he attempted to negotiate with President Trump directly for the release of Belgal, but “those negotiations were unsuccessful.” He then described ICE as “vicious” and “cruel,” saying that ICE undermines public safety.
“This is an agency that must be abolished.”
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams said that federal officials would certainly try to justify the shooting by painting a narrative that makes Bengal seem like “the worst human being you ever heard of.” But he emphasized that what actually happened is that a father picking up his child was shot by a federal agency after school dismissal in a residential area.
Later that night, in a separate press conference with the mayor, New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that Oscar Belgal had been arrested in 2023. Hecklers and protesters then began disrupting the mayor and the police commissioner, accusing them of demonizing the victim and justifying ICE violence.
“Tisch and the NYPD are effectively running cover for the Trump administration” over the federal shooting of a Dominican father, said Andre Easton, candidate for New York’s 15th Congressional District, in a statement on Friday, October 9.
Easton called on the mayor to back up his call to abolish ICE with action. “He must fully enforce his own Executive Order 13 and kick every ICE agent out of our city.”
He also slammed Ritchie Torres, the current representative of NY-15, for only demanding an investigation into the shooting. Torres’ demands represent a “betrayal of the Bronx.”
The same politicians that built the deportation machine won’t dismantle it, he argued.
“We need a mass movement powerful enough to dismantle it and win full, equal, and permanent rights for all immigrants.”
Sparks of that very movement may already be breaking out in New York.
Hours after the shooting, hundreds of New Yorkers took to the streets and marched to the hospital where Belgal was being treated. They carried banners and placards reading “Abolish ICE” and “Full Rights for All Immigrants” and “Justice for Lorenzo, Joan, and All Victims of ICE Terror.”
The protests were met with force by the New York City Police Department, who attacked protesters with barricades, pushing and shoving several, including congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, and making a handful of arrests.
However, New Yorkers have continued pushing for ICE to leave the city, organizing protests on Friday and Saturday.
The shooting in New York is yet another in a series of ICE shootings across the United States, including the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. Each of these cases has left families and communities traumatized and provoked eruptions in the movement against ICE violence.
Now in New York, demonstrators are elevating the pressure on their elected officials and making a distinction between mere demands for investigation and concrete action that ends ICE operations and takes steps toward abolition.
Rockwell Automation maintained a recent focus on life sciences by taking a key role in a consortium forged to tackle pharmaceutical industry bottlenecks through digitalisation.
It is a founding member of the Digital CMC Consortium, a group established to streamline the chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) elements of drug development which Rockwell Automation stated is currently hampering the sector due to a reliance on analogue methods.
The consortium describes itself as pre-competitive, meaning it focuses on establishing common ground on which companies can subsequently fight it out. The group produced its first two standardised digital specifications within six months and currently has eight organisations on board.
Rockwell Automation explained the work is needed because current CMC approaches still rely on “manual, document-based workflows”.
Digital upgrades are the only way to adapt to a sector in which treatments are becoming “more complex and personalised”, it stated.
Matt Weaver, VP of global industry life sciences, said the digital transformation of the sector “is not just about technology adoption, it is about building new ways of working”.
Rockwell Automation recently revealed the overall life sciences sector is waking up to the potential offered by digitalisation, though faces some challenges around data insights.
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OpenAI’s annualised revenue reportedly reached $50 billion in September, falling $20 billion short of estimates due to accounting discrepancies rather than a slowdown in demand.
The Financial Times (FT) reported financial documents viewed by investors put its annual revenue at $50 billion in September instead of the widely reported $70 billion.
The news site noted the shortfall was due to attempts by OpenAI’s own investor to provide a comparison to rival Anthropic’s annualised revenue run rate. CNBC reported Anthropic’s annualised run rate hit $65 billion by late July 2026.
While the $20 billion gap sounds like a sudden drop, OpenAI clarified to investors its direct revenue still grew by over 70% in Q3 2026 alone, according to FT.
Reuters and other news outlets reported OpenAI was approaching $70 billion in late September based on a more than twofold increase in enterprise sales since July.
FT explained the two AI players calculate revenue in different ways, with Anthropic including sales from cloud partners such as Amazon Web Services and Google while OpenAI does not.
Anthropic is reportedly targeting an IPO in November after the US midterm elections while OpenAI is targeting a listing next year.
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US non-profit Common Sense Media’s Youth AI Safety Institute declared OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Teens an “unacceptable risk” and called for the company to halt access for users aged under 18-years until safeguards are independently tested and improved.
The institute tested more than 4,000 prompts across ChatGPT accounts registered to users aged 13 to 17 years-old before and after the teen-focused service launched in August.
Although some safeguards including the chatbot’s refusal to engage in explicit sexual roleplay functioned as expected, several other protections failed to operate.
