By Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — How should a military commander respond if they determine they have received an unlawful order?

Request to retire — and refrain from resigning in protest, which could be seen as a political act, or picking a fight to get fired.

That was the previously unreported guidance that Brig. Gen. Eric Widmar, the top lawyer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave to the country’s top general, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, in November, according to sources familiar with the discussion.

Caine had just seen a video that included six Democratic lawmakers publicly urging US troops to disobey illegal orders. He asked Widmar, according to the sources, what the latest guidance was on how to determine whether an order was lawful and how a commander should reply if it is not.

Widmar responded that they should consult with their legal adviser if they’re unsure, the sources said. But ultimately, if they determine that an order is illegal, they should consider requesting retirement.

The guidance sheds new light on how top military officials are thinking about an issue that has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, as lawmakers and legal experts have repeatedly questioned the legality of the US military’s counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean including intense scrutiny of a “double-tap” strike that deliberately killed survivors on September 2.

Caine is not in the chain of command. But he is closely involved in operations, including those in SOUTHCOM, and is often tasked with presenting military options to the president—more so than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CNN has reported.

The Joint Staff declined to comment for this story.

Several senior officers who reportedly expressed concerns about the boat strikes, including former US Southern Command commander Adm. Alvin Holsey and Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, the former director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff, have retired early in recent months.

Widmar’s advice to Caine was meant to help inform the chairman’s discussions with senior military officials should the issue come up, the sources said. The Democrats’ video had become headline news, enraging Hegseth and sparking debates across the country.

A separate official familiar with military legal advice said that it is not uncommon for lawyers to urge servicemembers to consider leaving the force if they believe they’re being asked to do something they are personally uncomfortable with, but it’s typically handled on a case-by-case basis and tailored to the facts of the situation.

Other current and former US officials, however, including those who have served as miliary lawyers in the Judge Advocate General corps, stressed that broadly encouraging servicemembers to quietly retire — if they’re eligible — rather than voice dissent in the face of a potentially illegal order risks perpetuating a culture of silence and lack of accountability.

“A commissioned officer has every right to say, ‘this is wrong,’ and shouldn’t be expected to quietly and silently walk away just because they’re given a free pass to do so,” said a former senior defense official who left the Pentagon earlier this year.

More than a dozen senior officers have either been fired or retired early since Trump took office in January, an unusually hi

By Clare Duffy, CNN

New York (CNN) — There’s a giant question hanging over the tech industry: How long will its massive investments in AI infrastructure really last?

Tech giants are shelling out hundreds of billions of dollars on artificial intelligence infrastructure — mainly, data centers and the chips that power them. It’s an investment they say will set the stage for AI to overhaul our economy, our jobs and even our personal relationships.

This year alone, tech firms are expected to pour $400 billion into AI-related capital expenditures.

A portion of that will almost certainly put a recurring strain on companies’ balance sheets. And for companies hinging their future on AI, the question of how frequently they’ll have to upgrade or replace advanced chips is a critical one — especially since there’s growing skepticism of whether AI will produce returns large or quickly enough to recoup both existing investments and cover future infrastructure costs.

That’s fueling concerns around an AI bubble — worries that the hype around and spending on AI is out of sync with its true value. Those worries come as the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks make up around 35% of the value of the S&P 500, raising questions about what an AI crash would mean for the economy.

“The extent to which all of this build out is a bubble partially depends on the lifespan of these investments,” said Tim DeStefano, associate research professor at Georgetown’s McDonough business school.

Chip lifecycles

It’s unclear how long top-of-the-line graphics processing units (GPUs), the chips most often used for AI training and processing, will remain useful.

Several tech experts told CNN that they estimate AI chips can be used to train large language models between 18 months and three years. But the chips could continue being used for less intensive tasks for several more years, they added.

In contrast, central processing units (CPUs) used in traditional non-AI data centers are typically replaced every five to seven years, the experts said.

That’s partially because training AI models exposes the chips to significant strain and heat, wearing them down faster. About 9% of GPUs will fail over the course of a year, compared with around 5% of CPUs, said David Bader, professor of data science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Subsequent generations of AI chips are also rapidly improving and becoming more efficient, meaning it might not be economical to continue running AI workloads on older chips even if they’re functional.

Different experts offer slightly different estimates. DeStefano said AI chips will likely break down after about five to 10 years of use, but their economic lifespan is only around three to five years.

Meanwhile, Bader estimates GPUs can be used to train AI models for 18 to 24 months. But he said older chips can still handle tasks like processing users’ AI queries, known as inference, for around five more years, extending their value.

