live from washington, this is bbc news. the this is bbc news. latest world cup champions returned the latest world cup champions returned to the pitch, we have the latest from sydney. it's been a tense week on the global stage, with tempers rising from the black sea to north korea. we'll speak with a top pentagon official. some of the world's biggest tech firms have agreed to voluntary commitments on developing new ai technology. hello i'm helena humphreys. it's been an eventful week for diplomacy around the world as well, with two major stories breaking through. first, tensions have escalated between north korea and the us after an american soldier crossed the border from the south. and second, the ongoing fallout after russia backed out of the black sea grain deal. let's start in north korea, and us secretary

of state antony blinken says he has no further updates on the condition of us solider private travis king, but added that there are concerns. private king remains in custody in north korea. national security council spokespersonjohn kirby defended the deployment of a us nuclear submarine to south korea, telling cnn that the us has to:. "make sure that we have in the region sufficient military capability to protect our south korea allies, and quite frankly, the 38 thousand us troops and families that are on the korean peninsula." meanwhile, russia has continued to pound ukrainian grain silos for a fourth straight day, causing wheat prices to skyrocket. russia's defense ministry also says its black sea fleet has practised firing rockets at surface targets in a live fire exercise. earlier my colleague sumi somaskanda spoke with the pentagon's deputy press secretary sabrina singh about all of this, starting with north korea. sabrina, it's great to have

you back on the show. i want to start with north korea escalating its rhetoric on nuclear weapons, saying that the deployment of a us nuclear capable submarine to south korea is a provocation that could meet its criteria for its own use of nuclear weapons. and according to the state run news agency, the defence minister said they would be use "in case nuclear attack is launched against it or is it is judged that the use of nuclear weapons against it is imminent"? what's your response to that? well, thanks again for having me on today. really appreciate the opportunity to be with you. look, we do not seek conflict with the dprk. our alliance with the republic of korea is defensive in nature. and the arrival of this submarine that you mentioned is part of the washington declaration that the president discussed when president came to visit the united states just earlier this year. this is about deepening our military cooperation.

again, we don't seek conflict. this is about our military strength together with the republic of korea and a commitment that we said that this submarine would, in fact, visit this port. yet we are seeing this rhetoric, these threats from north korea. do you think this is an attempt to get concessions from the us, from south korea, on its nuclear programme, or do you think these are serious threats? well, it's hard to get in the mind of what north korea is thinking. all i can really say is speak for is our representation and our partnership with south korea. again, this is an iron—clad relationship, an iron—clad alliance that is defensive in nature. it is really the north koreans who continue to fire off ballistic missiles, conducting these tests that are in violation of international law that we are concerned about. but again, we don't seek provocation with them. this is something that was announced back earlier this year, and part of the washington declaration. and so, again, this isjust

part of our military alliance with south korea. sabrina, i also want to ask you about the us soldier who is currently being held in north korea. the defence department has tried to contact the north koreans, has had, as you've said, no success, to get more information on his whereabouts and how he's doing, there's been no response. are you worried about private king's well being? unfortunately, sumi, that's correct. we have reached out at all levels of levels of government. this is a complete inter—agency effort from here at the department of defence to the state department and the nsc, working to pull all levels of government to bring private king home. at the end of the day, that is our main priority. but of course, it is concerning, but it's not surprising. we do not have a military relationship with the dprk. so our engagements are really through other countries such as sweden. we have the united nations command that also serves as our liaison with the dprk.

