Humans beat AI gold-level score at top maths contest
Sydney, Australia -- Humans beat generative AI models made by Google and OpenAI at a top international mathematics competition, despite...
Geostrategy
Astronomers discover blazing Betelgeuse has companion star
Paris, France - Since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians, people across the world have gazed up in...
Science
Arts & Culture
Two months from World Cup, Qatar emerge from training lockdown
All their games since June 2 have been behind closed doors and the Qatar Football Association has even kept sponsors...
- Having spent tens of billions of dollars preparing for the first World Cup in an Arab nation, Qatar is desperate to see the national side get past the first round.
- They are grouped with Netherlands, Senegal and Ecuador. But they lost 3-0 to a Croatia under-23 team behind closed doors on Tuesday.
Economy
Markets drop as Fed hike looms, Putin move lifts dollar and oil
Equities around the world have been clattered by fears of a recession in major economies as central banks ramp up...
- In Washington, the Fed is due to conclude its latest policy meeting, with most analysts predicting it will announce another 75 basis-point lift.
- Fed officials have for months stuck to the mantra that they will only ease up on their hawkish drive when inflation comes down and remains subdued.
Dozens of pilot whales stranded in Australia, many feared dead
Aerial images showed a devastating scene of dozens of black glossy mammals strewn along a stretch of beach where the...
- Almost two years ago to the day the area was the scene of another mass stranding involving almost 500 pilot whales. Just over 100 survived
- Scientists have suggested they could be caused by pods going off track after feeding too close to shore
Economy
Social media greenwashing by fossil fuel interests ‘rampant’: study
This is a widespread corporate practice researchers call "redirecting responsibility" in which individual behavior, rather than the actions of governments...
- Entitled "Three Shades of Green(washing)," the report released during New York's Climate Week found that only one in five "green" car ads actually present a product for sale
- Silvia Pastorelli, a Greenpeace campaigner, said in a statement that the report highlighted techniques that had been "hiding in plain sight."
Arts & Culture
Balkans library keeps alive its Ottoman link; helps villagers become highly literate
Thanks to a gift of books from passing Ottoman soldiers in the late 19th century, a hamlet in the Balkans...
- There are tomes in Farsi, Arabic and Turkish along with a whole host of books in Serbo-Croat, the main language of the old Yugoslavia of which the village was once a part
- The library helped make the villagers highly literate, with an inordinately large number of them becoming teachers
Business
Spotify plans to sell 300,000 audiobook titles to US users; eyes expansion
Nir Zicherman, Spotify's Vice President and Global Head of Audiobooks and Gated Content said it's a starting point to expand...
- The company's decision to offer audiobooks on a pay-per-download basis is a departure from the monthly subscription model it uses for music and podcasts
- Spotify's expansion places it in competition with other audiobook giants including Audible, an arm of Amazon, which currently dominates the market
Arts & Culture
Israeli researchers find opium residue in 3,500-year-old pottery
Researchers examined whether they had served as containers for the drug, which earlier writing had suggested was used in burial...
- The joint investigation began in 2012 when excavations in the central Israeli town of Yehud revealed a series of Late Bronze Age graves
- Researchers found pottery vessels at the site that resembled poppy flowers from which opium is derived dating back to the 14th century BC
Geostrategy
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi faces lawsuit in US for his role as judge
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi is the target of the complaint for his role as a judge in the 1980s when...
- Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian-British academic imprisoned in Iran from September 2018 to November 2020 for espionage
- In August in New York a civil lawsuit filed by a separate exile group challenged US authorities to take action against Raisi ahead of his UN appearance
Geostrategy
Pentagon denies link to fake social media accounts
After a Washington Post report revealed that Facebook and Twitter have shut down a number of fake accounts suspected to...
- Pentagon spokesman cautioned against assuming that the Defense Department was behind the accounts, leaving it possible that another government agency was involved
- The Washington Post noted a report last month by Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory on pro-Western covert influence operations
Business
Qatar emir says football fans will not face “discrimination”
Seeking to placate the concerns raised by rights groups, the ruler of Qatar has said that all fans will be...
- Organizing committee and government officials have said that the million plus fans expected to attend the World Cup should respect local cultural norms
- The host nation has struggled to convince rights groups with its message that "all will be welcome" despite the law
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Revenue from Saudi cinema may exceed $1bn by 2030KSA, UAE play well as e-gaming trends across GCCExclusive: Middle East’s retail sector rides on AR and hybrid shopping to become $600bn digital economyTECOM Group profit soars 13%UAE startups eye Saudi Arabia for growth, expansionSaudi Arabia leads GCC AI healthcare raceDisparity remains as Saudis, Emiratis see wealth gains
Humans beat AI gold-level score at top maths contest
Sydney, Australia -- Humans beat generative AI models made by Google and OpenAI at a top international mathematics competition, despite...
Geostrategy
Company News
Latest News
Born to help: Syria bikers deliver Ramadan meals
The volunteers don their club's signature blue vest, the front and back embroidered with their emblem: a flaming motorbike and...
Arts & Culture
Who recognises the existence of a Palestinian state?
Paris, France -- Israel's almost six-months-old war in Gaza since the October 7 attack has revived calls for Palestinians to be...
Geostrategy
‘Shocking increase’ of children denied aid in conflicts: UN
In addition to access to humanitarian aid, the UN's report on children and armed conflict also lists the number of...
Geostrategy
Most Read
Gold hits fresh record above $2,300 as Fed hints at easing monetary policy
On Thursday, bullion touched $2,304.96 per ounce, according to Bloomberg News, after Fed boss Jerome Powell said it would likely...
- Gold has chalked up multiple records over recent weeks as the US Federal Reserve indicates it is about to begin easing monetary policy which makes it more attractive to investors
- Its popularity as a safe haven in times of turmoil has also provided plenty of support, with traders fretting over the Middle East crisis and the ongoing war in Ukraine
Geostrategy
Israel will ‘be slapped’ for consulate strike, says Khamenei
The Supreme leader said in a speech to officials in Tehran that the defeat of "the Zionist regime in Gaza...
- Some 13 people were killed in the strike in which Israeli F-35 jets fired six missiles
- Iran's official media said the funeral ceremony of the IRGC members would be held on Friday
Geostrategy
Bodies of slain foreign aid workers taken out of Gaza
Israel's armed forces chief Herzi Halevi called the attack a "grave mistake", which he blamed on night-time "misidentification", adding in...
- The Israeli military killed seven staff of the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen on Monday in an attack that UN chief Antonio Guterres labelled "unconscionable."
- The seven deaths piled more pressure on Israel, whose war since the Hamas attack of October 7 has brought devastation and mass civilian casualties to Gaza