“We call on OpenAI to pause marketing the product and to keep teens off of ChatGPT until it can offer a safe, developmentally appropriate experience,” the institute stated.
The biggest concern were parental notifications. In dedicated tests, parent-linked accounts generated no alerts during conversations involving high-risk topics including suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, including sessions lasting up to an hour. Broader testing triggered four notifications which only appeared on older accounts with weeks of sensitive history, with some arriving hours or days after crisis-level disclosures.
In addition, ChatGPT for Teens did not reliably refer high-risk accounts to a crisis hotline or professional help. The AI chatbot missed more than one-in-four situations where a crisis referral was warranted, falling below its 95% threshold in three-of-five severe harm categories.
The institute further claimed OpenAI’s age estimation technology repeatedly failed to shift adult-registered test accounts into the teen experience. It also found ChatGPT continued to use language which “simulates preferences and feelings, validates and engages, and continues engagement”, despite the AI company’s updated guidelines for those aged under 18-years.
Mental health
The AI player introduced parental controls and safety notifications to ChatGPT in 2025, stating its systems could identify potential signs of self-harm and alert parents in cases of acute distress.
ChatGPT For Teens emphasised learning, age-appropriate safeguards and parental controls designed to limit exposure to sensitive content.
OpenAI has been hit with a number of lawsuits from parents across the US alleging its chatbot encouraged at-risk teenagers to engage in self-harm, suicide or violent crimes.
In 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission reportedly launched an investigation into OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Character.AI over concerns chatbots were affecting children’s mental health.
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Elon Musk (pictured) ruled out Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) taking an operational role in Terafab, the billionaire’s advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in the US state of Texas.
The tech mogul explained TSMC’s only potential involvement under discussion is leasing part of the planned site. “Maybe TSMC subleases part of the Terafab if they want, but nothing more than that,” he said in a post on X. He added: “No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be zero doubt about that.”
The comments clarify Musk’s earlier remarks on X that he was in discussions with TSMC and that “something may come of it”, which fuelled speculation that the Taiwanese chipmaker could become involved in operating the facility being developed by SpaceX and Tesla.
Meanwhile, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan told Bloomberg the company will continue working with Musk on Terafab, following questions over Intel’s role in the project after Musk disclosed discussions with TSMC. The chipmaker signed up as a development partner in April, working with SpaceX, Tesla and xAI on silicon fab technology for the project.
SpaceX and Tesla announced the Terafab project in August, stating it would combine chip manufacturing, advanced packaging and testing for logic and memory devices at a site projected to exceed 100 million square feet. The facility will produce chips for Musk’s companies, including processors for Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robots and self-driving Cybercabs, alongside high-power chips for SpaceX’s ambitious orbital AI data centres.
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US President Donald Trump (pictured) appointed Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as his administration’s AI czar as part of an effort to coordinate the government’s initiative across the sector.
In a social media post, Trump stated Clayton will lead the newly formed Super Intelligence Force (SIF) to coordinate “the effort of the Federal Government to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence, which many say is bigger than the Industrial Revolution”.
Trump recently rebranded AI as “super intelligence” by signing an executive order directing all federal agencies, public communications, websites, and policy documents to use the new name.
He said SIF will oversee the federal government’s engagement with consumers, public interest groups, religious organisations, critical infrastructure providers, and super Intelligence companies.
The President has continued to downplay the potential impact AI could pose to humanity, arguing a recent pact signed by some of the top AI companies to self-regulate their efforts is sufficient.
The Wall Street Journal reported Clayton’s panel will review AI-related risks and current government mechanisms for breaches, hacks, and other related incidents while recommending ways to strengthen the government’s response capabilities using existing authorities.
Trump explained SIF will report directly to him and his Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.
Musk rebrands
Elon Musk posted on X stating he was renaming SpaceX’s AI division to SpaceXSI to follow Trump’s lead on the term super intelligence.
“Yes, we will make that change,” he replied to a user on X asking him about the possibility of renaming SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI.
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Former Verizon and Ericsson chief Hans Vestberg (pictured) was named senior adviser at investment bank Evercore to provide technology insights to its customers.
The US independent investment bank provides strategic and financial advice to boards of directors, management teams and shareholders on M&A, capital structure, restructurings and strategic shareholder consulting.
Evercore chair and CEO John Weinberg said Vestberg’s decades of leadership experience in global telecommunications, along with his knowledge of technology, international markets and complex strategic matters, “will further strengthen the advice and insight we provide to our clients”.
The executive was replaced as Verizon CEO in October 2025 after being in charge for more than seven years.
Earlier in his career he spent more than 25 years at Ericsson, including a stint of more than six years as CEO.
