Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s four days in exile, several staff researchers wrote a letter to the board of directors warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, Reuters reports.

OpenAI acknowledged in an internal message to staffers a project called Q* and a letter to the board before the weekend's events.

Some at OpenAI believe Q* (pronounced Q-Star) could be a breakthrough in the startup's search for what's known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), one of the people told Reuters. OpenAI defines AGI as autonomous systems that surpass humans in most economically valuable tasks.

Given vast computing resources, the new model was able to solve certain mathematical problems.

Though only performing math on the level of grade-school students, acing such tests made researchers very optimistic about Q*’s future success.

Israel calls on Spain and Belgium to "stop supporting terrorism".

Israel's foreign ministry has summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium over statements made by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo in Egypt, which Israel considers "support for terrorism".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also weighed in, saying the two European leaders had failed to spotlight what he called crimes against humanity committed by Palestinian militants of Hamas.

Shortly after Netanyahu's comments, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in a video statement that "the accusations of the Israeli government are false and unacceptable. We categorically reject them".

Later on Friday evening, Albares said on state television that he had summoned the Israeli ambassador in Madrid to explain the Israeli government's accusations.

Israeli Defence Minister Gallant:

There will be a short humanitarian pause and then we will continue the war with all our military might.

We will not stop until we achieve the goal of the destruction of Hamas and the release of prisoners.

There are 240 prisoners (in Hamas' hands) and this is not something we can accept and tolerate.

Israel to release 42 prisoners and Hamas to release 14 hostages today.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron:

There won't be long term safety and security and stability for Israel, unless there is long term safety, security and stability for the Palestinian people.

And you have to start thinking about the future…you've got to paint a picture of Palestinians living in peace and stability.

Civilian casualties in Gaza are too high. Israeli forces must abide by international humanitarian law. Settler violence in the occupied West Bank is completely unacceptable.

CMA CGM Symi, a container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire, came under attack by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean, an American defense official says.

Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters.

The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew.

Davyd Arakhamiia, leader of the Servant of the People faction:

The war could have ended in the spring of 2022 if Ukraine had agreed to neutrality.

Russia’s goal was to put pressure on us so that we would accept neutrality. This was the main thing for them: they were ready to end the war if we accepted neutrality, like Finland once did. And we would give a commitment that we would not join NATO. This is the main thing.

This was unrealistic, because joining NATO is spelled out in our Constitution. In addition, there was no trust in the Kremlin.

Davyd Arakhamiia, leader of the Servant of the People faction who led the Ukrainian delegation at "peace" talks with the Russians in Belarus and Türkiye in 2022:

When we returned from Istanbul, Boris Johnson (then British PM) came to Kyiv and said that we would not sign anything with them (Russians) at all, and let's just fight.

"Every Russian with a smartphone is our best friend, comrade and client."

Ukrainian Intelligence (SBU) says their successful operations in the occupied territories, in particular in Crimea, are thanks to Russians, who film and photograph everything.

The Security Service of Ukraine also showed footage of how they were preparing to blow up the Crimean Bridge thanks to footage of a Crimean woman from under the Crimean Bridge that got onto the Internet.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned his military leadership against dabbling in the country’s politics, taking a jab at his top commander after tension between the two came to light.

"With all the respect to General Zaluzhnyi and to all the commanders who are on the battlefield, there is an absolute understanding of the hierarchy and that is it — and there can’t be two, three, four, five."

Ukrainian law only allows one person to have decision-making power during war, otherwise national unity may be threatened, Zelenskiy told The Sun.

He also warned that military commanders risked being disobeyed by soldiers if they became political.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew with nationally designed and manufactured HAL Tejas fighter jet.

Russian Shahed-136 kamikaze UAVs, painted black to make it difficult to detect in the night sky, were used for the first time in attacks on Kyiv.

Interestingly, just the other day new UAVs from the Shahed family, also painted black, were presented in Iran.

Israeli minister Nir Barkat:

What Hamas is committing is worse than what the Nazis did.

Hamas says it appreciates Spanish PM Sánchez and Belgian PM De Croo's "clear and bold stance" on the war in Gaza.

Ukraine has agreed to receive warships to ensure the safety of ships in the “grain corridor” in the Black Sea, Zelensky says.

Zelensky also said that new Western air defense systems will be delivered to the Odesa region. Apparently, they will also be used to cover the grain corridor.

Japanese Type 10 tanks with cope cage.

Greta Thunberg chants "Krossa Sionismen" (Crush Zionism!) with the crowd at a pro-Palestinian rally in Stockholm.