The U.S. is preparing to send the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln as part of a previously scheduled rotation plan, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The Lincoln has undergone an extended deployment with few port calls, prompting lawmakers to raise concerns about living conditions aboard the ship.

The Lincoln began a scheduled deployment in November and was redirected to the Middle East in January ahead of the U.S. war against Iran. The carrier and its embarked aircraft were instrumental to the U.S.’s Operation Epic Fury bombing campaign, and the ship has since participated in the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

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A Canadian government source directly familiar with trade negotiations with the United States said on Thursday that talks were progressing well and Washington also wanted an agreement before a new U.S. tariff deadline on Aug. 19.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would impose new 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian imports from Aug. 19, including goods that would otherwise qualify for an exemption under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.

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Detroit’s automakers plan to argue to the Trump administration that its proposals for a revised North American trade deal could cost the companies billions of dollars and hurt their competitiveness with foreign rivals.

U.S. car companies are still struggling to absorb the bevy of tariffs the administration implemented last year, including levies on steel and aluminum, car parts and vehicles shipped in from Mexico and Canada, and say rivals from Japan, South Korea and Europe face lower tariff burdens.

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Alphabet’s top scientist, Demis Hassabis, held discussions with government officials and leaders of other artificial-intelligence labs about forming a new independent industry safety entity in the weeks before he relinquished his role as chief executive of Google DeepMind, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hassabis, who co-founded Google DeepMind and is considered a pioneer in the field of machine learning, has been spending increasing amounts of his time advancing the idea of an organization that would codify safety guardrails and best practices for developing artificial general intelligence, or AGI, these people said. In discussions with peers, he has likened the proposed entity to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a nongovernmental watchdog that promotes cooperation on nuclear energy.

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