but again, we do not know how private king is doing, and that's our main concern. we know that his family must be under an incredible amount of stress, missing him, wanting him returned home. that's exactly what we want. and so we're going to keep working to bring him home safely and securely. but unfortunately, we have not heard from the north koreans on this issue. sabrina, i want to ask you about ukraine as well, because we've seen russia hit food exports facilities for fourth straight day, also practice navy drills in the black sea. and this comes, as we know, after russia allowed this international deal to create a safe passage for transporting grain to expire. would the department of defence support, for example, a nato�*s or a un mission to escort these ships? or would that raise the risk too much of a direct confrontation with russia? well, as you mentioned, we don't see conflict or confrontation with russia. our priority right now is making sure we get ukraine, what it needs in defending itself and its sovereign territory, which comes in our security assistance packages. i don't want to get ahead or speculate of what could be done or what security

assurances could be taken by nato�*s allies or other partner countries. what i can say is that it's incredibly irresponsible that russia withdrew from this grain deal at the expense of millions of people around the world, africa and latin america and other countries that are food insecure. we've already seen the price of this wheat grain has skyrocketed. and so what we have urged publicly, and we'll do so privately as well, is to return to the grain deal. russia should return to the grain deal. this is, again, we're seeing vladimir putin take the side of continuing his unjust, unjustified, unprovoked war at the expense of really creating a food crisis around the world. and sabrina, one more question about the battlefield itself. we have seen the ukrainians say themselves that the counteroffensive that they've launched is not going as fast as they had desired. is the pentagon confident that ukraine can be successful

in this counter—offensive? well, again, you've heard the ukrainians speak to their counter offensive operations. and while it is slow progress, there is still progress being made. we know that these minefields in front of them right now that russia has laid are a real obstacle. but we are confident in the security assistance that notjust we, the united states, but partners and allies around the world that have provided this assistance to ukraine. we are confident in their combat power and them being able to be successful in this counteroffensive. sabrina, great to speak with you again. thank you. the white house has announced that some of the country's biggest tech firms have agreed to voluntary commitments on developing new ai technology. the seven companies making the commitment include open ai, amazon, and meta. president biden outlined the commitments earlier, saying they underscore safety, security, and trust. first, companies have an obligation to make sure that

technology is safe before releasing it to the public. second, companies must prioritise the security of the systems by safeguarding their models against cyber threats. third, the companies have a duty to earn the people's trust and empower users to make informed decisions labelling content that has been altered or ai generated. finally, companies have agreed to find ways for al to help meet society was my greatest challenges, from cancer to climate change, and invest in education and newjobs. but there's no exact outline for how the white house can ensure accountability from these companies. in their commitment to safety security and trust, the tech giants have promised to take part ininternal and external red—teaming regime of models or systems that raise societal risks or national security concerns working towards closer engagement and information sharing with the us government, investing in cybersecurity and insider threat safeguards to protct unreleased data, creating incentives for third parties to report issues when discovered, watermarking ai—generated audio or visual content and developing and deploying frontier ai systems to help address society's greatest challenges, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, early cancer detection and prevention, and

combating cyber threats. earlier, i spoke to president/ceo of the bsa, victoria espinel about today's announcement. victoria, thank you so much forjoining us on our show. if you look at the white house's announcement, these are companies that are also competitors working to create the best and most powerful ai tools. so why would it be in their interest to work together and to abide by these voluntary rules? so, sumi, thanks so much for having me. it's great to be here. you know, i think speaking from the perspective of bsa, the business software alliance, we represent the enterprise software companies.

and i think for our companies, we recognise that al presents opportunities, but we also need to promote trust and responsibility. bsa members have long recognised that, they've committed to it, and that's why we welcome steps towards an effective regulatory framework. if you look at the framework that has been introduced by the white house, it includes this commitment on al safety. quote, "the companies commit to internal and external security testing of their ai systems before their release". "this testing, which will be carried out in part by independent experts, guards against some of the most significant sources of ai risks, such as biosecurity and cybersecurity, as well as its broader societal effects". so from your perspective at the bsa, what would be effective in making sure that these systems are tested externally? i mean, who should be testing these systems and how to make sure, of course, that the companies also adopt recommendations? i think that the announcement the administration has made is a helpful step. in terms of starting to form what the architecture around regulatory guardrails

can look like. ultimately, i think we need to have legislation in the united states that applies to high risk ai. but i also want to say that the risks and the benefits of artificial intelligence transcend borders. so we heard president biden talking about legislation and we agree with that, but we also heard him talking about an international framework. and i think that's very important. you mentioned legislation. we've seen hearings and discussions in congress, of course, on regulating ai, as you know. and we spoke to congressman seth moulton earlier about the use of ai in the military, and this is what he told us. my basic argument is because congress moves too slow these days, we're not going to be able to regulate the whole ai industry very effectively. i don't think we'll ever keep up with the pace of technological change. and so what we should do is focus on the most dangerous cases. do you agree with that perspective? yes, let me say that there are a couple of things that i would say to policymakers.

