Oil prices soar more than 10 per cent after Saudi plant attacks
Hong Kong: Oil prices surged more than 10 per cent Monday after attacks on two Saudi Arabian plants that slashed output in the world's top producer by half, with Donald Trump blaming Iran and raising the possibility of a military strike on the country.
West Texas Intermediate jumped 10.68 per cent to USD 60.71 and Brent climbed 11.77 per cent to USD 67.31 in early Asia trading following the blasts at facilities run by state-owned giant Aramco.
The attack by Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is bogged down in a five-year war, effectively shut down six percent of the global oil supply.
Brent soared almost 20 per cent at one point on Monday, while WTI surged around 15 per cent before paring the gains.
Trump said Sunday the US was "locked and loaded" to respond to the attack, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression."
Tehran denies the accusations but the news has revived fears of a conflict in the tinderbox Middle East after a series of attacks on oil tankers earlier this year that were also blamed on Iran.
"Tensions in the Middle East are rising quickly, meaning this story will continue to reverberate this week even after the knee-jerk panic in oil markets this morning," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
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Panel recommends mandatory licensing framework for AI training on copyrighted content
New Delhi: A committee set up by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has proposed a mandatory blanket licensing system requiring AI developers to compensate copyright holders for using their work to train large language models. The panel, formed to assess how emerging AI technologies intersect with copyright law, released its working paper for public consultation on the DPIIT website. Feedback has been invited within 30 days from December 8 at the designated email address.
The committee, chaired by DPIIT Additional Secretary Himani Pande and comprising legal and technical experts, examined whether India’s existing copyright framework is adequate or requires amendments in light of rapid advances in AI, as reported by Bar&Bench. During consultations, most stakeholders from the AI industry argued for a blanket Text and Data Mining exception that would permit unrestricted training on copyrighted material. In contrast, content creators and rights holders advocated for a voluntary licensing regime.
In its paper, the committee said a broad TDM exception would weaken copyright protection and leave creators without any recourse for compensation. It noted that such a system would be unsuitable for a country with a large cultural economy and a rapidly expanding content sector. The option of allowing creators to opt out was also rejected. The panel observed that small creators would be at a disadvantage due to limited awareness and an inability to monitor whether their work had been used despite opting out.
As the committee concluded that withholding works entirely from AI training would restrict access to diverse and high-quality datasets, it recommended a hybrid model under which all lawfully accessed copyrighted content can be used for AI training to strike a balance, but with a statutory remuneration right for copyright holders.
The panel proposed that the Central government designate a central non-profit body to collect royalties from AI developers and distribute them to rights holders. Only one representative body per class of work would be allowed, either a registered copyright society or a collective management organisation. The entity, tentatively named the Copyright Royalties Collective for AI Training (CRCAT), would maintain a database where creators can register their works. A government-appointed commission would determine royalty rates. A portion of the revenue generated by AI systems trained on protected content would also be distributed proportionally.
Avoiding exposing technical or sensitive information, AI developers would be expected to identify the categories, nature, and general sources of the content used in training datasets. The panel further noted that this would ensure transparency while keeping proprietary details protected.
Industry body Nasscom registered its dissent, stating that rights holders should receive explicit statutory protection against data mining. The panel members were Simrat Kaur, Anurag Kumar, advocates Ameet Datta and Adarsh Ramanujan, Raman Mittal, Chockalingam M, and Sudipto Banerjee.
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