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A Hamas leader in the West Bank died in Israeli custody, Palestinian authorities and the group said today.Mustafa Mohamed Abu Ara, 63, died after being moved from a prison in southern Israel to a hospital, according to a joint statement by the Palestinian Authority’s prisoners affairs body and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club watchdog.“We mourn the passing of the leader and prisoner Sheikh Mustafa Mohamed Abu Ara and hold the occupation responsible for his assassination through deliberate medical neglect,” Hamas said in a statement.Abu Ara was arrested in October while suffering severe health problems, the Palestinian body and the watchdog said.During his detainment he was subjected to torture and starvation, they added.Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Palestinian authorities accused Israel this month of waging an abusive “war of revenge” against Palestinian detainees since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.At the time, the Israeli military said it “rejects outright allegations concerning systematic abuse of detainees”, adding that it acts within international law.

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani has sent a written message to Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, pertaining to bilateral relations. The message was delivered by Qatar’s ambassador in Brasilia Ahmed bin Mohamedal-Shaibani, during his meeting with the Director of the Middle East Department at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ICC One Toastmasters Club held its 450th meeting recently at Club House of Royal Gardens.The club is completing 21 years since its chartering on the October 30, 2003. The 450th meeting of the Club was celebrated with music, games and fun.The club president Madhusoodanan Nair welcomed the district officials, founder members and guests. He emphasised on the 21 years legacy of the club, preserved by the members and upheld by the current group of members.The meeting was inaugurated by M I Farid, founder president along with members and guests. The celebrations started with a cake cutting. Farid gave an inauguration speech. and narrated the history of formation of the club and wished all the members to prosper on their Toastmasters’ journey. Past presidents of the club were honoured at the meeting.

Qatar University’s (QU) College of Arts and Sciences has announced the results of a study focused on identifying and validating a unique set of Arab values within the Qatari cultural context.This research, spearheaded by Maha Hussain al-Qahtani, bachelor of psychology with a minor in sociology, and under the supervision of Dr Youssef Hasan, research associate professor of psychology, the College of Arts and Sciences at QU, represents a significant advancement in understanding the intricate value systems that shape individual and societal behaviours in Qatar.The study draws from three pivotal scales developed in different cultural contexts. The Asian Values Scale emphasises conformity with Norms, Family Recognition, Emotional Self-Control, Collectivism, Humility, and Filial Piety. The Latino Values Scale focuses on Cultural Pride, Sympathy, Family and Spirituality. The American Values Scale differentiates between Dignity, Face, and Honour, substantiating their cultural benchmarks.The preliminary study administered a social representation questionnaire to 130 Qatari citizens. Participants listed and prioritised seven words that they associate with values, evaluating their emotional intensity.This process identified 13 prevalent values, forming the basis for developing the scale items. The validation study distributed a comprehensive questionnaire, incorporating the Arab Values Scale, Asian Values Scale, and Latino Values Scale, to 186 Qatari residents. This phase aimed to establish correlations between the scales, enhancing the reliability and validity of the Arab Values Scale.Correlations between the Arab Values Scale and the Asian and Latino scales were observed, particularly with customs and traditions. However, the bravery factor showed no correlation, highlighting its unique significance in Arab culture.The research concluded a set of factors that constitute an Arab Values Scale in the Qatari environment. The Arab Values scale is distinguished by containing factors that were not included in the other scales, such as bravery and honesty, which indicates their importance as concepts connected to the Arab culture.