In February, he was appointed a senior adviser to AI data centre infrastructure company Digipower X to help the company with its expansion plans.
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Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen reportedly cast doubt on whether AI companies would honour a voluntary safety pledge agreed after a meeting with US President Donald Trump last week.
Haugen told CNBC OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Google needed to “step up and comply” with the AI agreement.
“The history of tech companies engaging with regulation is: Often they will follow the exact written statement when we are dealing with very flexible systems,” Haugen told CNBC.
She questioned whether the companies would follow the “spirit of the rules” or exploit conduct that was not expressly prohibited to “go around the end of the fence”.
Haugen pointed to Anthropic and CEO Dario Amodei’s support for independent auditors as evidence companies were addressing safety more proactively as concerns about AI posing an existential risk intensified.
“I think that is an acknowledgement that at least Dario knows that if you’re given the space to cut corners, even the angels among us begin to cut corners,” Haugen told CNBC.
In 2021, Haugen, who previously worked as a product manager on Facebook’s civic misinformation team, provided internal documents to the Wall Street Journal, prompting a series of reports known as The Facebook Files.
The documents included evidence the company knew its platforms were harming teenagers’ mental health.
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MobileX beefed up its executive team by hiring Raju Datla (pictured) as its CFO, which followed special purpose acquisition company CONX taking a controlling stake in the MVNO in August.
The company stated Datla brings more than 25 years of experience across technology, finance and business strategy. Prior to MobileX, he served as CFO of RedCloud Holdings, where he led finance, capital markets and the financial execution of the company’s global expansion.
His career stops also include serving as CSO at Tillman Fiber and as CFO and co-founder of NxtGen Datacenter & Cloud Technologies.
Earlier in his career, he worked at Deutsche Bank, advising technology media and telecommunications companies on more than $12 billion in M&A, debt and equity transactions.
Datla will work with founder and CEO Peter Adderton to lead funding, partnerships and financial strategy.
“MobileX is at a point where we’re not just scaling what we’ve built; we’re expanding what the platform can become,” Adderton stated while adding Datla “understands both the technology and the financial strategy needed to support that ambition”.
Under its new ownership structure with Charlie Ergen-controlled CONX, MobileX launched its first hybrid retail wireless model with CallSign Mobile in September.
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Amazon committed more than $1 billion over the next five years to support communities hosting its data centres in a bid to address mounting opposition to AI infrastructure.
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman announced the investment in an essay defending data centre development, arguing the buildout is needed for the US to remain competitive in the global AI race.
“Data centres bring considerable tax revenue, positive economic impact, large numbers of good jobs, education programs and other benefits to the communities where they’re built,” he wrote.
The new programme will fund education, workforce training, local hiring, energy upgrades, water and energy preservation projects and grants for local initiatives. Amazon added local communities will help determine how the funding is used.
The company said it expects to connect more than 300,000 students to free degree programmes in data centre communities over five years. It also plans to expand its network of training centres, alongside grants for energy efficiency upgrades targeting more than 300 schools and community buildings and over 30,000 homes.
Amazon also pledged to stop using nondisclosure agreements with government agencies involved in its data centre projects, explaining it would publish annual information on energy consumption, water use and efficiency.
Losing ticket
Data centre expansion has been facing growing backlash across the world over power demand, water consumption, land disruption, noise and environmental impact. In July, New York became the first US state to introduce a one-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale facilities requiring 50 megawatts of power or more, citing environmental concerns, pressure on the energy grid and costs for residents.
Garman warned data centre moratoriums could leave the country behind in the global AI race. “If these measures are enacted, the US could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations,” he said.
He also pushed back against concerns over water consumption, electricity prices and emissions from backup generators, describing several commonly cited claims as “myths”, “misinformation and outright lies”. He explained direct data centre water consumption accounts for about 0.5% of total US industrial water use and that backup generators remain idle 99.9% of the time.
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Israel continues to face isolation in international forums as it continues its multi-front war on the peoples of West Asia. On Thursday, September 24, delegations from at least 77 countries walked out or left their seats vacant during the address of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The move was interpreted as opposition to Israel’s three-year genocidal aggression on Gaza, and atrocities across multiple parts of West Asia.
Arab nations that walked out included: Algeria, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.
Asian states involved: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Darussalam, Indonesia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
From Africa the following left the chamber: Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Republic of the), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.
Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Venezuela.
European countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland, North Macedonia, San Marino, Slovenia and Spain.
From Oceania: Tonga and Tuvalu.
Meanwhile, thousands of protesters took to the streets of New York City, where the UN headquarters is located, to protest Netanyahu’s visit and address, calling for US officials to comply with the warrant issued for his arrest from the International Criminal Court.