one, i think focusing on the highest risks that we can address, and i think there are a number of those, i think should be the first priority. and second, i think looking and using the power of government to try to encourage beneficial uses of artificial intelligence, i think is also very important. so even if these companies do abide by voluntary recommendations and there is some progress in congress, bad actors will not abide by this. so how effective can these types of frameworks be? i think creating kind of a culture of what appropriate uses and what the appropriate steps are that companies, whether they're developing artificial intelligence or using artificial intelligence should take, is very important. it is true that there are going to be bad actors, as there are with any technology. and so we would need to use the enforcement tools that we have in other areas of technology or other industry sectors to deal with bad actors. but the fact that those will exist shouldn't stop us from trying to set as ambitious a high standard to promote trust and responsibility

as we can. and again, i would come back to i think it's very important that the united states act, but i think it's very important that the world act together and that as many countries as possible come together. i think there's a limited window of opportunity that we have to set a globally harmonized approach to artificial intelligence. i think this is that moment. and so i would encourage the united states, the uk, governments around the world, to come together as quickly as possible to work on that harmonized approach. how should those governments deal with international bad actors? there are concerns about how china and russia might use this technology. so again, i think there are going to be, there are going to be a variety of views and there are going to be i wouldn't even point to a particular country. there are going to be individuals and organisations that are going to be looking to see how they can weaponize artificial intelligence technology as is true with all kinds of technology.

so again, i think in that way this is the tools that we use internationally to try to address actions and stop bad actors are the ones that we should be using. i do think it's very important that governments have the focus and the resources and the capacity so they can be going after and stopping those bad actors when they use artificial intelligence for outcomes that are not societally beneficial. what do you see as the most important next steps not only for creating frameworks but also to implement them? so i think one is i think policymakers need to think about the long haul. they need to make regulatory frameworks that are going to work notjust in this moment, but over the next two to three, ten years as the technology continues to develop. and then the second next step is, i would go back to working together. i think we are going to be most effective in terms of addressing the risk, but also seeing the greatest potential of artificial intelligence if we have governments working together effectively. so that is something that i think is very,

very important as not just the next step, but an immediate step. victoria, thank you so much for your insights. thank you for having me. us lawmakers are increasingly concerned over american skilled workers who are choosing to take their talents to canada. earlier this week, canada launched an initiative to draw in high—skilled workers from the us and it reached its capacity for applicants in less than 2a hours. my colleague sumi somaskanda spoke with congresswoman zoe lofgren, a democrat from california who has been outspoken on the issue. congresswoman, thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news. you sit on the immigration house subcommittee, and canada recently introduced an immigration initiative that would attract high—skilled professionals from the us. why can't the us accommodate these immigrants? because republicans have blocked every effort to do that. you know, it wasjust a year ago i chaired the immigration subcommittee. we had a hearing on the brain drain to canada, and it's because of the structure of our laws.

we made an effort last year and we've made several efforts to make adjustments. our law, basically, has not been changed significantly since 1990 and, actually, will work on the same framework from 1965. —— since 1990 and, actually, we work on the same framework from 1965. it doesn't currently meet the needs of the united states but we've run into a roadblock with republicans. if there is this roadblock in a divided congress, what can be done to stop this brain drain, as you called it? oh, america isjust going to lose. the canadian recruiters have been down here for a long time, picking off the best talent to go to canada. the only thing that's different is now the canadian government has made an official pathway, which is new, but it's not new that talented immigrants who can't get their legal permanent residence have been

lured off to canada. —— to canada, that does allow people to gain permanent residence in a very short period of time. that's why the tech economy in toronto is currently growing faster than the tech economy in silicon valley. it's just american stupidity. so, have you heard concern from business leaders on this front? co nsta ntly. not only business leaders but academic leaders. we're not meeting the needs of our economy and we're ceding our edge to canada and, frankly, other countries. do you think that there is something that the white house and the biden administration can do in this case if legislation is stalled in congress? no. it's statutory. you know, we have — i'll say this. the administration has made sure there are no delays in processing of visas, especially on the business side, because if they're not processed in the calendar year, then they're lost.

