US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday opened a visit to Mexico which warned against violations of its sovereignty, as the United States said it carried out a deadly strike on a drug-smuggling boat from Venezuela.Rubio is paying the highest-ranking visit to the US neighbor since President Donald Trump returned to office in January with an agenda of cracking down on migration and drug cartels.Mexico so far has navigated the treacherous terrain with Trump, with President Claudia Sheinbaum seeking to avoid confrontation.Sheinbaum will meet Wednesday with Rubio, who was personally welcomed on the tarmac under overcast skies by Mexican Foreign Secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente.But hours before Rubio’s arrival, Sheinbaum said she would draw a line on US military “intervention” in Mexico.”The United States is not going to act alone because there is an understanding,” she told reporters.”We have been working for months on an understanding to collaborate on security matters,” she said.Mexico will not “accept violations of our territory, we don’t accept subordination. Simply collaboration between nations on equal terms.”Trump said the United States killed 11 people Tuesday by destroying a speedboat allegedly from a gang linked to Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.Rubio, speaking to reporters in Miami before departure, suggested it was not the last US attack and warned that the “days of acting with impunity” were over.Trump has “been very clear that he’s going to use the full power of America, the full might of the United States, to take on and eradicate these drug cartels, no matter where they’re operating from,” Rubio said.The United States does not recognize Maduro and few expect similar attacks on Mexican soil, even if some of Trump’s allies in Congress have mused of war.- Sheinbaum focuses on cooperation -Sheinbaum hails from Mexico’s left but has been able to earn the respect of Trump, much like her predecessor and ideological ally Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador did in Trump’s first term.Mexico has cooperated on enforcement of the border against US-bound migrants, who mostly come from Central America or elsewhere rather than Mexico, and extradited people wanted by the United States.She has also taken steps to curb imports from China, whose manufacturers have eyed Mexico as a way into the US market.”President Sheinbaum from the beginning decided that she is going to seek a cooperative and collaborative relationship” with the Trump administration, said Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director at the Atlantic Council’s Latin America Center.”She has been emphatic in defending Mexican sovereignty, but at the same time reaching out to the United States and seeing where they can work together,” he said.The stability in the relationship marks a sharp contrast to Trump’s pressure campaigns against the outspoken leftist leaders of two other Latin American powers, Brazil and Colombia.Trump earlier this year even took the uncharacteristic step of crediting her with an idea on combatting fentanyl, the painkilling drug behind an overdose epidemic in the United States.”I know everything, and I never learn anything from anybody, and I spoke to this woman, and as soon as she said it, I said, ‘Exactly, what a great idea,'” said Trump, who has also commented favorably on the appearance of Mexico’s first female president.Sheinbaum is riding high in polls with the support of three-quarters of Mexicans, in part over how she has managed Trump, who rose to political prominence vowing to erect a wall to seal off the Mexican border.The image of the United States has deteriorated more sharply in Mexico than in any other country since Trump returned, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in July, which found that 91 percent of Mexicans lacked confidence in Trump.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday blamed AI for a viral video that appeared to show a black bag being thrown out of a White House window.Trump’s claim came despite US media earlier quoting a White House official as saying that a contractor had been disposing of trash during renovations.”No, that’s probably AI-generated,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when a reporter asked about the video. “Actually, you can’t open the windows. You know why, they’re all heavily armored and bulletproof.” Trump asked the journalist, Peter Doocy of Fox News, to show him the video.The brief clip that went viral over the weekend appears to show a black plastic bag being thrown out an open window on the second floor of the White House, where the private presidential residence is located.After Doocy approached the lectern and showed him, the 79-year-old said it was a “little bit scary” how realistic artificial intelligence-generated videos could be.But before Trump was asked about it, US media including the New York Times quoted the White House press office as saying that the video was real, although it showed nothing suspicious.Instead it showed a contractor doing “regular maintenance” while Trump was absent.The internet rumor was not the only one that Trump was forced to debunk on Tuesday — he also dismissed as “fake news” a series of social media-driven rumors about his health, including that he might even be dead.

