Axios

President Biden and other G20 leaders announced on Saturday a major international infrastructure project to connect India, the Middle East and Europe with railways, shipping lines, high-speed data cables and energy pipelines.

Why it matters: The project, announced during the G20 Summit in New Delhi, is one of the key initiatives the White House has been pushing internationally to counter Beijing's growing influence and create an alternative to China's Belt and Road vision of which the Middle East is a key part.

Gov. Ron DeSantis' new immigration law is leaving some workers wary of joining Hurricane Idalia recovery efforts in Florida.

Driving the news: A series of verbal surveys conducted by Resilience Force over the summer found that a majority of their laborers feared going to the state over concerns of deportation, Sacha Feinman, communications director for the nonprofit, told Axios.

The G20 adopted a 37-page joint declaration on Saturday that avoids condemning Russia for its war in Ukraine, but does call on all states to refrain "from the threat or use of force" to take any country's territory and to avoid using nuclear weapons.

Why it matters: The document, which didn't use as strong of language as last year's G20 leaders' declaration, reflects the divisions among the world's top economic powers around Russia's invasion.

The G20 has admitted the African Union as a permanent member, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday in his opening remarks of this weekend's gathering of leaders from the world's top economic powers.

Why it matters: The AU, a continental body comprised of 55 member states, joins the European Union as only the second regional bloc to be admitted as a permanent member. The move is also a boost for Modi, who has sought to make this year's G20 Summit more focused on the needs of the developing world.

President Biden is joining other leaders of the world's biggest economies this weekend for the G20 summit, hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, India.

Why it matters: Deepening divisions over Ukraine, rising China-U.S. tensions and a couple of expected no-shows risk derailing efforts to find a consensus on a joint declaration at the end of the summit. Still, the G20 promises to touch on a number of important issues as it seeks to set the global agenda.

A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Friday asking him not to move forward with admitting Israel into the Visa Waiver Program, claiming the country will not fully meet the criteria for admission by the Sept. 30 deadline, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Axios.

Driving the news: The U.S. and Israel in mid-July signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) setting the conditions for Israel's entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which allows a country's citizens to travel to the U.S. for 90 days without first obtaining a visa. The MOU was a big step forward for Israel's bid.

Countries are facing a significant gap between the course of global greenhouse gas emissions under current plans and what is needed to meet the Paris Agreement's targets, according to a new UN report.

Why it matters: The report, released Friday, is the technical summary of the "First Global Stocktake" that will form the foundation of negotiations at the next climate summit, to be held in Dubai in early December.

Elon Musk said Thursday that SpaceX denied a request to activate its Starlink satellite communications network for a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian military ships in the Black Sea — drawing heavy criticism from Ukrainian and other foreign officials.

Why it matters: Russian ships at the Black Sea port of Sevastopol have served as launch platforms for cruise missiles, which Moscow continues to use against civilian targets.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping's expected absence from this year's G20 leaders summit in New Delhi will give President Biden — and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — a bigger opening to push their agendas.

The big picture: This will be the first time Xi has missed a G20 summit since he assumed power in late 2012, and comes as he is facing major challenges at home. Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend in his stead.

AI's first language is English — a bias that researchers are racing to counter before it gets permanently baked into the new technology.

Why it matters: Most of today's generative AI tools are built on large language models (LLM) trained on texts and data in English and Chinese, leaving the 6 billion native speakers of the world's more than 7,000 other languages at risk of being left out as the technology reframes work, business, education, art and more.

An appeals court temporarily allowed Texas' floating border barrier blocking migrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S. to remain in place in the Rio Grande on Thursday, per multiple reports.

Driving the news: Attorneys for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and the state argued in a filing Thursday opposing a federal judge's preliminary injunction a day earlier to move the barrier to the riverbank that the "buoys have nearly eliminated illegal crossings of people and drugs where they've been placed."