A historic boat parade down the River Seine launched the Paris Olympics with spectacular French flair yesterday, as the City of Light welcomed the world's greatest athletes for a sporting extravaganza. Braving torrential rain, some 300,000 people lined the river banks to cheer on the armada carrying competitors past the city's iconic sights: the Eiffel Tower bearing the five Olympic rings, the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral.The wildly ambitious display was the first time the Olympic opening ceremony has been staged outside the main stadium, making it the biggest-ever launch for the "Greatest Show on Earth". But that gamble also made the ceremony hostage to the weather and spectators, VIPs, and athletes alike found themselves drenched or huddling in transparent ponchos.Some spectators refused to let the downpour get them down. "I've got such an adrenaline rush. It's very exciting," said Selene Martinez, 42, who had travelled from Mexico for the ceremony. But others were less stoic about the heavy rain on the parade, with some leaving the ceremony early to seek shelter. "It's a great idea. The performances are awesome. I just wish it wasn't raining," said Pauline Brett, 69, who had come from Chicago with her family.In the City of Love, the ceremony stressed togetherness and unity in a world that has suffered wars, massacres, and political upheaval since the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics. Four jets from the French air force display team drew a large pink heart in the Paris sky to set the tone.For just over a fortnight, organisers hope the superhuman performances of stars like gymnast Simone Biles, tennis champion Novak Djokovic or sprinter Noah Lyles will provide the world with much-needed distraction. Beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, breakdancing in Place de la Concorde, equestrian sport at the Palace of Versailles: 100 years since Paris last staged the Olympics, the city will provide a stunning backdrop to the sport."I declare open the Games of Paris celebrating the 33rd Olympiad of the modern era," said President Emmanuel Macron. After a stunning light show at the Eiffel Tower, French track legend Marie-Jose Perec and three-time Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner lit the Olympic cauldron which formed the base of a hot-air balloon.Canadian superstar singer Celine Dion closed the show with a solo performance from the platform of the Eiffel Tower, returning to the spotlight after revealing she was suffering from a rare illness.Paris 2024 organiser Tony Estanguet had said the opening ceremony needed to "push the limits as far as possible", showing from the start France's ambition for the Games. And from Moulin Rouge performers doing the cancan to a video showing dancers on the scaffolding of fire-damaged Notre Dame, it was a colourful celebration of French culture, history, and art.Led out by Greece through jets of water cascading from a bridge, accompanied by an accordion player, around 7,000 athletes cruised down a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the Seine to the Eiffel Tower on 85 boats. The unprecedented ceremony sparked a colossal security operation in a city where memories of the November 2015 Islamist attacks are still raw.Around 45,000 police and paramilitary officers were on duty to protect the ceremony, along with 10,000 soldiers and 22,000 private security guards. Snipers, specialist frogmen, and AI-augmented cameras were deployed, with airspace closed and the area around the Seine virtually locked down. Residents, business owners grumbled about disruption and lost earnings but organisers hope to win them over when the sport starts.Sporting royalty mingled with celebrities and world leaders on and off the Seine, which will host triathlon and the swimming marathon after a historic clean-up to make it swimmable. Lady Gaga added global musical star power, with Franco-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura also performing, defying criticism from far-right politicians who suggested her appearance would "humiliate" France.The ceremony kicked off with a video of French football legend Zinedine Zidane, who took the torch on an offbeat journey through the Metro, and the Paris catacombs. Basketball icon LeBron James and tennis player Coco Gauff carried the flag for Team USA, which has topped the medal table at every Olympics since Beijing in 2008.True to its slogan "Games Wide Open", the Paris Olympics can boast gender equality for the first time ever -- for Paris 1924, the last time the Olympics took place in the city, four percent of athletes were women. But the ceremony did not shy away from the chaos in the world -- to the strains of John Lennon's "Imagine", the city was plunged into darkness in an invitation to reflect.With extra security for Israeli athletes, plus a call from the Palestinian team for Israel to be excluded over the Gaza War, geopolitics has been an unwelcome intruder in the run-up. Russian athletes have been banned from the Paris Olympics over the Ukraine invasion, and possible Russian destabilisation efforts sparked fears ahead of the Games.But with the Games now open, the stage is set for the 10,500 athletes to fulfil their dreams and turn in the performance of their lives. Can US legend Biles bounce back from her "Twisties" heartbreak in Tokyo? Will Lyles establish himself as the rightful sprinting heir to Usain Bolt?LeBron James on the basketball court, Carlos Alcaraz on the Roland Garros clay, France's swimming hope Leon Marchand in the pool: the stars are aligned for sporting brilliance.

