Firms and researchers at odds over superhuman AI
The belief that human-or-better intelligence -- often called "artificial general intelligence" (AGI) -- will emerge from current machine-learning techniques fuels...Technology Geostrategy
Japan’s Masaki Kashiwara wins Abel Prize for mathematics
Oslo, Norway -- The prestigious Abel Prize for mathematics was on Wednesday awarded to Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara a specialist...Arts & Culture Geostrategy
China accuses US of sending 10 balloons into its airspace
Washington strenuously denied Beijing's charges as "false" and insisted it was China alone that has surreptitiously flown spy balloons, as...Subsequent downings of other unidentified objects over North America in recent days have sparked widespread jitters and speculation as to their origins.
Only the first object has been officially attributed to China, with Beijing insisting it was a civilian craft that had blown off course.
Israel says it will legalise nine West Bank settlements
Netanyahu said earlier Sunday during a meeting of his government he wanted to "strengthen settlements", which are illegal under international...More than 475,000 Israelis reside in settlements in the West Bank, where 2.8 million Palestinians live
Netanyahu also announced that his government wanted to submit legislation to the Knesset
US shoots down new mystery object as tensions escalate with China
On Sunday the Pentagon said that it does not yet know what the other three objects -- one shot down...The objects shot down since Friday were detected after US air defense adjusted radar settings to scan for smaller and slower-moving objects, said Assistant Secretary of Defense
Canadian officials described the shot down over Canada's far northwest on Saturday as small and cylindrical, roughly the size of a Volkswagen car
Lebanon’s Hezbollah sends aid to Syria’s quake-hit Latakia
Lebanon has adopted a policy of dissociation from Syria's years-long war but on Wednesday, it sent its first high-level official...The Iran-backed Hezbollah is a key ally of Assad's regime and has openly been fighting alongside his forces since April 2013
Adnan Moqadem, general director of civil defense in Hezbollah's health authority, said first aid convoy "will be followed by others".
Syria’s Assad thanks UAE for aid, emergency response to quake
Damascus, Syria--Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday thanked the United Arab Emirates for its emergency response and tens of millions pledged...The UAE foreign minister arrived in Syria on Sunday, six days after a devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing more than 33,000 people in total
It pledged some $13.6 million to Syria after the disaster before announcing another $50 million in assistance
Israel launches air strikes on ‘underground Hamas complex’
The Palestinian Red Crescent said one person was killed in a pre-dawn Israeli army raid in Nablus in the northern...The strikes were launched were in response to the Saturday rocket launch from Gaza into Israel, the army added in a statement
Since the start of the year, the conflict has claimed the lives of 47 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians
Egyptian President in UAE, to attend World Government Summit in Dubai
The two leaders exchanged discussed "brotherly bilateral ties" and aspects of joint cooperation and ways of furthering themThe two leaders exchanged discussed "brotherly bilateral ties" and aspects of joint cooperation and ways of furthering them
President El-Sisi will outline Egypt's economic and development policies and priorities at World Government Summit
Mahmud Abbas urges world leaders to end ‘Israeli aggression’
Cairo, Egypt - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday accused Israel of having "crossed all red lines" in the occupied West..."Israeli intransigence and practices have crossed all red lines", he said at an Arab League meeting in Cairo.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen at least 43 Palestinians -- including attackers, militants and civilians -- killed this year.
UN decries aid failure for Syria, warns quake toll could double
A UN convoy with supplies for northwest Syria arrived via Turkey, but the agency's relief chief Martin Griffiths said much...Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday thanked the United Arab Emirates for its emergency response and tens of millions pledged in aid to the quake-hit country.
Miraculous tales of survival still emerged, though experts caution that hopes for finding people alive in the devastation dim with each passing day.
Sexting chatbot ban brings AI rules in focus
Given that these bots still make factual blunders, often show bias and could even spout libelous statements, some are clamoring...Regulators in Italy last week barred the firm from gathering data after finding breaches of Europe's massive data protection law, the GDPR.
OpenAI's latest model, GPT-4, is scheduled for release soon and is rumored to be so good that it will be impossible to distinguish from a human.
