Australia could become the first country to prosecute AI companies for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent harmful conduct by their models.

The federal government has announced it would consider a new criminal offence for tech companies over AI harm and an AI safety watchdog empowered to issue significant fines, as part of its response to September’s OpenAI Medicare statistics hack.

“The law needs to get ahead of, and in some cases make sure that it catches up with, what is a very fast-changing world,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters yesterday.

AI companies Anthropic, Google and Meta, which were not given a substantial forewarning of the government’s response, did not respond to requests for comment.

An OpenAI spokesperson told the ABC that the company was reviewing the government’s proposals.

If Albo gets Whitlamed over this

When Mr Albanese disclosed the Medicare hack in September, he said the government would seek urgent advice on whether any offence had occurred and whether the incident should be referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Yesterday, he did not answer questions about whether he believed OpenAI had committed a crime.

Mr Albanese said the government had accepted all the recommendations of the review into the incident. One of those was to consider “options to reform the criminal law to improve AI safety”.

An option to be considered is the creation of a “failure to prevent” offence for AI companies behind models that engage in harmful conduct and do not take reasonable steps to prevent the harm.

The other was to consider criminal penalties for egregious breaches of AI safety standards.

The Albanese government has signposted its desire to lead the world on regulating AI, with the prime minister describing it as a “first mover in this space”.

While other countries have pursued distinct criminal offences for AI harm, one centring on a failure to take reasonable steps to prevent harm would be the first of its kind at a national level.

Italy recently introduced a criminal offence for high-risk AI uses that do not have required technical safeguards or human oversight where a failure would be a serious threat to people or national security.

No company or individual has been prosecuted under the law to date.

It remains unclear whether Australia’s OpenAI incident would reach the threshold of harmful conduct, but Mr Albanese yesterday described it as “minor in terms of direct implications”.

For multiple days, thousands of workers in Bangladesh, mostly from garment factories, protested for a raise in their minimum monthly wages and against the rising prices of essential commodities, defying the state’s oppressive measures.

On Tuesday, November 3, news reports indicated fresh clashes between workers and security forces at various places in the capital, Dhaka, with the agitating workers trying to block highways and other roads.

The protests broke out despite the Home Minister of the country Salahuddin Ahmed warning the workers to return to work on Monday after claiming their demands had been addressed by the government through the formation of a “wage board.”

Meanwhile, the authorities unleashed violence and repression on workers with police resorting to baton charges and firing tear gas at various places injuring several of them. The police have also arrested protesters after accusing them of indulging in arson and violence.

Workers are demanding a revision in their minimum monthly wages to at least 30,000 Bangladeshi Taka (around $240) from its present 12,500 (around $100) claiming the present wages are highly inadequate to live a decent life in the context of the rising prices of essential commodities, including food and fuel.

Several unions and progressive organizations, including the Workers Party of Bangladesh (WPB), however, have demanded an even higher wage of Taka 37,125 (around $300) along with measures to curb the rising prices of essential commodities.

The protests began in Dhaka in the last week of October and continued throughout the weekend. After the government failed to respond to their demands, workers blocked several roads in the city including some highways on Saturday and Sunday.

Dozens of factories in Gazipur and other industrial areas of Dhaka declared holidays on Monday and Tuesday in an attempt to avoid gatherings. The government has also increased the deployment of security forces at all major points in the city to prevent agitating workers from blocking roads and taking out other militant actions. Decent living wages

Workers in Bangladesh argue that the minimum wages in the country have not been revised for years now despite the rise in profits for the companies, higher revenues from garment exports, and rising prices of the essential commodities.

Bangladesh is the world’s second largest exporter of garments, after China, with around 80% of all its export value coming from the sector alone.

According to various studies, the wages of garment sector workers in Bangladesh remain lowest among all the major exporting countries. Workers in the garment sector are also among the lowest paid workers in the country.

Bangladesh has seen a consistent increase in inflation in the last four years which, in the absence of a corresponding rise in wages, has actually led to a drop in the real wages. Just for an example, the official inflation rate in September was over 8%. This has created a severe cost of living crisis for most of the workers in the country.

The recent high inflation in the prices of the essential commodities in the country is partially attributed to the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran and continued disruptions in the transportation of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz.

Bangladesh imports nearly half of its oil and gas needs from the Gulf. The US-Israeli aggression and Iranian retaliation has disrupted these imports, leading to severe shortages of cooking gas and oil also affecting the prices of other commodities, including food.

The WPB issued a press release on Monday in support of agitating workers and condemning the “brutal suppression by law enforcement agencies and hired thugs” on them.

