The rules-based world order "no longer exists," according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who warned of an era of big power politics at the Munich Security Conference. The conference, which opened this week, also saw an AI safety researcher quit US firm Anthropic with a warning that the "world is in peril," and a Ukrainian athlete disqualified from the Winter Olympics for wearing a helmet depicting war dead.
Merz's comments, made at the annual security summit, highlighted concerns about the current global landscape. He stated that Europeans must be prepared to make "sacrifice" in this new environment. He also acknowledged a "deep divide" between Europe and the United States. The conference took place against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump's actions, including threats to Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland and tariffs on European imports, as reported by BBC World.
Meanwhile, in the lead-up to Hungary's election, opposition leader Peter Magyar accused his rivals of planning to blackmail him with a secretly recorded sex tape, according to BBC World. Magyar, who is ahead in the polls, said he suspected there were plans to release a tape from August 2024.
The Winter Olympics also saw controversy when Ukrainian skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified for wearing a helmet featuring fellow athletes killed since Russia's full-scale invasion. Heraskevych was barred from the men's skeleton in Milan-Cortina after he refused to stop wearing the helmet, and his appeal was denied. The helmet depicted teenage weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, and ice hockey player Oleksiy Lohinov, among others, as reported by BBC World.
In the technology sector, Amazon's Ring ended a deal with surveillance firm Flock Safety after facing scrutiny over its privacy practices, according to BBC Technology. The agreement would have allowed agencies working with Flock to retrieve video captured on Ring devices. The decision came days after a Ring advertisement aired during the Super Bowl sparked widespread backlash.
Adding to the concerns in the tech world, an AI safety researcher at Anthropic resigned, sharing a cryptic warning that the "world is in peril." Mrinank Sharma, in his resignation letter shared on X, cited concerns about AI, bioweapons, and the state of the wider world. He said he would instead pursue writing and studying poetry, and move back to the UK, according to BBC Technology.
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