A digest of top world and technology headlines, pulled from a handful of publisher feeds once a day and stored here. Every link goes straight to the original story.
Insiders at the firm fear tech’s advancement could cause human extinction while others are calling it a ‘setup’A day after a former researcher at Anthropic made an apocalyptic declaration about artificial intelligence, more researchers and staff members at the AI startup publicly agreed with him and posted their own dire warnings.In response, Elon Musk and other conservative figures on X, formerly Twitter, called the chorus of concerns a “setup” and a “psyop”. Continue reading...
Follow the day’s news liveJohn Howard says Australia did the ‘right thing’ after September 11 attacksFormer prime minister John Howard, who was in Washington DC during the September 11 terror attacks, spoke to the ABC this morning about his experience 25 years ago.I just knew that it meant a lot to the whole world, and it certainly meant that I quickly came to realize just how important our association with the Americans was because this powerful country had been attacked in an atrocious, cruel manner.I think we did the right thing. I was unhappy with aspects of the ultimate withdrawal from Afghanistan. It did look rather chaotic at the time. … Overall, I don’t have any regrets. I think we did the right thing in going into Afghanistan.I remember on that night watching West Wing, a number of people I have spoken to in the last few days were doing the same thing. When it finished, it cut into this extraordinary vision of smoke coming out of the North Tower. We weren’t really sure what was going on. Then astonishingly it looked as though we were witnessing a plane fly into the South Tower.What it then heralded was obviously a huge change in terms of wars in … Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 40,000 Australians served over the coming years in those, more than 40 lost their lives. Ten Australians lost their lives that day on September 11. We very much remember them. Continue reading...
Trump will also speak again but assured audiences it would not be another two-hour addressTrump promise of $5,000 for US citizens after midterms decried as ‘bribery’Sign up for the US Breaking News emailThe Supreme Court has blocked a federal judge’s ruling that would’ve restored Republican-drawn congressional districts in Missouri.The decision, issued by justice Brett Kavanaugh, appeared to sound a death knell for efforts by the Missouri GOP to extract an additional Republican-leaning congressional seat for their party ahead of the midterm elections. Continue reading...
Median rent for one-bedroom apartment in city tops $4,495 with a national median of $1,900San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, declared a rent emergency on Thursday, proposing reforms aimed at curbing evictions and preventing rent spikes as the city grapples with soaring apartment prices.The Bay Area city, home to a large number of high-earning tech workers, has long been one of the most expensive housing and rental markets in the country. Continue reading...
No 10 says 29 new trains to be built in Derby will support 350 local jobs, as well as nearly 6,000 across the UKNo 10 has announced the construction of a new fleet of battery-powered trains that will “bring faster, more reliable journeys to the north”.The 29 new trains, which will be run by TransPennine Express, are set to be built in Alstom’s Litchurch Lane works in Derby from 2028, which the government says will support 350 local jobs, as well as nearly 6,000 across the UK. Continue reading...
Latest decision appears to set the stage for the state to use its old electoral maps this yearThe US supreme court again rejected a push backed by Donald Trump to overhaul Missouri’s congressional maps in an effort to hand Republicans an edge in November’s midterm elections.Its latest ruling, after days of confusion, comes less than two months before the pivotal midterm elections in which control of the narrowly divided US House of Representatives could be determined by a handful of seats. Continue reading...
More than a dozen ex-players are suing the University of Michigan, alleging coach and staff were aware of abuseMore than a dozen former hockey players are suing the University of Michigan, alleging their coach and other staff were aware of sexual hazing that included the forced shaving of their genitals and other abuse by teammates decades ago.“The abuse was ritualized, meticulously planned and sadistic … Enduring sexual abuse was required to be a member of the Michigan men’s ice hockey team,” attorney Michael Pitt said in a sex discrimination lawsuit filed on Wednesday in federal court in Detroit. Continue reading...
Canadian PM Mark Carney hosts president in Calgary, where he grew up alongside large Ukrainian communityCanada offered support on Thursday to boost Ukraine’s air defenses and help replenish its drone stocks, as the countries pledged to deepen their alliance during a visit by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Mark Carney hosted the president of Ukraine in Calgary in the western province of Alberta, where the Canadian prime minister grew up among a large community of people with Ukrainian heritage. Continue reading...
Broadcaster, 86, had intended to end her life in Swiss clinic after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023Esther Rantzen has said she is no longer able to travel to Switzerland to end her life because she has become “too physically fragile”.Rantzen, who presented the TV current affairs programme That’s Life! for 21 years and founded the youth support charity Childline, had intended to end her life in a Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023. Continue reading...
