UK to spend $125m on AI research and regulation
Technology minister says technology has potential to ‘transform our public services and the economy for the better’. The United Kingdom has unveiled plans to spend over 100 million pounds ($125m) on research and training related to artificial intelligence (AI). Under the plans announced on Tuesday, the government will launch nine new AI research hubs across the UK, support research projects examining the responsible use of AI in education, policing and creative industries, and train regulators on managing the risks and benefits of the technology. Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan said AI had the potential to “transform our public services and the economy for the better” and produce treatments for diseases like cancer and dementia. “AI is moving fast, but we have shown that humans can move just as fast. By taking an agile, sector-specific approach, we have begun to grip the risks immediately, which in turn is paving the way for the UK to become one of the first countries in the world to reap the benefits of AI safely,” Donelan said in a statement. The announcement comes after the UK in November launched the world’s first institute dedicated to AI safety and hosted a global summit on the topic, at which more than 25 countries signed the so-called Bletchley Declaration acknowledging the technology’s risks of “serious, even catastrophic, harm”. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sought to position his country as a leader in AI regulation, arguing that only governments can properly assess the risks of the technology and possess the “power and legitimacy to keep their people safe”. Executives at leading players in AI, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon, welcomed the government’s announcement. “The hub and spoke model will help the UK benefit from the domain expertise of regulators, as well as provide clarity to the AI ecosystem – and I’m particularly supportive of the commitment to support regulators with further resources,” Google DeepMind’s Chief Operating Officer Lila Ibrahim said in a statement. “AI represents an opportunity to drive progress for humanity, and we look forward to working with the government to ensure that the UK can continue to be a global leader in AI research and set the standard for good regulation.” Adblock test (Why?)
Mamata Banerjee to skip meeting on ‘One Nation One Election’ in Delhi due to state budget
The Budget session of the West Bengal Assembly commenced on the same day, and the state budget is expected to be presented on January 8.
‘Teer nishane par laga hai…’: PM Modi over action by central agencies on political leaders
PM Modi also came down heavily on the previous Congress government over the issue of inflation and said that the grand old party has powered inflation whenever it has been elected to the Centre.
Feds offer more help to Texas colleges struggling with FAFSA snags
The release of a revamped FAFSA form has blocked some students from filing the application and narrowed the time schools have to make financial aid decisions.
Sen. Tim Scott a ‘Hades no’ on Senate border, immigration deal
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital on Monday that he is a definite no vote on the Senate border and immigration deal coupled to aid for Israel and Ukraine — arguing that aid to Israel should be siloed off separately and that President Biden already has the power he needs to end the border crisis. “I’m a Hades no,” Scott said when asked if he would support the agreement released on Sunday evening and which will likely be voted on this week. Senate negotiators released the $118 billion supplemental spending deal package late Sunday, which includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and approximately $20 billion in funding for border and immigration-related matters. IMMIGRATION ACTIVISTS, LIBERAL SENATE DEMS TRASH BORDER DEAL OVER LACK OF AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS It includes a new border authority to allow Title 42-style expulsions when migration levels exceed 5,000 a day over a 7-day rolling average, narrows asylum eligibility while expediting the process, provides additional work permits for asylum seekers and funds a massive increase in staffing at the border, in the immigration courts and asylum offices. It is facing considerable heat from conservatives, including in the Republican-controlled House, where lawmakers have claimed the deal will regularize high levels of illegal immigration, while funding non-governmental organizations and gives legal aid to illegal immigrants. Some on the left have also objected to the bill due to its failure to include a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants already in the U.S. Scott slammed the bill as “unsatisfactory and unnecessary” as he argued that Biden is already able to secure the border without a power that Scott believes allows too many migrant crossings before it is activated. Biden has said he can’t secure the border without fixes to a “broken” immigration system and additional funding. “I think it’s such a lie to think that Joe Biden needs Congress to act in order for him to secure the border,” Scott said. He also objected that the bill is being coupled with $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel, saying those issues should be debated and passed separately. 