Prothom Alo, a prominent local daily, reported on Tuesday that, along with the security forces, workers of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were also involved in repressive activities.

The WPB also condemned the attempts by certain sections of the ruling establishment and the media to vilify protests by calling them a “conspiracy.” It expressed hope that the BNP-led right-wing government would understand the gravity of the situation and immediately address the demands raised by the workers.

Nationwide mobilizations against austerity have continued in France following the massive strike on November 5, with additional protests announced for November 10, 14, 17, and 19.

Hundreds of thousands persist in resisting the cuts-based policies envisioned by President Emmanuel Macron and the government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. They are demanding that authorities finally table concrete proposals to address the concerns that ignited the protests in October. Read more: 1.6 million join general strike in France against austerity

Until now, the Lecornu administration has only offered measures amounting to “crumbs,” according to student organizations and trade unions involved. The latest in this series was a pledge to increase the minimum wage by 1.6%, announced at a meeting with unions and employers on Monday, November 9.

“This small increase is not the government’s generosity,” the student union Union Étudiante wrote. “It’s a first step forward made possible by the mobilization of workers, students, trade unions, and everyone who has taken to the streets.” A minimum wage increase worth three metro tickets

While government officials claim the increase would help alleviate the cost-of-living crisis plaguing the working class, most trade unions and progressive groups in France have voiced strong disagreement.

After factoring in the inflation adjustment already set to kick in from January, the net amount of the government’s promised increase could amount to as little as €7 to €8 net monthly. Trade unions had demanded at least a €100 increase.

The government’s offer represents “nothing in the face of precarity,” Union Étudiante emphasized – considering it is just enough to purchase three public transport tickets in Paris or a sandwich in a bakery. “It’s an insult to everyone forced to choose between eating, seeking care, paying rent, and financing their studies,” the student group stated.

“Given the level of the measures announced, the social conference held today at Matignon [the prime minister’s residence] obviously does not put an end to the mobilization,” wrote the General Confederation of Labor (CGT). “On the contrary, it opens a new stage in the balance of power needed to win real progress.”

The trade union organization Solidaires similarly criticized the government for failing to offer concrete solutions to the mounting anger, including on student demands for more investment in public education. “The number of additional teachers is insufficient, the funding needed to ensure decent study conditions is nowhere to be seen, and promises on the Parcoursup system remain vague,” they wrote.

Student unions that met prime minister Lecornu on Monday shared similar impressions. In addition to noting no significant breakthroughs, students walked out of a discussion on reforming the higher education recruitment platform Parcoursup over the participation of the far right – which has repeatedly dismissed the protesters’ grievances.

Most recently, Rassemblement National leader Marine Le Pen opposed imposing a minimum wage increase, arguing it would lead to job losses and echo workplace measures from the USSR. She had previously admitted she would not break with the neoliberalism championed by Macron if elected president in 2027.

In contrast, the program of left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon – who is increasingly shaping up to be the only true electoral alternative to Le Pen – pledges to increase the net minimum wage by approximately €200 to €1,700 immediately upon being elected.

The move would benefit over 2 million workers in France – approximately 60% of whom are women – who were pushed into ultra-precarious working conditions by Macronist policies, wrote media outlet L’Insoumission.

“How can we not raise the minimum wage to €1,700 when the wealth of the country’s 500 richest families has doubled since 2017? Billionaires have never made such enormous profits. Macron has turned France into a tax haven for billionaires.”

The minimum wage increase promised by the left is among a host of other measures included under the umbrella of an “emergency social decree” intended to address the cost-of-living crisis. Other measures include freezing prices and profit margins, as well as other moves to ensure salaries keep pace with prices.

Students and education trade unions are once again taking action on Tuesday, November 10. On Saturday, November 14, a new round of general mobilizations was announced, while trade unions are circulating a new call to “generalize strike actions” on November 17. Two days later, more protests are expected, boosted by the participation of retirees’ organizations.

Paraguay is undergoing one of the most significant political and financial crises in its recent history. The Central Bank of Paraguay’s intervention in Ueno Bank – following the detection of serious irregularities in its operations and solvency issues – triggered a crisis that quickly expanded beyond the banking sector. Today, it has direct consequences for the government of Santiago Peña and has triggered an impeachment process that calls into question the very future of the president himself.