Many mayors welcome power to impose tourist tax but industry warns of ‘irreparable harm’ and job lossesMinisters are facing a backlash from the hospitality industry after they announced mayors in England would be given sweeping powers to levy taxes on holiday accommodation such as hotels and Airbnbs.The plan, presented on Thursday by Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, will allow mayors to impose a “tourist tax” without a cap on how much they can charge and with few controls on how they can spend it. Continue reading...
The European climate service Copernicus said the Earth just sweltered through its hottest month on record in August. Scientists said the heat surge is mostly due to human-caused climate change.
Soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. launched what would become a 20-year war in Afghanistan. Some Afghans who helped the U.S. prosecute that war regret it.
A new feature coming to Slack will allow you to build interactive reports, polls, dashboards, presentations, microsites, and other tools directly inside a chat. With Slackforce Surfaces, you can describe to Slackbot what you need, and it will use AI to gather information from relevant conversations and connected apps, like Google Drive or Salesforce, to […]
A new report released Thursday by Anthropic alleges persistent distillation attacks by China-based AI companies, which have escalated in recent months as competition in the space has intensified.
The three 28-year-old founders behind energy startup Furo moved from Silicon Valley and back to Germany, and yet secured $4 million in funding from mostly U.S. backers.
This week on “Uncanny Valley,” we dig into a former Anthropic researcher’s AI doomsday warning, the latest upgrades from Apple’s event, and the census report that claimed Trump won the 2020 election.
It's the hot new thing in tech, and it's where all the jobs are. Students who don't learn to use it fall behind. And to help them catch up in time, its creators are graciously providing the resources and curriculum for learning it, often pro bono. That's the narrative AI companies are pitching schools on […]
Proxima Fusion said Wednesday it plans to build a €140 million ($162.6 million) factory to produce fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape, which will provide the startup with key component to its reactor design.
Amazon is expanding shopping integrations across Prime Video, letting viewers discover products tied to thousands of shows, movies, and live sports through X-Ray, its shopping app, and a new Lens-powered “Shop the Scene” feature.
Looking to take full advantage of your 4K television, but your current streaming stick doesn’t have the right features? Through September 13th, you can grab an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K from Woot for just $16.09 when you use the coupon code FIRE30 at checkout. With support for Wi-Fi 6 and 2GB of memory, it’s […]
Apple’s new folding iPhone Duo is finally here, alongside refreshed Pro models. Our primer has all the details you need to choose the iPhone 18 that’s right for you.
Smart mowers are an expensive alternative to old-fashioned yard work, but they’re finally good enough to consider if you’d rather sip an iced tea and watch a robot tame your lawn.
A new federal program to test the feasibility of electric, hybrid-electric, and autonomous aircraft kicks off today in Texas - before the rules governing this new technology have even been finalized. Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) selected eight state-led […]
Universal Music Group is launching a new AI-powered platform that will allow users to draw from its catalog of licensed music to create song remixes, mashups, and new takes on tracks, according to an announcement on Thursday. The record label is developing the platform through a multiyear licensing agreement with ElevenLabs, a company that specializes […]
Meta has launched its new Muse assistant, marking the company's first real foray into AI-powered productivity tools. The company says its AI agent can "take the busywork off your plate" by helping you with online shopping, emails, trip-planning, and more. I decided to try out the new tool and see how well it performed - […]
The iPhone Duo was the unequivocal star of Apple's "Surprise and shine" event, but not for people who were mostly paying attention for news on wearables. Thankfully, Apple had a lot to share about its new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. There's no update to the SE model for 2026, which isn't necessarily […]
Marvel's Wolverine captures just how angry its lead character is. The latest PS5 exclusive from Spider-Man developer Insomniac, Wolverine is a straightforward action game that is at its best when you're (literally) slicing through enemies or thrust into a sequence pulled from a blockbuster movie, like climbing the fuselage of a plane as it careens […]
Jimmy Kimmel will be interviewing Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico "under unusual circumstances," posting the interview directly to YouTube, rather than airing it on TV during Jimmy Kimmel Live. In Wednesday night's episode, Kimmel said this was out of concern for retaliation from the Trump administration's FCC: [Trump's] FCC has threatened me, threatened our […]
With the iPhone Duo, Apple has pulled off a familiar trick. It arrives into a mature Android foldable market with a handful of hardware features we've mostly already seen elsewhere, but paired with a level of software polish that makes a lot of them feel new again. It's those software flourishes that have me excited […]
The Black Panther villain’s hairstyle has become a default for Black video game characters because it’s easy to code. Danielle Udogaranya is changing that.
In Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel Exit Party, becoming a “ghost” means running afoul of the state. In this excerpt, a secret agent discovers it doesn’t take much.