A US judge on Tuesday rejected the government’s demand that Google sell its Chrome web browser as part of a major antitrust case, but imposed sweeping requirements to restore competition in online search.The landmark ruling came after Judge Amit Mehta found in August 2024 that Google illegally maintained monopolies in online search through exclusive distribution agreements worth billions of dollars annually.”Today’s decision recognizes how much the industry has changed through the advent of AI, which is giving people so many more ways to find information,” said Google vice president of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland.”This underlines what we’ve been saying since this case was filed in 2020: Competition is intense and people can easily choose the services they want.”Mulholland added that Google has “concerns” about how court-imposed requirements to share search data and limit distribution of services will affect user privacy.Judge Mehta’s decision represents one of the most significant rulings against corporate monopoly practices in two decades and could fundamentally reshape the tech giant’s future.The Justice Department called the remedies “significant.””We will continue to review the opinion to consider the Department’s options and next steps regarding seeking additional relief,” Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater said in a release.However, Tuesday’s decision fell short of expectations from some observers who had anticipated more radical changes to Google.”It sounds like the judge felt that it was too draconian to provide some of the remedies that prosecutors or the Department of Justice wanted,” said professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond Law School.”Google is certainly not going to be broken up, and it’s not clear that its business model is going to change a whole lot.”The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, contending the browser serves as a crucial gateway to internet activity and facilitates a third of all Google web searches.But in his ruling, Mehta warned that a Chrome divestiture “would be incredibly messy and highly risky” and said US attorneys had overreached.The case focused on Google’s expensive distribution agreements, paying billions for Apple, Samsung, and other smartphone manufacturers to establish Google as the default search engine on iPhones and other devices.- ‘Crippling’ effects -In his decision last year, Judge Mehta said Google’s default status on the iPhone allowed the company to evolve into an internet powerhouse, insulated from competitive threats.But in a surprise move, Mehta on Tuesday said an outright ban of these deals was off the table, insisting that such a prohibition could have too profound an effect on other businesses.”Google will not be barred from making payments or offering other consideration to distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or its GenAI products,” the judge wrote.Minutes after the decision, shares in Google parent Alphabet rocketed by 7.5 percent in after-hours trading. Apple’s stock rose by more than three percent.”This is a monster win for [Apple] and for Google it’s a home run ruling that removes a huge overhang on the stock,” said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.Under the judge’s order, Google must make available to “qualified competitors” search index data and user interaction information that rivals can use to improve their services.The ruling also specifically addresses the emerging threat from generative artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT, extending restrictions to prevent Google from using exclusive deals to dominate the AI space as it did with traditional search.A technical committee will oversee implementation of the remedies, which take effect 60 days after the judgment is entered.- Offensive against Big Tech  -Google faces another legal case, awaiting a federal court decision in Virginia regarding its web display advertising technology business. A separate judge ruled earlier this year that Google’s ad tech operations also constitute an illegal monopoly that stifles competition.These cases are part of a broader government and bipartisan campaign against Big Tech. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against major technology companies.The original search engine case against Google, along with a separate case targeting Meta, originated during the first Trump administration in 2020. The Biden administration maintained these prosecutions while launching additional cases against Apple and Amazon, as well as a second case challenging Google.

A US House of Representatives committee released a first batch of documents on Tuesday from the investigation into notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a case that has become a political lightning rod for the Trump administration.More than 33,000 pages of records related to Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell were uploaded to a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform website after being handed over by the Justice Department.”We’re in the process of uploading those documents for full transparency so everyone in America can see those documents,” Republican committee chairman James Comer said.”It’s going as quick as we can get them uploaded,” Comer told reporters. “We want those to be public as soon as possible.”Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for alleged sex trafficking of underage girls recruited to provide him with sexual massages.President Donald Trump’s supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and held as an article of faith that “deep state” elites were protecting Epstein associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood — but not Trump.Many of his supporters have been up in arms since the FBI and Justice Department said in July that Epstein had committed suicide, did not blackmail any prominent figures, and did not keep a “client list.”Comer’s committee had subpoenaed the Justice Department for the documents and a first batch of records was turned over last month.It was not immediately clear what is new in the documents released on Tuesday, some of which are completely redacted.Thousands of documents related to the Epstein probe have been released previously and Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House committee, said most of the records released on Tuesday had already been made public.- ‘Horrific’ -The House committee said in a statement that it expects to receive more records from the Justice Department and they are being redacted to protect “victim identities” and remove “any child sexual abuse material.”Trump was once a friend of Epstein and, according to The Wall Street Journal, the president’s name was among hundreds found during a Justice Department review of the Epstein files, though there has not been evidence of wrongdoing.The House Oversight Committee also heard closed-door testimony on Tuesday from victims of Epstein and Maxwell.”The stories were horrific and infuriating,” Garcia said on X. “In the days and weeks ahead we will be hearing more from these victims.”The Justice Department released a transcript and audio recording last month of an interview with Maxwell in which she said Trump was friendly with Epstein but was “never inappropriate with anybody.”Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for Epstein, was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer.The 63-year-old Maxwell, the only former Epstein associate convicted in connection with his activities, was moved from a prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas following the interview with Blanche.