5 KEY DETAILS IN CONTROVERSIAL SENATE BORDER DEAL “We’re going to spend $60 billion for Ukraine, and we already need accountability in the resources that we’re spending,” he said. “What brought us to this point, the crisis in Israel, $14 or so billion. We are making a critical mistake in using our ally Israel’s crisis to put more money into Ukraine and less real attention on the border,” he said. “I’m thankful that we are finally having a conversation about the border, but it’s the wrong one. It should be in a silo. We should be fixing and securing our southern border, and the president of the United States can do that right now,” he said. “He undid what [former President Donald] Trump secures for us. Joe Biden did it by himself. He literally shredded a secure border with his actions as president.” Scott, who recently ended his 2024 bid for president and backed Trump for his White House bid, said that he would first take care of Israel on its own, then have a standalone bill to deal with the border crisis. “It would actually acknowledge the fact that the vast majority of people coming across our border aren’t from Mexico,” he said. “Literally, Chinese nationals are coming across our southern border at record numbers, we see 150 plus countries represented on our southern border. So if we were to do an effective job, we would have these in silo packages so that we could actually confront the problem facing this nation to include what I believe are sleeper cells in our nation, because …the Biden administration, they have not monitored who’s coming in our country with an 85% release ratio, with 10 million people coming in by the election.” GOP SENATORS DEMAND ‘ADEQUATE TIME’ TO REVIEW BORDER SECURITY BILL Scott contrasted that with the stance taken by the Trump administration, which he sees as a success in controlling illegal migration into the U.S. “The key was the desire to have a secure border number one,” he said. “The second was the tenacity and the fortitude to take the necessary steps to secure our border, to include the Remain in Mexico policy, to include seeking asylum in a country that’s contiguous with yours, to include looking at putting more focus on Mexico’s other border, not our border, and of course, the, codifying a wall and the funding for it,” he said.
Immigration activists, liberal Senate Dems trash border deal over lack of amnesty for illegals
Immigration activist groups, as well as some top immigration doves in Congress, are condemning the new immigration and border deal in the Senate — narrowing further the already embattled deal’s potential for passage. Senate negotiators released the $118 billion supplemental spending deal package late Sunday, which includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and $20 billion in funding for border and immigration-related matters. It includes a new border authority to allow Title 42-style expulsions when migration levels exceed 5,000 a day over a seven-day rolling average, and it narrows asylum eligibility while expediting the process, provides additional work permits to asylum seekers and funds a massive increase in staffing. 5 KEY DETAILS IN CONTROVERSIAL SENATE BORDER DEAL It is facing considerable heat from conservatives, including in the Republican-controlled House, where lawmakers have claimed the deal will regularize high levels of illegal immigration, while funding non-governmental organizations and giving legal aid to illegal immigrants. But it has also upset many on the left, with immigrant activists saying it harms migrants without giving relief — including any form of amnesty for those in the country already, such as illegal immigrants who came to the country as minors and whom activists have named “Dreamers.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has led many lawsuits against immigration policies, including Title 42, said the deal would “force the government to summarily expel people from the border without due process, restricting legal pathways for the people who need them most.” “Eliminating longstanding, core due process protections like court review of asylum cases and doubling down on harmful deterrence and detention policies are not going to get cities and states the support they need, nor are they a substitute for policies that would improve border management and address the immigration case backlog,” executive director Anthony Romero said. “This deal also fails to deliver on years of promises to enact reforms providing pathways to citizenship for Dreamers and other longtime residents. ” The American Immigration Council called the effort to tackle an “unsustainable” situation at the border in a bipartisan way a “great step forward” but said it was unhappy with the result. “Unfortunately, while this bill identifies many of the critical issues that need to be addressed to help us more effectively manage our southern border, it is incomplete in some respects and would be unnecessarily harmful in others,” executive director Jeremy Robbins said. GOP SENATORS DEMAND ‘ADEQUATE TIME’ TO REVIEW BORDER SECURITY BILL “While the bill contains a series of positive measures, including an overall increase in green cards, increases in government funding to provide attorneys to unaccompanied kids, age-out protections for the kids of parents who are stuck in our years-long employment-based