Netanyahu began his defiant, combatant speech by calling the departing delegations “moral cowards”.
“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall, please do so now,” the Israeli PM said, addressing an almost empty chamber.
During the rest of his speech, which lasted for around 40 minutes, he defended Israel’s military campaigns – including the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities – and vowed “to continue to win” Israel’s muti-front regional war, claiming his government has “no other choice”.
Netanyahu categorically rejected international accusations of genocide in Gaza, labeling them “the greatest lie of the century”. He sharply criticized his vocal opponents, naming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the government of Qatar.
Furthermore, Netanyahu downplayed the deadly impact of Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank by describing the perpetrators as a “handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who go throw stones, who chop down olive trees, and occasionally light some fires.”
He also minimized the total number of Palestinian casualties resulting from settler attacks saying “maybe two or three dead” per year, although the UN reported in August that at least 23 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,040 others were injured in the context of settler attacks since the beginning of 2026.
Responding to statements made by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa concerning Syria’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Netanyahu firmly asserted Israel’s permanent claim over the territory, invoking a biblical narrative.
“Jews have been on the Golan Heights since the days of Moses,” Netanyahu declared, asking Al-Sharaa to “read it in the Bible”.
For the second year in a row, the US State Department has denied entry visas to the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas and a high-level delegation, preventing them from attending the United Nations General Assembly session in New York.
According to media reports, the Trump administration justified the revocation of visas by accusing the PA of pursuing legal action against Israel in international courts, and failing to meet past peace commitments. The decision drew wide international criticism for violating UN host-country agreements.
The US action put Abbas on the spot before the Palestinian grassroots, especially as his administration is known for appeasing Washington at the cost of the Palestinian people’s sacrifices.
Opening his pre-recorded speech delivered remotely, Abbas strongly condemned the revocation of US visas for Palestinian officials – including himself – as “punitive and unlawful”, rejecting the justifications provided by Washington.
He urged the US to lift the sanctions and restrictions it imposed on the PA, resume dialogue, and work alongside the international community to back the two-state solution.
Abbas stressed that the PA has fulfilled its governance and reform commitments, and reaffirmed his leadership’s dedication to international law and its ongoing stance against “violence and terrorism”.
In terms of the situation on the ground, Abbas cautioned that Palestinians are confronting the most dangerous phase in their modern history.
He detailed the repercussions of the ongoing Israeli genocide and the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, in addition to settlement expansion, land seizures, and the escalation in settler violence under the protection of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian President warned that these systemic practices are designed to fragment the territory and forcibly displace the Palestinian people.
“We have, for long, warned the international community through the UN General Assembly and the Security Council that these Israeli policies that operate outside international law will destroy the two-state solution,” Abbas asserted.
The head of the PA slammed some countries for their silence and their continued supply of weapons to Israel.
While acknowledging the 20-point plan brought forward by US President Donald Trump for post-war Gaza, the related UN Security Council resolution and the Mladenov 15-point roadmap, he lamented the lack of tangible progress and called for the immediate expedition of phase two of the ceasefire deal.
Abbas also expressed hope that phase two of the deal would unify Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem under the mandate of the Palestinian state.
Concluding his address, Abbas called on Trump to abide by his previous commitments made to Arab and Islamic leaders regarding the prevention of land annexation and forced displacement of the Palestinian people.
He further demanded the immediate, unconditional release of more than USD 6 billion in tax revenues withheld by Israel, alongside an end to the financial siege on Palestinian institutions.
With regard to the long-awaited legislative elections, Abbas affirmed that it will take place on November 28, followed subsequently by presidential elections.
He closed by reiterating the vision of a democratic, unarmed Palestinian state grounded in human rights and the rule of law, living side-by-side with Israel in “mutual security and peace”.
Palestinian political activist and former prisoner in Israeli jails, Omar Assaf, argues that the denial of US entry visas to the Palestinian delegation highlights two critical realities.
First, it exposes a deep-rooted US hostility toward the Palestinian people and their leadership, actively blocking them from reaching the United Nations to make the World hear their grievances, assert their rights, and bear witness to the crimes of the occupation.
Second, it serves as a stark wake-up call for Palestinian leadership that the US administration cannot be relied upon, nor can it be viewed as an honest broker, or a mediator of any kind.
From his point of view, the incident makes clear that a policy of concessions, compliance, appeasement, and pleading yields zero results. Instead, the World only respects the language of strength, unity and upholding rights. Consequently, this must serve as a definitive lesson for Palestinians to close ranks under a unified national stance.
“We must firmly adhere to our people’s rights, stand resilient against challenges, and confront any aggression targeting our land and existence, including our fundamental right to make our voices heard globally to halt these ongoing crimes,” Assaf emphasized.
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