To understand what is happening, it is necessary to explain a few key points. Ueno Bank experienced exponential growth in recent years, coinciding with the start of Santiago Peña’s administration. It grew to have nearly three million customers (more than 50% of the country’s adult population) and received approximately $800 million in deposits from the public sector. Among these funds are those linked to the Social Security Institute (IPS), which administers the retirement and health contributions of thousands of workers. A massive scam against the people

One of the problems is that the president himself maintained business ties with the group associated with the bank until March 2025. Added to this is the fact that Carlos Carvallo, who had served as president of Financiera Ueno, subsequently went on to head the Central Bank, the agency responsible for supervising and regulating the financial system. During this administration, provisions designed to prevent this type of conflict of interest (known as “revolving door” regulations) were also amended.

The bank’s intervention, the freezing of deposits, and investigations into loans granted to companies linked to its owners ultimately exposed a web of relationships between private interests and public institutions. However, beyond the numbers and financial transactions, there are thousands of people who today cannot access their savings; workers facing uncertainty about their wages; and retirees whose financial resources are at risk. Financial inclusion, which was touted as one of the great achievements of the economic model, ultimately turned into a massive scam against the population. Read more: Paraguay’s right-wing president resigns as major bank collapses

Santiago Peña’s ties to the business group, the decisions made by the executive branch, and the responsibilities of the oversight agencies are among the issues that gave rise to the impeachment request. The opposition spearheaded the process in Congress, and on November 5, the Chamber of Deputies approved the charges against the president. Peña submitted his resignation, but both chambers rejected this attempt to step down, and the Senate proceeded with the process. At the time of this writing, the president is set to present his defense in the impeachment trial. Paraguay’s ruling Colorado Party

To understand this crisis, one must also look to the National Republican Association (ANR), the Colorado Party (deeply entrenched in the Paraguayan state apparatus and linked to Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year dictatorship), and particularly to Horacio Cartes (HC). Paraguay has a political peculiarity that is fundamental to understanding what is happening. The Colorado Party has governed virtually uninterrupted since 1947; the only interruption in that long cycle was the administration of Fernando Lugo (2008–2012), who came to power leading an alliance that managed to defeat the Colorado Party at the polls after more than six decades. However, his administration came to an abrupt end in June 2012 through a parliamentary coup that removed him from office in just 48 hours via a controversial impeachment trial. For social movements and sectors of the popular base, this event was not just another episode in history but a political operation orchestrated by sectors of the Paraguayan right, with Horacio Cartes as one of its main actors and with alleged complicity and support from external interests, including those of the U.S. Embassy.

Currently, power within the ANR is fiercely contested by internal factions, but the Cartes faction (HC) has become the ruling party’s main power base. Cartes was not only president of the Republic from 2013 to 2018 but subsequently assumed the presidency of the Colorado Party itself and maintained enormous influence over the decisions of Santiago Peña’s government.

Peña rose to the presidency with Cartes’ political backing. His candidacy and subsequent administration were built under the leadership of the Honor Colorado movement. For this reason, what we are seeing today involves a major political contradiction: the very same faction that built and sustained this administration has now decided to support the impeachment proceedings against the president.

Cartes’ position shifted as the crisis unfolded. Initially, his inner circle rejected the possibility of impeachment and sought to pin the blame on Central Bank officials. However, on November 5, Cartes publicly announced that the ANR would support Peña’s impeachment. This move cannot be interpreted simply as an institutional decision by the Colorado Party; it also reflects a struggle for political control, for the continuity of the government’s agenda, and for the preservation of a power structure that the movement itself helped build. A systemic failure of free market capitalism

Against this backdrop, social movements and the popular sector are not limiting their criticism to demanding individual accountability and rejecting any attempt at impunity; they are also warning that this crisis is yet another example of the failure of the liberal economic model, which for years insisted that the market could regulate itself, that the state should reduce its intervention, and that privatization and deregulation were the path to development. They promised that, if we let capital operate freely, wealth would eventually reach the entire population, that economic growth would translate into well-being, and that everyone would benefit from this supposed trickle-down effect. In Paraguay today, the consequences are felt by every worker, as a result of financial narco-capitalism. This is a model that unscrupulously manages public resources, concentrates wealth, and fosters ties between political power and private interests. It is a system in which profits remain in the hands of certain sectors, while the consequences of their operations ultimately fall on the population.

Therefore, what is happening on this side of the southern part of our America is not isolated from what is happening in other parts of the world; it is part of a dynamic in which big capital dictates political decisions, appropriates the commons, and turns basic rights and needs into business opportunities. The settings change, the actors change, but the logic remains the same.

However, the evident failure of the economic policy of financial capitalism also opens up an opportunity for the organized popular movement: to envision a different future and build a political and economic alternative that breaks with this logic – to pave the way toward a world in which the economy serves life rather than the accumulation of wealth by a few, and in which people can decide on their resources, their present, and their destiny.