The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department launched a campaign Friday targeting video gamers for the job, which is crucial for keeping the U.S. skies safe. read more
The rate is down about 1% from 2024 and nearly 20% lower than it was two decades ago. read more
Consumer confidence plunged to a record low in April as fears mounted over rising energy prices and the broader impact of the Iran war, according to a University of Michigan survey. read more
Russia will see revenue from its biggest single oil tax double to $9 billion in April due to the oil and gas crisis triggered by the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, Reuters calculations showed on Thursday. read more
As a result of the war with Iran, gasoline prices have skyrocketed for U.S. consumers. A gallon of regular unleaded gas, which cost $2.98 a gallon on the eve of the war, now costs $4.14, according to AAA. read more
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Bessent, Powell warned bank CEOs about Anthropic model risks
www.reuters.com
... U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell convened an urgent meeting with bank CEOs this week to warn of cyber risks posed by Anthropic's latest AI model, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Anthropic launched the powerful Mythos model earlier this week but stopped short of a broad release, citing concerns it could expose previously unknown cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
The company has said the model is capable of identifying and exploiting weaknesses, opens new tab across "every major operating system and every major web browser".
Last week, Anthropic said it was in ongoing discussions with U.S. government officials about the model's "offensive and defensive cyber capabilities."
A third source close to the matter reiterated Anthropic's outreach, saying the company proactively briefed senior U.S. government officials and key industry stakeholders on Mythos's capabilities ahead of its release. ...
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RFK Jr. rewrites CDC panel's charter, opening door to anti-vaccine quacks
arstechnica.com
... As expected, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has significantly rewritten the charter for a federal vaccine advisory panel. The edits give him more power to appoint his like-minded allies as federal advisors, shift the panel's focus to alleged vaccine injuries and risks, and welcome fringe groups and anti-vaccine organizations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday, a notice in the Federal Register indicated Kennedy renewed the charter for the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is done every two years, with the last term having ended April 1. But instead of the usual humdrum renewal process, the notice on Monday indicated big changes were coming to the defining document of the panel, which heavily influences federal vaccine policy that, in turn, influences state requirements and insurance coverage.
The new charter, published Thursday, reveals new responsibilities that redirect advisors toward topics and terms dear to anti-vaccine activists.
For instance, ACIP members will now be responsible for "considering analysis of cumulative effects of vaccines and their constituent components." This wording echoes explicit goals of Kennedy's anti-vaccine allies, who aim to pin complex conditions -- such as allergies, autism, and neurodevelopmental conditions -- on combinations of vaccinations or common ingredients in those shots, such as aluminum adjuvants.
This is a pivot from anti-vaccine activists' earlier attacks that focused on individual vaccines, such as the false, fraudulent claim that the measles vaccine is linked to autism"a claim that has been roundly debunked by dozens of high-quality studies. ...
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Why Anthropic believes its latest model is too dangerous to release
www.understandingai.org
... Anthropic safety researcher Sam Bowman was eating a sandwich in a park recently when he got an unexpected email. An AI model had sent him a message saying that it had broken out of its sandbox.[emphasis mine]
The model -- an early snapshot of a new LLM called Claude Mythos Preview -- was not supposed to have access to the Internet.
To ensure safety, Anthropic researchers like to test new models inside a secure container that prevents them from communicating with the outside world. To double-check the security of this container, the researchers asked the model to try to break out and message Bowman.
Unexpectedly, Mythos Preview "developed a moderately sophisticated multi-step exploit" to gain access to the Internet and emailed Bowman.
It also -- unprompted -- posted details about this exploit on public websites.
Mythos Preview is capable of hacking more than its own evaluation environment. It turns out that the model is generally really, really good at finding and exploiting bugs in code. ...
Related...
CDC study shows COVID shot benefits; Trump official blocks release
arstechnica.com
... Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been blocked from publishing a scientifically vetted study finding significant health benefits from this season's COVID-19 vaccines, according to reporting by The Washington Post.
The move adds to longstanding concern among health experts that chaos and political interference under Kennedy -- a staunch anti-vaccine activist who has long falsely maligned COVID-19 vaccines -- is deeply undermining science at federal agencies and beyond. ...
International Humanitarian Law Databases
ihl-databases.icrc.org
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Article 51 - Protection of the civilian population
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2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.
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US-Iran war, fuel crisis live updates: No sign of 'uptick' in traffic through Strait of Hormuz, despite White House's claims
www.news.com.au
... The White House's claim that there's been an "uptick" in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz since Donald Trump announced his ceasefire with Iran appears to contradict the data. ...
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