New evidence casts doubt on RFK Jr testimony before Senate
www.theguardian.com

... Kennedy repeatedly said 2019 Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines'. An email from his then colleague says they were on a vaccine-related mission'

New evidence has emerged that Robert F Kennedy Jr was on a vaccine-related "mission" when he visited Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak in 2019, raising further questions about whether the US health secretary lied to the US Senate when he said the trip had "nothing to do with vaccines".

Records obtained by the Guardian show Kennedy's colleague told Samoan officials in an email that he and Kennedy were coming as part of a mission to study the island nation's medical records in the aftermath of a "discontinuity in vaccinations".

"We all look forward to the opportunity to be of service to the people of Samoa with our mission," Dr Michael Graven wrote.

Kennedy was at the time serving as chair and chief legal counsel of Children's Health Defense, a non-profit group known for its anti-vaccine activism. Graven was the group's chief information officer. Spokespeople for Kennedy at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not respond to messages seeking comment. ...

At his Senate confirmation hearing last year, he said: "You cannot find a single Samoan who will say I didn't get a vaccine because of Bobby Kennedy." Instead, he said he went to attend a Samoan independence celebration and to introduce a "state-of-the art" medical informatics system.

Samoan officials later said Kennedy's visit bolstered the credibility of anti-vaccine activists. A measles outbreak, which tore through the Pacific island nation a few months after Kennedy's visit, sickened thousands and killed 83 people, mostly children under age five. ...

Voters of both parties want tighter AI regulation, poll finds
www.nbcnews.com

... An overwhelming majority of likely voters want powerful AI systems to undergo mandatory formal safety reviews before they are released to the public, according to a new survey about Americans' views on AI, going further than the existing Trump administration policy of opt-in reviews for new advanced models.

The poll, conducted by Washington, D.C.-based AI Policy Institute (AIPI), a non-partisan research organization, found that Republicans were more enthusiastic about government-led safety testing for AI models than Democrats, though more than half of voters supported such a measure regardless of their political affiliation.

The survey results are the latest sign of Americans' bipartisan desire for stronger AI regulations in the face of advancing AI capabilities, representing a shift from earlier findings that Republicans were more skeptical than Democrats of government intervention on AI issues. ...