Category: Uncategorized

An artificial intelligence researcher who left OpenAI to join Anthropic has decided to leave the industry, accusing both US companies of “gambling with our lives” in the race to develop AI models capable of self-improvement.
Jacob Coxon, 27, spent the past three years pretraining AI models, first at OpenAI and then, this year, at its rival Anthropic, which he considered more cautious in its approach.
Pretraining is the stage where AI models absorb vast quantities of data.
“Neither company is…

Hong Kong is mourning the death of Tung Chee-hwa, the city’s first leader after its return to Chinese sovereignty and a respected elder statesman, who died on Tuesday at the age of 89.
Tung was surrounded by his family when he “passed away peacefully” at 9.57pm, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Tributes and messages of grief poured in on Wednesday from across Hong Kong and mainland China, as well as from overseas, with top officials, politicians, business leaders and others praising his…

Lindsay Clancy The lawyer representing Lindsay Clancy, whose trial over the deaths of her three children ended without a verdict, has asked President Donald Trump to pardon her despite the case being prosecuted under Massachusetts state law.Attorney Kevin Reddington made the appeal during an interview with ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday, urging Trump to consider Clancy's circumstances and her mental state.”Mr. President, I would hope that you would consider this young lady, the type of person she is and what she’s been through, and consider a pardon,” Reddington said.Clancy, 36, was accused of killing her three children at their home in January 2023. Her defence argued that she was not criminally responsible because she had suffered postpartum psychosis and was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the killings.Prosecutors disputed that account and argued that the killings were premeditated.The case ended in a mistrial last week after jurors were unable to re..

Pic credit: Realtor/ Ollie Paterson Maison de Campagne, a manor in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, is up for sale, according to a report by Realtor.com. The French-style home looks like it has a backstory, with aristocrats and centuries-old family dinners, perhaps a scandal or two. But it doesn’t. This five-bedroom home does not have any complicated history; it was built with something old without being old. No one has lived in this 10,363-square-foot home, and now it is listed for $29 million.Bringing countryside charm to CaliforniaPic credit: Realtor/ Ollie PatersonBarbara Lee Grigsby, the current owner and designer of the property, assembled a team of master artisans and sourced materials from across the world. She has one goal in mind: if you can’t buy history, you can at least buy the materials history leaves behind.She sourced antique roof tiles primarily from France. The wide oak flooring was milled from reclaimed stock. The limestone and marble were hand-picked. Even the ironwork and arti..

The US on Tuesday issued 36 ⁠fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector and other companies as part of a broad push to escalate economic pressure on Tehran as the war in the Middle East entered a seventh month.
The US Treasury Department said the action was aimed at grounding Iran’s Mahan Air, already sanctioned by the US and the European Union, and all other Iranian airlines.
The sanctions also ‌took aim at covert front companies, foreign intermediaries and deceptive…

Tung Chee-hwa, who served as Hong Kong’s first chief executive and oversaw the 1997 return of the city to Chinese rule, has died.
The former vice-chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), died on Tuesday at the age of 89, according to a statement from his office issued in the early hours on Wednesday.
“Mr Tung Chee-hwa was a man of unwavering integrity who devoted himself wholeheartedly to the nation, his noble character and…

Harry and Meghan will remain private citizens after returning to the UK. Prince Harry and Meghan will not resume official royal duties despite returning to the UK, with a letter sent on behalf of King Charles confirming they remain private citizens.The message, issued by Lord Chamberlain, one of the senior officials at Buckingham Palace, has been sent to Harry’s team as well as government departments, military officials and Lord Lieutenants, sources told BBC.It makes clear that any public engagements undertaken by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be carried out in a personal capacity and will not represent the Royal Family.Harry and Meghan will also continue to be barred from using the “HRH” titles, or His and Her Royal Highness, despite their return to Britain with their children, Archie and Lilibet last month.The Palace position follows the arrangement agreed in 2020, when the couple stepped back from royal duties and moved to the US. The so-called Sandringham Agreement ruled out ..

China's Taihu Lake sees improved water quality over past 10 years A field trial using a two-stage nanobubble treatment system across a 3,300-square-metre section of Taihu Lake in eastern China reduced a key measure of toxic cyanobacteria by nearly 90 per cent within 20 days. Published in the journal Environmental Research and indexed on PubMed, the peer-reviewed study describes an in-situ restoration project aimed at controlling harmful algal blooms and improving water clarity in one of China's largest freshwater lakes. The treatment combined hydrodynamic cavitation with ozone nanobubbles in a semi-enclosed test area. Water quality monitoring showed that chlorophyll-a, a key indicator of cyanobacteria levels, fell by 89.8 per cent during the three-week trial. Severe cyanobacterial blooms have affected Taihu Lake for decades. Agricultural runoff, industrial discharge and urban wastewater across the Yangtze River Delta have helped drive the problem. These blooms reduce dissolve..

Sweden’s government said on Monday that the country would spend seven billion kronor (US$730 million) to buy US-made HIMARS rocket artillery for it military.
The government said in a statement that the acquisition would “enable the Swedish Armed Forces to operate over larger areas, and with greater long-range capacity than with current systems.”
Defence Minister Pal Jonson told reporters that the deal covered about 10 trucks equipped with launchers and a large quantity of ammunition, news agency…

Kazakhstan is aiming to become an education powerhouse in Central Asia but efforts must also ensure young people have sufficient access to opportunities that match their skill sets amid the country’s rapid economic transformation, experts have said.
Educators and advocates added that further collaboration with Hong Kong and mainland Chinese universities was in the pipeline, with growing demand for specialists who understood the business environments of both Kazakhstan and China.
The comments…