Nvidia, the largest provider of AI chips, says its CUDA software system enables customers to update existing chips’ software, potentially delaying the need to upgrade to the latest product.

Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said on the company’s latest earnings call last month that GPUs “shipped six years ago are still running at full utilization today” because of its CUDA system.

But whether chips last two years or six years, tech companies still face the same question: “Where’s t

By Holmes Lybrand, Evan Perez, John Miller, CNN

(CNN) — Five days after an extensive manhunt began, law enforcement closed in on the Brown University shooting suspect after the emergence of apparent ties between the attack Saturday at the Providence, Rhode Island, school and the killing two days later of an MIT professor at his Massachusetts home.

As investigators began looking into the Monday shooting at the professor’s home, the FBI initially said there was no known connection between that crime and the mass shooting at the Ivy League institution about 50 miles away. But a rental car may have provided investigators with a potential link – a breakthrough that led to a search inside a New Hampshire storage facility, where authorities said Thursday night the suspect was found dead.

“Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a news conference late Thursday, where officials identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a former Brown University student and a Portuguese national with no criminal record in the US. Authorities believe he acted alone, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr. said.

Nuno Loureiro, the MIT professor fatally shot at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, was also a Portuguese national, and FBI Special Agent Ted Docks said Thursday night authorities believe the two men attended school in Lisbon at the same time.

At a separate news conference Thursday, US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah Foley, said Neves Valente and Loureiro attended the same academic program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.

Indeed, school records show the suspect attended the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, in the 1990s at the same time as Loureiro.

Investigators believe the suspect specifically targeted Loureiro, one law enforcement official told CNN. But they do not currently believe the two people killed at Brown – where the suspect was a student in the early 2000s – were direct targets. Police said they were still working to determine a motive for the university shooting, which came as students were busy studying for final exams.

Tips helped move the investigation forward

Court documents released Thursday revealed apparently ominous sightings of the suspect in the Barus & Holley building, where the shooting took place, multiple times in the weeks prior to the attack. A campus custodian noticed a person – wearing a surgical mask and whose clothing matched that of the individual seen in surveillance video released by police – at least twice since November 28, the affidavit said. The sightings happened between 3 p.m. and sunset, investigators said in the document.

According to another law enforcement source, investigators talked with a member of the Brown University maintenance staff, who saw a suspicious person inside the Barus & Holley building after hours the night before the shooting.

The maintenance worker followed the person, who went outside and got into a vehicle. The worker wrote down the vehicle’s license plate number but did not immediately report the incident because it was unclear whether the person had broken into the building or taken anything, the official said.

After the shooting, however, the Brown maintenance worker shared the information with others, who brought it to the attention of Providence police. They, along with the FBI and other agencies, t

By Adam Cancryn, CNN

(CNN) — The White House is heading into a critical midterm year beset by economic challenges, as it tries to manage stubbornly high prices, a frustrated electorate and a commander-in-chief who struggles to show sympathy toward voters’ pain.

For one night, at least, officials addressed one issue: getting President Donald Trump to stay on a scripted message — in-part about affordability — in an 18-minute primetime address to the nation.

The question as he heads to another campaign-style rally on Friday: Can they convince him to do it again? And will any of it change his party’s increasingly dire political fortunes?

Some Trump advisers on Thursday cheered the decision to put the president in front of a primetime audience, crediting the official setting and tight time constraints for producing the more focused economic speech they badly needed him to deliver.

Trump during the address acknowledged Americans’ affordability concerns while blaming his predecessor for the cost-of-living “mess.” He highlighted specific signs of progress, like lower gas and egg prices, while vowing brighter days were still ahead.

And while far from perfect — Trump sped through the speech, abruptly switching topics and sometimes taking an angry tone — he avoided the digressions and off-the-cuff claims of an affordability “hoax” that had until now drowned out the economic message his aides are desperate for voters to hear.

“It was good,” said one Trump adviser. “And one of the reasons why it was good was because he was more on the script than he is otherwise with these things.”

But others in the GOP feared it won’t much matter in the long run.

“The president can’t happy talk his way out of what people feel,” said one GOP operative advising on a range of midterm races. “The White House staff around the president know what the message needs to be, and I wish that the president would listen.”

Trump’s rally in North Carolina Friday is likely to be far more freewheeling. As the president ramps up his travel, allies and advisers conceded it could be a challenge to figure out how to convince Trump to hew closely to the script.

