Stronghold of Syrian revolution celebrates Assad’s death sentence
Syrians in Idlib gathered in celebration after a court sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad
Latest News Archive - Page 407
Cohesor
A neutral control plane for enterprise AI agents Discussion | Link
On the ground in Cali, Colombia’s worst-hit city after the quake
Reporting from the rubble of an apartment building, Al Jazeera’s Latin America Editor Lucia Newman describes the scene.
Ukraine war briefing: North Korean missiles hit Zaporizhzhia in deadly attack
Zelenskyy warns Putin will use Russian election, in which opposition to the war is banned, as pretext for major call-up of troops. What we know on day 1,631 Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea , Ukraine’s president said, in an attack on the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia where the Metinvest steel company said seven civilian workers at its plant were killed and 21 injured. Three more civilians, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by Russian drones and artillery in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, authorities said. Russia used missiles, drones and glide bombs to attack Ukrainian cities on Tuesday, said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president. One strike hit the grounds of a children’s hospital, leaving two craters but not hurting anyone, the State Emergency Service said. Ukraine’s military general staff said its forces struck an oil refinery in the city of Orsk in Russia’s Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan, about 1,500km (930 miles) from Ukraine, causing a fire. The refinery can process about 44m barrels of crude oil a year to produce gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and other products. The Russian online retailer Wildberries said its logistical facilities in the Voronezh region of Russia near the Ukrainian border came under attack and caught fire . Romania’s defence ministry said its navy destroyed two suspected Russian drones drifting in the Black Sea about 90 nautical miles (166km) from the port of Constanta. The Gerbera-type drones – a cut-price Russian version of the Shahed – were blown up by divers and some pieces were recovered, the ministry said, adding that Ukraine said the drones were not theirs. Russia is aiming to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Patriot air defence interceptors that can stop ballistic missiles, Zelenskyy said, adding that Moscow is preparing to recruit more troops for a new push on the frontline. “Every step Russia takes – increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilisation – all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation,” Zelenskyy posted. He was warned in recent days that North Korea is preparing to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence suggested Russia would use its “pseudo-election” in September as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation . Mobilisation involves the use of reservists and conscripts, which in 2022 led to protests in Russia such as recruiting offices being set on fire. “They are preparing for mobilisation in the autumn, immediately after the imitation of parliamentary elections,” Zelenskyy said as part of a plan to “ create the appearance that Russians supposedly support the war ”. Russia’s supreme court on Monday barred the Yabloko party , the only officially registered party that opposes Moscow’s war in Ukraine, from competing in the election. Zelenskyy continued: “Then, following the so-called election, he plans an additional rapid mobilisation of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year, plus another similar number next year.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine had handed proposals to US negotiators for a plan to end the war with Moscow. Zelenskyy offered no details on the proposals. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were last in Moscow in January and have not yet visited Kyiv . The Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, has said in an analysis that the Kremlin will not seriously negotiate as long as Putin believes he might still reach his full objectives. “Ukraine’s Patriot shortages offer Russia an opportunity to cause very serious damage to Ukraine over the coming winter and will therefore contribute to delaying meaningful negotiations and protracting the war.” The UN estimates that more than 16,000 civilians detained by Russia during the war are still being “deprived of their liberty” , with many held incommunicado and on grounds that don’t comply with international law. “Widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment” of both Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war by Russia are continuing, including sexual violence, said Claudia Fuentes Julio, the UN assistant secretary general for human rights. Continue reading...
EVs dominate China’s car market: 5 takeaways from the country's latest auto sales data
The China Passenger Car Association released data Tuesday showing penetration of new energy vehicles rose in July. Tesla's Model Y remained popular.
Zambia to vote as economic hardship tests government reforms
Debt restructuring, inflation and copper revenues are emerging as key issues in the vote.
N Korea launches ballistic missile as S Korea, US plan military drills
Pyongyang conducts second weapons test in less than a week as Seoul, Washington gear up for annual military exercises.
Saber denies replacing Rideshare Stimulator’s writers with ChatGPT
After a former lead writer claimed Saber "replaced me with ChatGPT," CEO Matthew Karch now claims, "Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI," for the Rideshare "Stimulator" game announced last month, developed by Unigine. The writer, Stella Sacco, says differently, however, posting on Bluesky that "I was lead writer on this one! […]
Trump's dramatic plane swap hints at personal stakes of Iran war
It marks another striking episode in the turbulent history of his relationship with Iran, writes the BBC's Anthony Zurcher.
Drone attack hits Libya's largest oil refinery
Fires broke out at the Zawiya oil complex after explosives-laden drones struck the site. Hours later, fresh violence in Benghazi highlighted Libya's persistent security challenges.
DEF CON crowd suspected in fake-hotspot attack on Delta flight
FBI Atlanta confirms it's looking into the incident, no arrests made.
How RingCentral builds AI-native work from engineering to ops
See how RingCentral uses ChatGPT Work and Codex to accelerate AI product development and centralize operational intelligence across engineering and operations.
Iran war live: US fires missiles at cargo ship violating Iran blockade
US forces disable a Panama-flagged cargo ship attempting to sail towards an Iranian port.
Cargo ship in flames after Houthi attack in Bab al-Mandeb strait
Footage shows an Egyptian-owned cargo vessel in flames in the Bab al-Mandeb strait after a suspected Houthi attack.
There are no lossless transformations of natural-language text
There are no lossless transformations of natural-language text Sophie Alpert shares her "internal policy on acceptable use of AI writing by engineers". It's a short read (supporting its own recommendations) and really good. If you chose to have LLMs help massage your writing the following rule seems crucial to me: You must stand behind every idea and every sentence in your docs . It is your responsibility to make sure that the entire document is representative of your own thoughts before you share it. If a reviewer asks, “What did you mean by this line?”, it’s not acceptable to reply with “Oh sorry, AI wrote that, just ignore it.” You will confuse your readers (and waste their time) if you present them things that are not genuinely representative of your thoughts. The "no lossless transformations" idea from the post title is expanded on here: There are no lossless transformations of natural-language text — every rewrite and rephrase changes the meaning of your writing, and if this is done by an entity that doesn’t have the most detailed mental representation of what you personally were trying to communicate, information will be lost. Tags: writing , ai , generative-ai , llms , ai-misuse
Caveman
why use many token when few do trick Discussion | Link
Colombia scrambles to find survivors after deadly earthquake
At least 254 deaths have been reported so far, as rescue workers continue to sift through collapsed buildings.
Startup Program by Recall.ai
Startup program for meeting recording infrastructure Discussion | Link
Russia releases former US Marine reported in poor health
Robert Gilman, who was arrested in 2022, was left in "life-threatening condition" after being subjected to "harsh and abusive treatment", his family says.
BearDrive
The open-source shared folder for your team's AI agents Discussion | Link
v16.3.1-canary.13
Misc Changes Decouple loader tree construction from children ordering: #97192 [turbopack] Retain fewer stale cache versions and use a TTL: #96941 Bump lightningcss: #97159 Credits Huge thanks to @gnoff , @lukesandberg , and @mischnic for helping!
Homes near pylons to get £250 a year off energy bills – first sites revealed
Households living within 1,600ft of upgraded pylons will get £250 a year off their electricity bills.
Sun-tanned cauliflowers and knobbly spuds - the heatwave veg that's good to eat
British shoppers should expect to see more wonky vegetables due to repeated heatwaves.
UNESCO: 2.4 million girls barred from school in Afghanistan
Five years after the Taliban returned to power, millions of Afghan girls remain excluded from secondary education. UNESCO warns of lasting social and economic consequences.