so, they've avoided that problem, but there's nothing more they can do. i mean, we have a limitation on how many visas can go to qualified people per country without regard to the population of that country. and so, there are huge backlogs from india and from china and especially here in silicon valley. we have a huge number of extremely talented professionals and scientists from india who are looking at delays of many, many decades to get their residence and it, you know, it's really impossible for them and their sons and daughters to live in limbo for decades. so, congresswoman, just to jump in there, how many h—1b visas do you think the us should be issuing a year if you could change it? it's not the h—1b visas. you know, there are limitations and there are complaints, and the visa programme

does need reform. the problem's in the permanent residence visa structure, where we limit awarded visas not by talent but by birth. it's really quite racist and pretty stupid for the united states. all right, congresswoman, i want to move to some news that we've gotten in today — that the former president's trial on mishandling classified information will begin in may of next year, and that would be in the middle of the campaign. are you concerned about how this could impact the election? well, you know, it's not up to me to set the trial date but i thought that was a weird date to choose for the judge. the government had proposed a december date. i don't think the trial would go longer than a week. so, yeah, i don't think that's the smartest date. but it's her decision, not mine. we are also expecting an indictment in the special counsel's investigation into efforts to subvert

the election result, 2020 election result, and also the january six attack and you, of course, were a member of the house select committee on the january sixth attack. if you look at the numbers, there is a poll from quinnipiac university that shows that more than 50% of americans thought that these events represented an attack on democracy butjust under 50% believed that it was time to move on. and also, if you look at president trump's role in all of this, just under 50% of americans believe he committed a crime but around the same amount thought that no crime was committed. so, are you concerned about charges here and a trial if a significant percentage of americans say it is time to move on and we don't think that president trump did something criminal? prosecutors and the rule of law don't don't rely on public opinion polls. if the prosecutor believes that he has evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed, then he needs to proceed, no matter what the current public opinion is.

if you ask people do you believe in the rule of law? i would say probably a vast majority of americans would say yes, and that's really what the question is. beyond public opinion, we've seen the speaker of the house commenting on the fact that the former president received a target letter from the special counsel, saying that this is another effort to weaponise the government. what's your response to that? i think kevin knows that's absurd. during the attack, he told the president that it was his fault. and right after the attack, he went to the floor and said it was the president's responsibility. he knows better but he is taking his lead, his political lead, from the former president, who called both him and other republican leaders and told them what to say after the indictment. i think it's really pretty shameful behaviour on the part of the speaker. congresswoman, thank you so much forjoining us today. you bet. the women's world cup

is heading into day three in australia and new zealand. euro 2022 winners england and asian cup holders china are set to begin their campaigns later saturday. live now to katie silver, who's in sydney for us. usa and vietnam. walkers through the match. yes, the usa 13 goals to nil but it was not merely the walkover that many had predicted that —— won 3—0. we saw the vietnamese play being disciplined and organised and the fans here well and truly celebrating it, seeing it as a win even though it was a 3-0 as a win even though it was a 3—0 defeat and walking you through the goals, sophia smith got too, one in the 11th minute and one in extra timejust before half—time and it was almost disallowed, with fears it was offside. it proved not to be the case. alex morgan missed a penalty for the us and then just towards the end in

then just towards the end in the 77th minute we saw lindsey horan at the last and third goalfor the us in this match. as i mentioned, the vietnamese team were strong, stronger than expected, and last week we were in auckland speaking to the captain and the striker of the vietnamese team. she is taken a long journey, an amazing one, to get to the level she is out today. when she was growing up she had to play with camilla's and coconuts because she didn't have a ball and now she is in the second division in portugal. take a listen to what she had to say. translation: has never been any female — translation: has never been any female footballer from our country _ female footballer from our country playing in a foreign country— country playing in a foreign country so i decided to go overseas to experience new things— overseas to experience new things and to learn, as well as to pave — things and to learn, as well as to pave the way for vietnam's women — to pave the way for vietnam's women football players. in automatic other teams putting an impressive performances on match day?