Wednesday’s hastily organized primetime event underscored the urgency within the Trump administration to find fresh ways to combat the affordability concerns that are dominating voters’ attention — but that the president has been slow to similarly adopt as top of mind.

Trump’s approval ratings are mired at some of the lowest levels of his second term, driven by voters’ unhappiness with his handling of the economy and belief that their own financial progress has stalled.

That affordability backlash has already manifested in a series of state and city-wide electoral losses for Republicans, alarming GOP lawmakers and operatives who warn the party is on course for disaster in next year’s midterms. It’s a situation only likely to worsen come January, after Congress failed to avert a spike in health care premiums tied to the Affordable Care Act.

A new affordability script

Within Trump’s orbit, advisers have sought to revamp the administration’s messaging and demonstrate its focus on cost-of-living issues, amplifying its rhetoric on key pain points like groceries, energy costs, and pharmaceutical pricing.

But Trump has resisted the push to show more empathy, insisting that the economy remains strong and bristling at suggestions that his policies are contributing to Americans’ affordability anxieties. He’s also groused in public and private about the lack of attention being paid to other key priorities like immigration, complaining that his efforts to seal the southern border haven’t won him as much political credit as he deserves.

During a winding speech last week

Análisis por Avery Schmitz, Isaac Yee, Teele Rebane y Helen Regan, CNN

Los medios australianos han identificado al detective superior Cesar Barraza como el agente de policía aclamado como un héroe por disparar y matar a uno de los atacantes responsables de la masacre de Bondi Beach.

Los videos de la tragedia brindan una imagen más clara de cómo se desarrolló el ataque antisemita que mató al menos a 15 personas y cómo Barraza, armado solo con una pistola, se movió para eliminar a los atacantes desde unos 45 metros (150 pies) de distancia, lo que ayudó a poner fin al peor tiroteo masivo de Australia en casi 30 años.

Se cree que Barraza disparó y mató a Sajid Akram, de 50 años, según The Sydney Morning Herald y 9News y 7News, afiliadas de CNN. Minutos después, Naveed, de 24 años, hijo de Akram y presunto cómplice, recibió un disparo y resultó gravemente herido.

De pie en una pasarela junto a Campbell Parade, la calle que bordea la playa Bondi de Sydney, el dúo de padre e hijo presuntamente utilizó escopetas y rifles para disparar indiscriminadamente contra docenas de familias que celebraban la primera noche de Janucá.

Los videos, publicados en las redes sociales y verificados por CNN, muestran diferentes ángulos del mismo momento y revelan cómo se desarrolló el ataque y la respuesta policial en poco más de seis minutos.

Los atacantes comenzaron su ataque el domingo cerca de Archer Park, a poco más de 100 metros de Bondi Beach. El video de la cámara de un vehículo muestra a los transeúntes Boris y Sofia Gurman, las primeras víctimas del ataque, muertos por disparos tras intentar valientemente desarmar a uno de los tiradores.

Se puede ver a la gente huyendo de la pasarela mientras los dos hombres se acercan, y el presunto atacante, Naveed, abre fuego en múltiples direcciones mientras Sajid se dirige al parque donde se estaba llevando a cabo una celebración de Janucá al aire libre.

Allí, Sajid Akram se enfrenta a un transeúnte desarmado, padre de dos hijos, Ahmed Al Ahmed, que lo aborda y logra arrebatarle el rifle.

Sajid regresa entonces al puente. Mientras se aleja, un video muestra a otro transeúnte, presumiblemente Reuven Morrison —quien posteriormente murió en el ataque—, lanzándole objetos.

Desde la pasarela, se ve a Naveed levantando su arma, apuntando y hacer varios disparos.

Aproximadamente un minuto después, Sajid se reunió con su cómplice en el puente.

Luego, en el fondo del video, se puede apreciar a un hombre vestido con pantalones oscuros, camisa clara y corbata negra avanzando, tomando una posición defensiva cerca de un árbol y apuntando.

El agente, detective jefe Cesar Barraza, levanta su arma y dispara el tiro que mata a Sajid.

El tirador superviviente devuelve el fuego en dirección al agente durante más de un minuto hasta que es abatido por otra bala. No está claro si el agente también disparó ese tiro o si las balas provinieron de compañeros que se enfrentaban al último tirador.

El análisis de las imágenes muestra que el agente estaba a unos 45 metros del pistolero, un distancia considerada difícil con una pistola, incluso para el tirador más experimentado.

Una multitud de policías y civiles se reúne rápidamente alrededor de los dos sospechosos. En otras imágenes se ve al detective mientras los socorristas practican RCP a uno de los atacantes.

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