Several rockets were launched Thursday and yesterday against bases hosting troops from the US-led anti-militant coalition in Iraq and Syria, security officials and a war monitor said.Such attacks were frequent early in the war between Israel and Hamas Palestinian fighters in Gaza but since then have largely halted.“Four rockets fell in the vicinity” of Ain Al-Assad base in Anbar province, an Iraqi security source said.Another security official said an attack occurred with “a drone and three rockets” that fell close to the base perimeter.A United States official said initial reports indicated that projectiles landed outside the base without causing injuries or damage to the base.All sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.At least one rocket also fell near a base of the coalition in the Conoco gas field in Deir Ezzor province of eastern Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.The Observatory said a blast was heard in the area but there were no immediate reports of casualties.The rocket was fired from “zones under the control of militia” groups, said the monitor which relies on sources inside Syria.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.Foreign-backed armed groups in Iraq have largely halted similar attacks on US-backed troops in recent months.The latest attack come after a security meeting this week between Iraqi and US officials in Washington on the future of the international anti-militant coalition in Iraq. Foreign-backed groups have demanded a withdrawal.The US Defence Department said Wednesday “the delegations reached an understanding on the concept for a new phase of the bilateral security relationship”.This would include “co-operation through liaison officers, training, and traditional security co-operation programmes”.On July 16, two drones were launched against Ain Al-Assad base, with one exploding inside without causing injuries or damage. A senior security official in Baghdad said at the time he believed the attack was meant to “embarrass” the Iraqi government before the security meeting.For more than three months, as regional tensions soared over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, United States troops were targeted by rockets and drones more than 175 times in the Middle East, mainly in Iraq and Syria.The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose alliance of foreign-backed groups, claimed the majority of the attacks, saying they were in solidarity with Gaza Palestinians.In January, a drone strike blamed on those groups killed three US soldiers in a base in Jordan. In retaliation, US forces launched dozens of strikes against foreign-backed fighters.Since then, attacks against US troops have largely halted.

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.Dardasi’s husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.“We are not settled here either,” said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian Hamas group, which runs Gaza and stormed Israel in the first week of October last year, that sparked the latest conflict.Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al Mawasi area on July 13, the territory’s health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas’ elusive military chief Mohamed Deif.On Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.According to the UN, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes. After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.“We didn’t take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us,” she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers. Hamas-led fighters burst into southern Israel from Gaza in the first week of October last year..More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say. Hana al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.If Egyptian, US and other mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. “Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous,” she said.

Indian soldiers and top brass gathered yesterday in the remote Himalayan foothills to commemorate the 1999 Kargil War.Yesterday’s ceremony marked the 25th anniversary of the conflict’s end.“Times change, seasons change, but the names of those who give their lives for the country live forever,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who laid a wreath for India’s fallen soldiers, told the crowd at a memorial for the conflict in the town of Drass.Modi’s speech capped two days of events showcasing India’s military might at the border, with a flyover by air force jets and a choreographed performance by fire-breathing soldiers.The high-altitude confrontation being commemorated began when militants crossed into Indian territory at Kargil, a remote outpost on the shared frontier with Pakistan.At least 1,000 people were killed over the following 10 weeks.Kargil is feted as one of India’s greatest military triumphs. “We are stronger economically, military-wise and technologically,” General Ved Prakash Malik, India’s army chief at the time of the conflict, said.

