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New Research Debunks AI Doomsday Myths: LLMs Are Controllable and Safe

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Large language models like ChatGPT are unable to learn or develop new abilities on their own, so they do not pose an existential threat to humanity. According to recent research from the University of Bath and the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) are unable to learn autonomously …
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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 904

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As the war enters its 904th day, these are the main developments.

This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, a media tour organised by Ukraine, shows a Ukrainian soldier walking on a damaged street in Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Kyiv said August 16, 2024, its incursion into Russian territory had advanced, claiming it aimed to force Russia to negotiate on

A Ukrainian soldier inspects a damaged street in the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha in the Kursk region, Russia, on August 16, 2024 [Yan Dobronsov/AFP]

Here is the situation on Saturday, August 17, 2024.

Fighting

  • At least two people were killed and more injured after Ukrainian shelling hit a shopping centre in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Russian state news agencies cited local authorities as saying. Earlier, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed governor, said that a series of Ukrainian attacks wounded at least seven people.
  • Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine will evacuate residents from five villages and close access to them, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, as the area comes under heavy attack from invading Ukrainian forces.
  • The heaviest fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops was reported in the strategic Ukrainian hub of Pokrovsk. Officials said Russian forces were 10km (6.2 miles) from the outskirts of Pokrovsk and about 6km (3.7 miles) from nearby Myrnohrad. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

  • Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskii said that Kyiv’s forces were advancing 1-3km (0.6 and 1.8 miles) in some areas in Russia’s Kursk region. Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150sq km (444 square miles) in the region since August 6.

  • Ukraine’s Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram that aviation was an active part of the operation in Kursk, targeting Russian supply routes and logistics centres. He posted a video of a strike on a bridge.
  • Kursk regional Governor Alexei Smirnov later said that Ukraine had destroyed a road bridge over the Seym river in the region’s Glushkovsky district. The strike is hindering civilian evacuations by land, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported, citing local security services. An estimated 20,000 people are reportedly evacuating from the area.
  • Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its troops repelled Ukrainian attacks in several areas, including near the villages of Gordeevka, Russkoe Porechnoe and others.
  • Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage unit, which was armed with weapons from NATO countries, in the Kursk region, Russia’s RIA state-run media agency reported on Friday, citing unidentified security sources.

Politics and diplomacy

  • Ukraine has set up storage facilities in its northern Sumy region to hold and send humanitarian aid to Russian civilians in the Kyiv-held part of Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine’s Minister of the Interior Ihor Klymenko said.

  • Nikolai Patrushev, an influential aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the Izvestia newspaper in an interview that the West and the United States-led NATO alliance had helped to plan Ukraine’s surprise attack on Russia’s Kursk region. Without “direct support” from the West, Kyiv would not have ventured into Russian territory, he said.

  • Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned Italy’s ambassador in Moscow to launch “a strong protest” over what it said was “illegal border crossing” by a team of correspondents from the Italian state broadcaster RAI, who reported from Ukrainian-held parts of Russia’s Kursk region this week.
  • Baza, a Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement, reported that the country’s Interior Ministry was planning to open criminal cases against two RAI journalists for crossing the Russian border.
  • The Italian Foreign Ministry told the Reuters news agency that Italy’s ambassador to Russia, Cecilia Piccioni, had explained to the Russian authorities that RAI and its news teams “plan their activities in a totally independent and autonomous way” from the government.
  • The US is set to announce more security assistance for Ukraine in the coming days, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby told US television news media on Friday. He did not give details.

Source

:

Al Jazeera and news agencies


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Michelle Obama: Who’s Going to Tell Trump the Presidency Might Be ‘One of Those Black Jobs’

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The former first lady took aim at Trump at the DNC, slamming his baseless comment about migrants taking “Black jobs”

When Michelle Obama took the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday evening, she made it clear to America that “Hope is making a comeback.”

Delivering her speech under the bright lights of the United Center, thousands were on their feet as they welcomed the former first lady back to Chicago. As she spoke, Obama echoed what those gathered in the arena and across the nation watching from home were feeling: “Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it?”

She continued: “It’s spreading all across this country we love — a familiar feeling that’s been buried too deep for far too long. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the contagious power of hope.”

Soon, Obama delivered some of her most striking words against Donald Trump, who she said “did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See his limited, narrow view of the world, made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working and highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.”

She added: “I want to know who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?”

Her words were a direct reference to Trump’s fearmongering statements earlier this summer when he baselessly claimed that migrants coming to the United States were taking “Black jobs.” The remark, which was made amid a debate with President Joe Biden (who has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris) garnered controversy and sharp criticism, as it not only promoted the dubious notion that migrants take jobs from U.S. workers, but also reinforced racial stereotypes.

