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‘Israel will be ostracized all over the world,’ warns opposition leader Lapid after AP’s equipment is seized

‘Israel will be ostracized all over the world,’ warns opposition leader Lapid after AP’s equipment is seized

The Associated Press reports: Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating the country’s new ban on Al Jazeera. The Qatari satellite channel is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations. The AP denounced the move. “The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding…

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How changes in the Israeli military led to the failure of October 7

How changes in the Israeli military led to the failure of October 7

James Rosen-Birch writes: In public presentations, Saar Koursh, former CEO of the Israeli security firm Magal Security Systems — the company that built the Gaza border fence — often boasted that the blockaded territory was his “showroom.” “Anybody can give you a very nice PowerPoint, but few can show you such a complex project as Gaza that is constantly battle-tested,” Koursh said in a 2016 interview. Magal’s smart fence formed part of an integrated system of concrete barriers, high-tech sensor…

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AI risks making us less human

AI risks making us less human

Tyler Austin Harper writes: “Our focus with AI is to help create more healthy and equitable relationships.” Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and executive chair of the dating app Bumble, leans in toward her Bloomberg Live interviewer. “How can we actually teach you how to date?” When her interviewer, apparently bemused, asks for an example of what this means, Herd launches into a mind-bending disquisition on the future of AI-abetted dating: “Okay, so for example, you could in the near…

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How Neanderthal language differed from modern human – they probably didn’t use metaphors

How Neanderthal language differed from modern human – they probably didn’t use metaphors

Neanderthal skull (foreground) contrasted with that of a modern human from the Palaeolithic. Petr Student By Steven Mithen, University of Reading The Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) fascinate researchers and the general public alike. They remain central to debates about the nature of the genus Homo (the broad biological classification that humans and their relatives fall into). Neanderthals are also vital for understanding the uniqueness or otherwise of our species, Homo sapiens. We shared an ancestor with the Neanderthals around 600,000 years…

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Biden, Netanyahu, and Hamas, denounce ICC prosecutor, while Bernie Sanders defends international law

Biden, Netanyahu, and Hamas, denounce ICC prosecutor, while Bernie Sanders defends international law

#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC announces applications for arrest warrants in relation to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in the context of the situation in the State of #Palestine ⤵️https://t.co/WqDZecXFZq pic.twitter.com/bxqLWc5M6u — Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) May 20, 2024 The ICC prosecutor is right to issue arrest warrants for political leaders who engage in war crimes. The global community must uphold international law. Without these standards of decency & morality, the planet may rapidly descend into anarchy, never-ending wars, and barbarism. pic.twitter.com/KF7aD0JsHw…

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War on terrorism based on a mistake: New 9/11 evidence points to deep Saudi complicity

War on terrorism based on a mistake: New 9/11 evidence points to deep Saudi complicity

Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon writes: For more than two decades, through two wars and domestic upheaval, the idea that al-Qaeda acted alone on 9/11 has been the basis of U.S. policy. A blue-ribbon commission concluded that Osama bin Laden had pioneered a new kind of terrorist group—combining superior technological know-how, extensive resources, and a worldwide network so well coordinated that it could carry out operations of unprecedented magnitude. This vanguard of jihad, it seemed, was the first nonstate actor…

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ICC prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh

ICC prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh

  The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked a panel of international legal experts (Lord Justice Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron CMG, Amal Clooney, Danny Friedman KC, Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC) to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza: For months, we have engaged in an extensive process of review and analysis. We have carefully examined each of the applications for arrest warrants, as well…

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The rise of Jewish terrorism and the failure of Israel

The rise of Jewish terrorism and the failure of Israel

The New York Times reports: Gush Emunim [or “Bloc of the Faithful,” a religious political movement determined to settle occupied territories] the and other right-wing groups saw the [Camp David] accords [signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978] as a shocking reversal. From this well of anger sprang a new campaign of intimidation [against Palestinians]. Rabbi Moshe Levinger, one of the leaders of Gush Emunim and the founder of the settlement in the…

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Mixed reactions in Tehran after death of President Ebrahim Raisi

Mixed reactions in Tehran after death of President Ebrahim Raisi

The Guardian reports: Activists in Iran have said there is little mood to mourn the death of the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, announced a five-day public mourning period after the deaths of Raisi, the foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other passengers on the helicopter. However, Iranians who spoke to the Guardian have refused to lament the death of a man who…

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Open AI offered to hire Scarlett Johansson for her voice. She declined. They then created a voice just like hers.

Open AI offered to hire Scarlett Johansson for her voice. She declined. They then created a voice just like hers.

Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI situation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8 — Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) May 20, 2024 NPR reports: Lawyers for Scarlett Johansson are demanding that OpenAI disclose how it developed an AI personal assistant voice that the actress says sounds uncannily similar to her own. Johansson’s legal team has sent OpenAI two letters asking the company to detail the process by which it developed a voice the tech company dubbed “Sky,” Johansson’s publicist told NPR in a revelation that…

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How 3M executives convinced a scientist the forever chemicals she found in human blood were safe

How 3M executives convinced a scientist the forever chemicals she found in human blood were safe

ProPublica reports: Kris Hansen had worked as a chemist at the 3M Corporation for about a year when her boss, an affable senior scientist named Jim Johnson, gave her a strange assignment. 3M had invented Scotch Tape and Post-­it notes; it sold everything from sandpaper to kitchen sponges. But on this day, in 1997, Johnson wanted Hansen to test human blood for chemical contamination. Several of 3M’s most successful products contained man-made compounds called fluorochemicals. In a spray called Scotchgard,…

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A long history of crime without punishment threatens not only Palestinians but also Israel itself

A long history of crime without punishment threatens not only Palestinians but also Israel itself

The New York Times reports: By the end of October, it was clear that no one was going to help the villagers of Khirbet Zanuta. A tiny Palestinian community, some 150 people perched on a windswept hill in the West Bank near Hebron, it had long faced threats from the Jewish settlers who had steadily encircled it. But occasional harassment and vandalism, in the days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, escalated into beatings and murder threats. The villagers made…

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Gantz to Netanyahu: If you don’t change course by June 8 we’ll withdraw from government

Gantz to Netanyahu: If you don’t change course by June 8 we’ll withdraw from government

The Jerusalem Post reports: In a move likely to aggravate political tension at the highest levels of government, Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a deadline of June 8 to agree to a comprehensive strategic plan for the “day after” Hamas in Gaza and threatened to leave the government if this did not happen. “Lately, something has gone wrong,” Gantz said. “Essential decisions were not made. Essential leadership decisions to ensure victory were not done. A small minority…

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Armed thugs (aka NYPD) trained by Israelis, attack and punch pro-Palestine protesters in Brooklyn

Armed thugs (aka NYPD) trained by Israelis, attack and punch pro-Palestine protesters in Brooklyn

NOW: As pro-Palestine protesters reached an intersection, officers rushed in and grabbed people out of the crowd seemingly at random Officers tackled multiple protesters to the ground and then proceeded to punch them pic.twitter.com/fyPfA8emyM — katie smith (@probablyreadit) May 18, 2024 The NYPD is seen slamming this protestor to the ground punching his chest with his hand around their neck. They never once resisted. Their head was also bleeding as they were transported to the police van. All for walking…

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