Arson attacks scrambled France’s high-speed rail network for tens of thousands of passengers yesterday, after what officials called premeditated acts of “sabotage” just hours before the Paris Olympics opened.There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no indication of whether the action was politically motivated.“Everything leads us to believe that these were criminal acts,” Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete told reporters at the Gare du Nord.Yesterday’s attacks were launched as the French capital was under heavy security ahead of the Games opening ceremony, with 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs expected at the event.The fires that affected France’s Atlantic, northern and eastern lines led to cancellations and delays at a time of particularly heavy traffic for summer holiday travel.Around 800,000 passengers are expected to be affected over the weekend as the damage is heavy and labour-intensive to repair.“Early this morning, co-ordinated and prepared acts of sabotage were perpetrated against installations of SNCF,” the national rail operator, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.“There are huge and serious consequences for the rail network,” he added, while security services are hunting the culprits.SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou said that the attackers had started fires in “conduits carrying multiple (fibre-optic) cables” that carry “safety information for drivers” or control the motors for points.“There’s a huge number of bundled cables. We have to repair them one by one, it’s a manual operation” requiring” hundreds of workers,” he added.Passenger services chief Christophe Fanichet said there were delays of 90 minutes to two hours on services between Paris and France’s north and east.“We ask people please not to come to the station, because if you haven’t heard from us, your train won’t be running,” Fanichet told reporters.One major branch of the network, the line to France’s southeast, was spared.Farandou said that railway workers doing night maintenance in central France spotted unauthorised people, who then fled when the workers called in police.Multiple services between Paris and London via northern France were also cancelled, the Eurostar company said, with others suffering delays as they divert onto lines not meant for high-speed trains.Paris’s RATP transport network was also operating under “increased vigilance” following the railway attacks, its chief executive Jean Castex said as he visited a control station.The RATP has laid on a denser schedule throughout the day to bring spectators to and from the opening ceremony.France’s intelligence services were scrambling to determine the perpetrators of the sabotage, a security source told AFP.The source added that the arson method used resembled past attacks by extreme-left actors.In September, arson attacks on conduits holding railway cables caused travel chaos in northern Germany, with a claim of responsibility posted to an extreme-left website.The attacks happened hours before the Olympics parade yesterday evening that will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a 6km stretch of the river Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats.It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, a decision fraught with danger at a time when France is on its highest alert for terror attacks.France’s rail network was expected to be busy this weekend not only due to the Olympics but also as people return from or leave for their summer holidays.At Paris’s Montparnasse train station, passengers were waiting for information, with display boards showing delays of more than two hours.SNCF said there would be no trains at all from Montparnasse before 1pm.“Normal traffic is expected to resume on Monday, July 29,” read one of the signs in the departure hall.Graphic designer Katherine Abby, 30, clung to hope that her trip would only be delay and not cancelled.She booked her tickets for Biarritz, a popular southwest beach resort, weeks ago.“It’s my only vacation of the year,” said Abby, who was travelling with her husband. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a year, I would be pretty demoralised to have to cancel this trip, especially when you see what Paris looks like with the Olympic Games.”“We’re pretty upset, it’s a bad first impression” of France, said Ellie Scott, 24, an Irish tourist in Bordeaux hoping to reach Paris for the Olympics.She and her sister Maya, 21, planned to refund their tickets and rent a car instead for a six-hour drive to the capital.At the Gare de L’Est, traveller Corinne Lecocq said her train to Strasbourg on the border with Germany had been cancelled.“We’ll take the slow line,” she said. “I’m on holiday so it’s OK, even if it is irritating to be late.”