Obama’s speech represented a departure from her 2016 DNC address in support of Hillary Clinton, where she said about Trump and Republicans: “When they go low, we go high.” Since Harris took over the ticket, Democrats have dropped that strategy entirely — they are taking the fight to Trump and have gotten under the former president’s skin by taunting him and his running mate J.D. Vance as “weird.”

Editor’s picks

During Tuesday night’s speech, Obama called Harris “one of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency” and said she is “the embodiment of the stories we tell ourselves about this country. Her story is your story. It’s my story. It’s the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life.”

Trending

The Obamas publicly endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination for president in July. Before introducing former President Barack Obama to the stage, Michelle got the arena on their feet as she took a final jab at Trump and urged America to “do something.”

“If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, we’ve got to pick ourselves up, throw water on our faces, and do something!” Michelle Obama says. “So consider this to be your official ask: Michelle Obama is asking you to do something!” pic.twitter.com/rd9yXR6Akd

— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 21, 2024

“If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top. We put our heads down. We get to work in America, we do something,” said Michelle as the crowd roared in approval. “And throughout her entire life, that’s what we’ve seen from Kamala Harris: the steel of her spine, the steadiness of her upbringing, the honesty of her example, and, yes, the joy of her laughter and her light. It couldn’t be more obvious of the two major candidates in this race: Only Kamala Harris truly understands the unseen labor and unwavering commitment that has always made America great.”

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Michelle Obama Torches Trump’s ‘Ugly, Misogynistic, Racist Lies’ at DNC

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Former first lady Michelle Obama received an exuberant welcome from the Democratic National Convention crowd on Tuesday, where she not only confirmed to her fellow Democrats that “hope is making a comeback,” but unleashed sharp criticisms of Donald Trump on a number of issues, including his use of “ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas.”

“Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it?” Obama began, nearly a month after President Joe Biden threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him, in effect altering the landscape of the presidential race in Democrats’ favor.

“We’re feeling it in this arena, but it’s spreading all across this country we love—a familiar feeling that’s been buried too deep for far too long. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the contagious power of hope,” she declared, that final word being the mantra of her husband’s 2008 campaign.

In the effort to “vanquish the demons of division, fear and hate,” Obama continued, “hope is making a comeback.”

Harris “understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward,” Obama then said, beginning a series of clear allusions to Trump.

“We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth,” she continued. “If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance. If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No, we don’t get to change the rules so we always win. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting there to take us to the top.”

Moments later, when mentioning her family’s experience enduring Trump’s attacks, Obama called him out by name.

“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black,” she said to sustained cheers and applause.

Former US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 20, 2024.

Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

From there, Obama made a jab at Trump’s recent mention of “Black jobs”—a remark that many Democrats took issue with, given the odd implication of racially-specific occupations.

“Now I want to know,” Obama asked the pumped up crowd. “Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might be one of those ‘Black jobs’?”

Trump, whose presidential candidacy in 2016 was fueled in part by birtherism toward the then-president, and who recently echoed that by questioning Harris’s race, is “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better,” Obama continued.

“Because cutting our health care, taking away our freedom to control our bodies, taking away the freedom to become a mother through IVF like I did—those things are not going to improve health outcomes of our wives, mothers and daughters,” she said, alluding to the fallout from the repeal of Roe v. Wade by the conservative-majority Supreme Court.

“Shutting down the Department of Education, banning our books—none of that will prepare our kids for the future,” Obama stressed. “Demonizing our children for being who they are and loving who they love—look, that does not make anybody’s life better. Instead, it only makes us small.”

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Trump, Vance promote ‘crime-free America’ during Midwest campaign stops

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1 of 2 | Former U.S. President Donald Trump promised to support local police and other law enforcement and strive for a “crime-free America” if voters put him back in the White House while campaigning in Howell, Mich., Tuesday afternoon. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 20 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, promised to support police and oppose crime during respective campaign stops in Howell, Mich., and Kenosha, Wisc., on Tuesday.

“Our police men and women have the backs of law-abiding citizens every day,” Trump said during his afternoon rally while flanked by several members of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office.

Vice President Kamala Harris is the “most radical ever to run for President,” Trump claimed. “She is so far-left that no one can even imagine” and “flip flops” on issues such as police funding.

“She’s always been for defunding the police,” Trump added. “[Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz is equally far-left. No one’s ever seen anything like it and the press is giving them a free pass.”

If elected again, Trump said he would increase federal support for local police to “stop the Kamala crime wave.”

Trump claimed during Tuesday’s event that the nation posted a 43% increase in violent crime, including a 58% increase in rape and 89% increase in aggravated assault, during the Biden-Harris administration.

