Update - UAE leaves OPEC, Musk vs. OpenAI and attempted assassination

Hi, I'm Kim Vannell in Wonganui, New Zealand.

It's Tuesday, April 28th.

Today, Elon Musk takes on OpenAI's Sam Altman in a high-stakes trial which could shape

the future of artificial intelligence.

The suspect in Saturday's black Thai gala with Trump is charged with attempted assassination.

And Israel's opposition bans together an abid to get Netanyahu voted out.

This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in

ten minutes, seven days a week.

But first we have some breaking news.

For more, here's my colleague Tara Oaks.

Thanks, Kim.

The United Arab Emirates is quitting oil producing group OPEC.

It's a heavy blow to the organization at a time when the Iran War has caused a historic

energy shock.

Gulf pure chief Mahat El-Dahan is in Dubai to tell us what this means.

This is a massive deal.

It's a really big deal for energy markets.

It's a big deal in terms of foreign policy.

It's a really big deal for the Gulf.

The UAE is a major OPEC producer and them making a decision to walk away from that group

liberates them from OPEC quotas that they are bound by in terms of how much they can

supply the market with.

It also sends a very strong signal to Saudi Arabia, which is the de facto leader of that

group.

And it might actually cause other members to consider a similar decision.

The group has been largely kept together over the past few years.

It expanded into OPEC plus as well, which includes Russia.

And now there has to be kind of a huge question mark about who leaves next.

Leaving OPEC is also something that the Trump administration would potentially look at

in a very good light.

This only brings them closer to the US, which is their main allies, but also to Israel,

which they normalized relations with.

They're bound to be ripple effects across the Gulf.

Opening arguments begin today in what's being billed as one of the most consequential

lawsuits for artificial intelligence, potentially impacting the future of the technology.

And who is at the helm?

The case pits Elon Musk against open AI's Sam Altman, and its lesser known co-founder

and president, Greg Brockman.

Musk argues the pair cond him into investing in open AI by straying from its founding mission

as a not-for-profit.

If the jury sides with Musk, the judge will then decide what consequences follow.

And that take correspondent Deepa Sitharaman says could create a whole new AI landscape.

Elon wants Sam and the president and co-founder Greg Brockman to be out of the company.

He wants it to be converted back into the original nonprofit structure.

And he wants damages of $150 billion that would flow immediately to the nonprofit.

He just wants a series of changes.

But if Elon wins, there will have to be some kind of remedy.

Open AI's, their argument has been all along, Elon Musk is jealous.

He's mad that he left the organization before it hit it big.

He has his own tech startup, XAI, which he's just folded into SpaceX, and that he just

wants to take it competitor and kneecap them so that he can, you know, do better.

The trial risks complicating open AI's plans for a potential IPO by casting doubt on

its leadership.

But Deepa says everything about this trial is unusual, including jury selection, with everyone

asked both what they know about AI and Elon Musk.

There is one woman who says like, I think he's the richest person in the world and I don't

know what he does.

It's probably my favorite moment.

But then you could also tell that of the jurors that did know Elon, I mean, it's the Bay

area.

There were a lot of people that were like, no, I don't really like its politics.

And to that, the judge asked repeatedly and asked everybody, well, do you think you'd

be able to put your feelings aside for this specific case?

And a lot of people were able to say, yeah, I think I can take it because this isn't

about politics.

This is a contract dispute effectively.

I mean, this is about promises made and promises potentially broken.

Microsoft is also on the hook for potential damages in that trial, being one of open AI's

largest investors.

But being an investor no longer means preferential treatment for Microsoft.

Insighting with the start of the trial, open AI announced Microsoft will no longer get

exclusive access to its products.

It means the chat GPT creator can sell its products more widely to Amazon or Google Cloud

for example.

And in doing so, help open AI secure more computing power.

Today the Department of Justice filed three federal charges in the United States District

Court against Cole Thomas Allen.

The first count is attempted assassination of the president of the United States.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch announcing the DOJ believes Saturdays shooting at the

White House correspondence dinner was an assassination attempt.

The suspect 31 year old Cole Thomas Allen is also facing federal firearms charges.

Reporter Andrew Goodswood covers the Department of Justice and has more on the prosecution's

argument.

Prosecutors have pointed to this email that the suspect Cole Allen sent to relatives

and a former employer is undescribed as a manifesto.

And in the criminal complaint, you know, prosecutors pointed to this as their evidence that

the suspect intended to target President Trump and senior officials in his administration.

The criminal complaint filed by the DOJ also has more details on what they say happened

in the lead up to the dinner.

So about a month after President Trump posted that he planned to attend this dinner, Allen

the suspect made a reservation in the same hotel, the Washington Hilton, where the dinner

was taking place.

And April 22nd, he traveled by train from California to DC and checked in on the 24th

to the day before the dinner.

There's still some unanswered questions about how exactly he made his way from the hotel

room down to the area where the ballroom was.

The DOJ says security was by the book, and the fact the suspect never got close to President

Trump is evidence.

Still, a senior White House official told Reuters that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles will

meet with law enforcement and Homeland Security early this week to review security protocols.

Even so, Republicans in Congress citing security concerns are now pushing to speed up and fund

the construction of Trump's $400 million White House ballroom.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham and two other Republicans have crafted

a bill for taxpayers to foot $332 million, which he says could come from customs revenue.

Trump previously said the ballroom, which is already under construction, would be paid

for by private donors.

To the Iran War Now.

President Donald Trump has discussed a new Iranian proposal with his top national security

team as the stalemate with Tehran continues.

Iranian sources say Tehran wants talks to focus first on ending the war and resolving

shipping disputes in the Gulf, leaving Iran's nuclear program for later.

Washington says that approach is unacceptable, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing

Iran of trying to buy time.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett saying it's time to turn the page on current

leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

He's teamed up with another former Prime Minister, Ya'ayya Lapid, to form a new center-right

super coalition in the hopes they can force Netanyahu out of power in elections later this

year.

The two tried and failed to team up before, with their coalition collapsing after about

a year in office.

But that was 2022, and as correspondent Mayan Lubell explains, a lot has changed since

then.

Bennett and Lapid, they're running on a platform of, you know, trying to heal divisions

within Israel, trying to heal a traumatized nation after October 7th.

They've caused Netanyahu's government is very much extremist and pandering to extremist

forces.

Lapid and Bennett might see eye to eye with Netanyahu on some core issues, including Iran,

including Lebanon, to some respect Gaza.

They think that Netanyahu has not leveraged military gains to a strategic win.

They differ from Netanyahu in policy issues as well, and I think the main one is the conscript

military.

So most Israelis are obliged to enlist in the Israeli military when they turn 18, and

Netanyahu's traditional allies, the ultra-orthodox Jewish parties, have been seeking blanket

exemptions for their communities from the military.

And you know, it's always angered many Israelis, but it angers many Israelis even more now

because people are sending their, you know, their fathers and their brothers and sisters

and sons to go fight on multiple fronts.

And at the same time, Netanyahu's government is seen to be trying to let an entire community

off the hook completely from carrying their weight.

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