that's right, last night for example before spain take on costa rica. but similarly with a 3—0 defeat to spain but it's spain who has marked itself as one of the teams to watch. they had 46 different attempts at goal and as a result, the player that many are talking about is the costa rican goalkeeper who managed to stave off 43 of those 46 attempts, daneel suella, she typically plays in costa rica but many are saying now because of the performance she is likely to be scouted internationally and be able to play at an international level but marking itself despite the fact that had difficulties lately with 15 of the players resigning. now it seems that manager has been able to rebuild support and make the team gel which was one of the big question marks going into the tournament. find into the tournament. and lookinu into the tournament. and looking ahead, _ into the tournament. and looking ahead, other- into the tournament. and looking ahead, other matches you are looking forward to? $5

you are looking forward to? as ou you are looking forward to? is you mentioned, zambia you are looking forward to? sis you mentioned, zambia and japan later today. china and denmark as well, but i think all eyes will be on england and haiti. england are considered to be one of the favourites of the tournament, until recently they won 30 games in a row, in the last three they have not scored a goal so a big question about how they will perform. the bbc has been speaking to the captain millie bright who says they are itching to begin and it sounds like they are actually a bit upset they had to wait until they three of the tournament to get on the greens but the question is what is sarina wiegman�*s louw going to be like? and three major players out with especially acl injuries, so are the lioness is going to be able to redo and relive the victory we saw last year and they won the euros? we shau year and they won the euros? we shall certainly see. katie silver from shall certainly see. katie silverfrom me. —— katie silverfrom sydney. stay with us here on bbc news.

that's all from us here in washington. i'm helena humphrey. see you soon. hello. it's going to be a wet one for many of us this weekend. in fact, it'll feel more like september, perhaps even early october, with the strength of the wind. really not a pleasant picture at all. the weather systems are lining up in the atlantic. here's the satellite picture. multiple weather fronts heading in our direction, and that cloud has already spread across the uk. it has been raining and the rain will get heavier in some areas as we go through the morning and into saturday afternoon. now, over the next two or three days, we will have rather a lot of rain in some parts of the country. where you see the deeper blue colours here, the darker blues, that's the rainfall accumulating to around 50mm of rain or more, so about a month's worth of rainfall in a couple of days. so, the forecast for the morning shows that rain across many parts that rain across many parts of the country. of the country. the north of scotland, however, the north of scotland, however, will have had clear skies will have had clear skies and, in fact, really chilly in the sheltered glens — maybe 4—5 degrees in rural spots —

but for most of us, it's in the range of around 12—14. so, a lot of cloud in the morning. the winds will also be strengthening in south—western parts of the country to near gale force along some coasts. notice that the north of scotland escapes the rain. in fact, for ourfriends in lerwick, we're anticipating mostly sunny skies and, indeed, northern parts of mainland scotland also enjoying some sunshine. all of the weather action will be way to the south. outbreaks of rain turning heavier in northern ireland, parts of wales and also the north—west of england. all of this does not bode well for the ashes. interruptions are likely. and it also is not idealfor golf, either. the forecast, then, for sunday. the low pressure is still with us. it's in a process of moving away into the north sea. but this long weather front here, well, it's trying to pull away but it's doing so at a glacial pace, so that does mean more rain to come, especially across parts of northern england and wales. now, come monday and tuesday, that low is across scandinavia. the weather does tend to improve a little bit

but the air is generally coming in from the north atlantic, so that means that the temperatures will remain subdued in the week ahead and, actually, the weather outlook is still looking fairly unsettled with all of these shower symbols here in the outlook. wherever you are, have a good weekend.