“They tried to pretend everything was great,” Trump said. “Crime in America is out of control.”

He said he’ll give local police “a lot of help” to make the nation’s streets safe for everyone.

“We want a crime-free America,” Trump said. “We’re going to stop violent crime in the United States.”

During his speech, Trump said Democrats run most of the nation’s top 25 cities, but people are fleeing those cities out of fear of violent crime.

“Over the past four years, the Marxist left has waged a war on law enforcement in America,” Trump said as he cited New York as an example.

“New York state is doing terribly,” he said. “Law enforcement has been decimated. We’re not getting justice in New York.”

He called Harris a “ringleader for this anti-police crusade” and accused her of “pro-crime, anti-police efforts.”

Trump said he will support police and “crack down on Marxist district attorneys who refuse to do their jobs” and calling Harris the “godmother of sanctuary cities” as he accused her of shielding illegal migrants who were crack dealers from deportation while she was California’s attorney general.

Trump said Harris created the $950 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters, abolished cash bail for violent criminals and raised money to bailout arsonists and rioters in Minneapolis.

“You’ll see levels of crime that you’ve never seen before” if Harris becomes President, Trump cautioned and said he would ensure that the Department of Justice works with victims of crime instead of those committing them.

Ahead of Trump’s rally Tuesday, Harris’ campaign referred to Howell as the “KKK capital of Michigan” despite the city having Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., as its representative and President Joe Biden holding an event there in 2021.

Slotkin won the Democratic Party’s nomination to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Her opponent is former Rep. Mike Rogers.

Howell is located about 55 miles northwest of Detroit.

During his visit to Kenosha earlier Tuesday, Vance said voters have a choice between two approaches for police and public safety.

“Vice President Kamala Harris, who really is the acting president, says she wants to defund the police,” Vance said. “This is a person who wants to change the laws around violent criminals so that people who commit sex crimes against minors won’t be considered violent offenders.”

Vance contrasted Harris with Trump, who Vance said supports police and “backed the blue” when president by making it easier for police to do their jobs.

Trump’s pro-policing policies “make it so every child in America has access to a basic right, which is public safety in their neighborhood,” Vance said.

“The gross majority of violent crimes in this country now go unsolved,” Vance added. “If, God forbid, you are assaulted in your own community, it’s more likely today that crime will go unsolved.”

He said the current leadership in the White House is the reason violent crimes mostly go unsolved.

Vance said Trump will end sanctuary cities and replace them with pro-law enforcement cities, deport illegal migrants and promote the death penalty for drug dealers.

Trump also will oppose frivolous lawsuits against police officers and stand up to “soft-on-crime prosecutors,” Vance said. “All this stuff is just simple common sense.”

Vance referenced the 2020 riots in Kenosha and said Trump promised to send in law enforcement if asked, but Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers initially refused the assistance but days later accepted it as the rioting became violent.

Vance said without the additional assistance provided by Trump, Kenosha — which is about 40 miles south of Milwaukee — still would be recovering from the unrest.

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Video of man allegedly turning off another car’s EV charger sparks disapproval, Singapore News

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Imagine leaving your electric vehicle (EV) to charge at a carpark one day, only to come back and find that the charger had been switched off while you were gone. That’s what one driver experienced at Ikea Tampines last Wednesday (Aug 14), with a video of the incident shared on Facebook page SG Road Vigilante
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Kenya Airports Authority seeks to avert strike by the aviation union

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The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) announced on Friday that it has contingency plans to prevent disruptions to airport operations due to a possible strike by the country’s main aviation union, set to start on August 19…
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Great White Singer Jack Russell Passes Away Aged 63

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Jack Russell, co-founder and lead vocalist of glam rock band Great White, has passed away at age 63. Glam rock band Great White’s co-founder and lead vocalist, Jack Russell, passed away on Thursday (August 15), confirmed on the musician’s social media. He was 63 years old…
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Chelsea and Man Utd feature in Premier League’s worst ever starts to title defences

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Manchester City will kick off their Premier League defence away to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon – and when they’ve been in that position so far, they’ve steered clear of getting off to a calamitous start. Other sides have not been so lucky. We’ve seen some genuinely horrendous efforts at defending league titles in the Premier …
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Electrons Defy Expectations: Quantum Discoveries Unveil New States of Matter

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Researchers have uncovered new phenomena in the study of fractional quantum Hall effects. Their experiments, conducted under extreme conditions, have revealed unexpected states of matter, challenging existing theories and setting the stage for advancements in quantum computing and materials science. Exploring the Enigmatic World of Quantum Physics Imagine a two-dimensional flatland…
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