Blinken is avoiding Ukraine and the Middle East at a divided UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Antony Blinken pointed to the promise and pitfalls of artificial intelligence in a likely final trip to the United Nations as secretary of state, capping his engagements with the world body after a tumultuous four years that saw war return to Europe and multiple crises in the Middle East.

With the U.N. Security Council more divided than ever, Blinken is leading two meetings of the U.N.’s most powerful body on Thursday. But neither will focus on Russia’s war with Ukraine or the Middle East, where the U.S. has been frequently at odds with permanent members China and Russia and almost always in the minority when it comes to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Instead, in an apparent bid to produce a modicum of consensus, Blinken is leading Security Council sessions on AI and the conflict in Sudan, which aid agencies say has sparked a dire humanitarian crisis that has not received enough attention.

On AI, Blinken said it has the potential to do “tremendous good” but can also pose “tremendous threats to the international peace and security that this council is charged with upholding.”

Here’s a look at America's top diplomat at the U.N.:

Blinken has been appearing in person and virtually before the Security Council since March 2021, just after assuming his position as the Biden administration’s top diplomat.

In addition to several one-off council meetings, including one in February 2022 shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, Blinken has gone to New York for a week every September for the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders.

The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically every month among its 15 members. This month, it's the U.S. turn.

The country holding the presidency almost always organizes several signature events on topics its government chooses. Presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers often preside at these meetings, which ministers from other council nations are invited to attend.

Russia and China have blocked all council action condemning the invasion of Ukraine.

This has led U.S. officials to believe that a session on the topic, especially as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office with a stated goal of ending the war immediately, would likely be a waste of time.

On the Middle East, the U.S. has frequently vetoed council action condemning Israel for its tactics against Hamas in Gaza, leaving it virtually alone at the United Nations in supporting Israel.

The U.S. leads the world in developing AI technology, according to a recently released Stanford University index, and it has been in the forefront of U.N. action on AI.

In March, the first U.N. resolution on artificial intelligence was adopted by the 193-member General Assembly. Sponsored by the U.S., it gives global support to an international effort to ensure the powerful technology benefits all nations, respects human rights and is “safe, secure and trustworthy.”

Blinken noted some threats posed by AI, saying “repressive regimes are using AI-enabled surveillance to target journalists and political dissidents" and that "if algorithms are built into weapon systems, and if they malfunction, they could spark a conflict.”

“By setting rules of the road for AI we can minimize these risks, we can harness the exceptional promise of this technology,” he said.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, recalled in early December that the previous U.S. presidency of the Security Council in August 2023 took place just months after war broke out in Sudan between rival generals heading the military and paramilitary forces.

The fighting has left tens of thousands dead, forced millions from their homes and pushed a large swath of Sudan’s population to starvation — creating an often forgotten global crisis the U.S. is seeking to spotlight.

Sudan “is facing one of the most dire humanitarian crises on the face of the planet,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters Wednesday.

“And so anything we can do to continue to work with partners at the U.N. and otherwise to shed light on that, figure out what ways we can continue to unearth and solidify humanitarian corridors and continue to push for a political solution, that’s absolutely a priority for us and we will continue to use ways to elevate that,” he said.

Blinken has represented the U.S. at the Security Council about half a dozen times at meetings ranging from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the war in Gaza.

Russia, like the U.S. and China, is a permanent veto-holding member of the 15-nation council, and both have seats at its horseshoe-shaped table.

But apart from pointed disagreements during debates, there have been no confrontations or one-on-one meetings between Blinken and Russian diplomats at previous U.N. meetings — and there was none on Thursday.

Blinken thanked Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia after his remarks — as is custom — even though Nebenzia accused the U.S. of imposing rules on others but not abiding by them. But the Russian envoy agreed that “we cannot allow AI to dominate human beings and human values.”

It is not unusual for Blinken or other senior U.S. officials to attend international meetings and conferences where Russian officials are present, but interactions are rare.

Lee reported from Washington.