A Spanish court has sentenced a train driver and a safety director to two-and-a-half years in prison over a 2013 crash that was the nation’s deadliest rail disaster in nearly eight decades.The eight-carriage train was travelling more than twice the speed limit when it derailed outside the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, killing dozens of people.The court found the two men guilty of manslaughter, saying that they had “breached the duty of care imposed on them by their duties”.It also ordered them to pay €25mn ($27mn) in compensation, an amount that will be covered by their employee insurance.An inquiry of the July 24, 2013, derailment found that the high-speed Alvia 04155 train was travelling at 179kph (111mph), twice the speed limit for that stretch of track.The train ploughed into a concrete wall, killing 80 people and injuring more than 140 others in Spain’s deadliest train tragedy since 1944.Investigators said the crash resulted from a lapse in attention by the driver, Francisco Garzon, who ended a phone call with the on-board conductor moments before the train lurched off the rails.When he took the stand, Garzon acknowledged he was distracted by the phone call but said the track should have had signals warning him to reduce speed before the curve.He tearfully apologised to the relatives of the victims.Garzon had already apologised to the relatives in a letter published on the first anniversary of the accident, saying he felt “a lot of grief and pain”.Andres Cortabitarte, a safety director at state rail operator ADIF, was accused of not having carried out a study of the risks of the bend where the accident happened.He told the court the track where the accident happened was “100% safe”.However, the court ruled the accident would not have happened “not only if the driver had been attentive, but also if measures had been taken to control the speed of the train in an area with a very high speed limit, or even to draw the driver’s attention to his obligation to slow down in a more obvious way than was the case”.In its 530-page judgement, the court found the driver and the ADIF official directly responsible for 79 of the 80 deaths.The 80th victim, who was injured in the accident and died 73 days later following a serious illness, was not considered by the court to have been directly killed by the accident and was instead counted among the injured.Around 600 experts and witnesses took the stand at the trial, which was held in a cultural centre in Santiago de Compostela from October 2022-July 2023.A pre-trial investigation concluded excessive speed was “the sole cause of the accident”, with Garzon the only one charged.However, its finding that ADIF bore no criminal liability was later revised following complaints by the victims’ families.As a result, the investigation was reopened in 2016 and Cortabitarte was also charged.

President Joe Biden’s administration is advancing a first-of-its-kind proposal to safeguard indoor and outdoor workers from the perils of extreme heat as the US swelters under record-breaking temperatures this summer.But it will still likely take years to enact a federal rule that could be undone with the stroke of a pen should Donald Trump win the White House — or by a US Supreme Court that just dealt a major blow to the federal government’s regulatory authorities. For the moment, workers are left at the mercy of employers, or the handful of states that have taken their own steps on the matter.“Even in...a wildly optimistic, best-case scenario, it’s still a couple years until this federal heat standard would take effect,” said Terri Gerstein, director of the Labor Initiative at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.In the meantime, a handful of states have moved forward with their own heat protection rules, while other states like Texas and Florida have blocked localities from setting standards on essentials like access to water and rest breaks that the new federal rule would address.Florida’s new law barring local governments from setting their own heat protections kicked in this month, as the heat index was forecast to top 110F (43.3C) in some spots in the Sunshine State.The heat index measures what the temperature feels like to the human body.“We have a long road to travel,” said Juanita Constible, an expert in heat and labour at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.“The game is still very much in the states... The federal standards are a floor, not a ceiling. States can go past those, so there’s no need for worker-friendly states to just kind of wait and see what the federal government comes up with,” she said.The draft proposal from the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), unveiled this month, would implement control measures when the heat index hits 80F (26.7C) that include requirements to provide employees with cool drinking water and paid rest breaks if needed. The proposal provides additional measures at 90F (32.2C) like mandatory rest breaks of 15 minutes at least every two hours.“Obviously we’ll see some changes before the final (rule) and then enforcement will be a pretty key part of the picture,” Constible said.“It’s clear that OSHA has been paying really close attention to what workers have been saying they need.” In the wake of the deadly “heat dome” that saw crippling record temperatures in the Pacific Northwest in 2021, Biden initially announced his intention to put forward a rule in September 2021. Biden announced this week he would not seek re-election and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee.“Because of climate change, heat has risen to the top of the agenda,” said Jordan Barab, a former senior OSHA official during the Obama administration.“But OSHA is a very small agency. For them, it’s actually been a very speedy process to get a proposed rule out in three years.“But it’ll be closer to two years from now before they can issue a final standard — and if there’s a Trump administration, they will likely just kill it.” For its part an OSHA spokesperson said there will still be an open comment period and public hearings as part of the rulemaking process.“Working swiftly and responsibly to enact a federal heat standard that protects the American workforce is a top priority,” the spokesperson said.— Thomson Reuters Foundation

We have forgotten the true virtues of money. We commonly view it in purely instrumental terms – as a device that facilitates exchange and stores value over time. Compared to bartering, coins and paper currency are profoundly convenient. But money is more than just an instrument. As Fyodor Dostoevsky famously observed, “money is minted freedom”. It supports our existence as autonomous individuals in a decentralised economy.The situation will be very different, however, if we someday live in a world governed by an artificial intelligence (AI) endowed with complete information and infinite processing capabilities. Under those conditions, there might no longer be any role for money.To understand how money sets us free, consider any chain of transactions. When we receive money, we are in control. It is up to us to decide whether to hoard it or to spend it on whatever we choose. Only money gives us that capability. Money, moreover, is universal. It allows you to buy anything, anytime, from anyone – and that seller increasingly can be located anywhere. This specific freedom comes not from wealth, but from the possibility of choice.This choice must not be taken for granted, because payment instruments have always been susceptible to paternalistic interference. In the 19th century, some firms would pay their employees with scrip that was only accepted in company-owned stores. And nowadays, technology makes it possible to issue “programmable money” with a special purpose, limited use, and even a pre-emption date. Such digital tokens could be used to prohibit “non-virtuous” consumption (such as alcohol or tobacco) by recipients of public assistance.We need money because we live in a market economy, not a preprogrammed world. Holding money protects us against uncertainty (it has an “option value”, in economic parlance). The demand for money increases sharply during crises because people need to be prepared for all contingencies.But now fast-forward to a future where machines organise, decide, and execute all economic activities. They transact among themselves, credit and debit reciprocal accounts, and automatically ensure discipline and the enforcement of contracts. There is no failure and no default. Do we still need money?Such a world is already partly in view. A decade ago, Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google, noted that “there is a computer in the middle of each transaction” across our digitalized economy. Many of our daily acts are automated, algorithmic trading dominates in many securities markets, and payments are increasingly programmed.If cryptocurrency advocates’ vision of the future materialises, “smart contracts” will govern financial intermediation in a universe of decentralised finance. Some people even suggest that, in conducting monetary policy, sophisticated algorithms could replace central bankers.For now, though, we merely use the machines. Humans still make decisions as free agents, expressing preferences and acting on them. Central banks do not blindly follow rules. They make judgments after considering difficult tradeoffs, especially in times of crisis or when facing negative supply shocks.In fact, in an automated economy with human control, money is more necessary than ever. But it must adapt now that digitalisation has collapsed distance and time. Money, too, must be digital, taking the form of tokens on our mobile phones – an e-cash that can be transferred instantly across the world without having to transit through a complex web of accounts and counterparties.A threshold will be crossed with AI. Some scenarios project a universe where AIs do not simply process information and execute commands, but also make decisions and even determine their own objectives. They would be the “agents”, acting on preferences that may not necessarily align with those of humans.With these capabilities, an AI could take over the allocation of resources and the distribution of income. It would assess the millions of possible economic equilibria and identify the one it considers preferable. This vision of “techno-socialism” is very far from the model of a decentralised, free society. It would be a high-tech version of old-fashioned communist central planning.Debates about the future of AI often refer to the “singularity,” meaning the point when AIs will have the ability to improve and augment themselves, thus rapidly surpassing humans in all measures of intelligence. In this scenario, humans would no longer control their own destiny.Will it ever happen? There are huge disagreements among AI experts, but money can serve as the ideal indicator. The best sign that AI has effectively taken over would be if money becomes irrelevant in economic life.A moneyless world may be technically feasible. But whether it would be worth living in is another matter. – Project SyndicateJean-Pierre Landau is Associate Professor of Economics at Sciences Po.