Russia UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya addresses the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is greeted by China's UN Ambassador Fu Cong, right, in the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gavels the meeting open as President of the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, listens as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, left, delivers his remarks in the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield is seated, upper left. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, talks with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, left, and US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, in the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gestures as he speaks at the Doha Forum in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)

FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks after meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP, File)

California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S.

That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial poultry and many mammal species.

The virus, also known as Type A H5N1, was detected for the first time in U.S. dairy cattle in March. Since then, bird flu has been confirmed in at least 866 herds in 16 states.

More than 60 people in eight states have been infected, with mostly mild illnesses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person in Louisiana has been hospitalized with the nation's first known severe illness caused by the virus, health officials said this week.

Here’s what you need to know.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he declared the state of emergency to better position state staff and supplies to respond to the outbreak.

California has been looking for bird flu in large milk tanks during processing. And they have found the virus it at least 650 herds, representing about three-quarters of all affected U.S. dairy herds.

The virus was recently detected in Southern California dairy farms after being found in the state’s Central Valley since August.

“This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak,” Newsom said in a statement.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed again this week that the virus poses low risk to the general public.

Importantly, there are no reports of person-to-person transmission and no signs that the virus has changed to spread more easily among humans.

In general, flu experts agreed with that assessment, saying it’s too soon to tell what trajectory the outbreak could take.

“The entirely unsatisfactory answer is going to be: I don’t think we know yet,” said Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

But virus experts are wary because flu viruses are constantly mutating and small genetic changes could change the outlook.

This week, health officials confirmed the first known case of severe illness in the U.S. All previous the previous U.S. cases — there have been about 60 — were generally mild.

The patient in Louisiana, who is older than 65 and had underlying medical problems, is in critical condition. Few details have been released, but officials said the person developed severe respiratory symptoms after exposure to a backyard flock of sick birds.

That makes it the first confirmed U.S. infection tied to backyard birds, the CDC said.

Tests showed that the strain that caused the person's illness is one found in wild birds, but not in cattle. Last month, health officials in Canada reported that a teen in British Columbia was hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu, also with the virus strain found in wild birds.

Previous infections in the U.S. have been almost all in farmworkers with direct exposure to infected dairy cattle or poultry. In two cases — and adult in Missouri and a child in California — health officials have not determined how they caught it.

It's possible that as more people become infected, more severe illnesses will occur, said Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Worldwide, nearly 1,000 cases of illnesses caused by H5N1 have been reported since 2003, and more than half of people infected have died, according to the World Health Organization.

“I assume that every H5N1 virus has the potential to be very severe and deadly,” Rasmussen said.

People who have contact with dairy cows or commercial poultry or with backyard birds are at higher risk and should use precautions including respiratory and eye protection and gloves, CDC and other experts said.

“If birds are beginning to appear ill or die, they should very careful about how they handle those animals,” said Michael Osterholm, a public health disease expert at the University of Minnesota.

The CDC has paid for flu shots to protect farmworkers against seasonal flu — and against the risk that the workers could become infected with two flu types at the same time, potentially allowing the bird flu virus to mutate and become more dangerous. The government also said that farmworkers who come in close contact with infected animals should be tested and offered antiviral drugs even if they show no symptoms.

In addition to direct contact with farm animals and wild birds, the H5N1 virus can be spread in raw milk. Pasteurized milk is safe to drink, because the heat treatment kills the virus, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

But high levels of the virus have been found in unpasteurized milk. And raw milk sold in stores in California was recalled in recent weeks after the virus was detected at farms and in the products.

In Los Angeles, county officials reported that two indoor cats that were fed the recalled raw milk died from bird flu infections. Officials were investigating additional reports of sick cats.

Health officials urge people to avoid drinking raw milk, which can spread a host of germs in addition to bird flu.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has stepped up testing of raw milk across the country to help detect and contain the outbreak. A federal order issued this month requires testing, which began this week in 13 states.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE -This colorized electron microscope image released by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on March 26, 2024, shows avian influenza A H5N1 virus particles (yellow), grown in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells (blue). (CDC/NIAID via AP, File)