immigration backlogs, and a path to citizenship for our Afghan allies, it is silent when it comes to how to address the plight of Dreamers and others who have been forced to live in the shadows for far too long,” he said. “And its key proposal for responding to increasing arrivals at the border — summary expulsions of individuals who are seeking humanitarian protections — is an approach that has proven to be a harmful and counterproductive policy under both the Trump and Biden administrations.” Human Rights First accused Washington of “playing politics in ways that threaten refugees’ and other migrants’ lives.” “Our government’s leaders must stop viewing the border as a numbers game. The United States cannot deny someone the right to seek safety and protection just because they are number 5,001 in line that day. The partisan posturing and political games being played in Washington serve no one,” CEO Michael Breen said. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Senate who have advocated for pathways to citizenship for illegal immigrants were also furious at the bill. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who led the push for the 2021 immigration reform bill championed by the Biden administration, called the bill unacceptable. “The so-called ‘bipartisan’ border negotiations in the Senate have yielded an unacceptable deal. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus were told we would have an opportunity to provide meaningful input before the deal was consummated, but Senate leadership has brazenly reneged on their commitment,” he said. “They expect us to fall in line on a deal that directly impacts millions within our communities and will forever reshape America’s immigration system.” “Accepting this deal as written would be an outright betrayal to the communities we have sworn an oath to protect and represent,” he said. “If these changes were being considered under Trump, Democrats would be in outrage, but because we want to win an election Latinos and immigrants now find themselves on the altar of sacrifice.” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., meanwhile, said the bill “misses the mark.” He, too, accused it of reviving a Trump-era policy and failing to provide “relief” for illegal immigrants already in the U.S. “It is critical that we support our allies in their fight to defend democracy and provide humanitarian relief, but not at the expense of dismantling our asylum system while ultimately failing to alleviate the challenges at our border.” The stance of the lawmakers and groups is at odds with the Biden administration, where President Biden, Vice President Harris and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have all urged passage of the bill.
Syria’s ‘miracle baby’ turns a year old
NewsFeed It’s been a year since Syria’s ‘miracle baby’, Afraa was born under the rubble of her home after an earthquake. Now, one year, after losing her parents and siblings, she turns one. Published On 5 Feb 20245 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Scepticism as Gibran Rakabuming Raka runs for Indonesia’s vice presidency
Solo, Indonesia – For more than 40 years, Sarti has been cycling his pedicab around the streets of the Indonesian city of Surakarta, or Solo. It’s a tough job, especially in the relentless heat, and the wiry 67-year-old’s muscles strain as he pushes on the pedals to manoeuvre his vehicle through the traffic. Sweat drips from his brow and he puffs his way along the narrow backstreets, his passengers seated in the canopied cab in front of him. For all the effort, business can be slow, and Sarti sometimes earns just one dollar a day. Government support has been crucial for his survival, and he has nothing but praise for President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, who was Solo’s mayor from 2005 to 2012. “I liked Jokowi, I liked him so much. He was such a good mayor of Solo. He would visit all the areas of the city, handing out aid and groceries to people and providing financial assistance,” he told Al Jazeera. “He really cared about people who were struggling.” But when it comes to Jokowi’s son, it’s a different story. Gibran Rakabuming Raka followed in his father’s footsteps to run for mayor of Solo in 2020 and is now a vice presidential candidate in the elections scheduled for February 14. Gibran is the running mate of former general Prabowo Subianto, who is running for the presidency for a third time [File: Adek Berry/AFP] Gibran is just 36, and despite being mayor since February 2021, Sarti says he has never met him. “He has never visited many of the poorer parts of the city, like his father used to,” he said. “Gibran picks the people he wants to help. He doesn’t help everyone. He doesn’t help all the residents of Solo.” ‘A good kid’ Solo, despite its stature as the former home of the president and the historic royal capital of Java, is a relatively small city with a population of about half a million people. Known for its old-world charm, it boasts two royal palaces, is renowned for the quality of its traditional batik and is surrounded by rice fields. When Gibran, the eldest of Jokowi’s three children, announced that he was planning to run as Solo’s mayor, many residents were surprised, even those who had known him since he was a child. “He is a good kid, all of Jokowi’s children are. They are polite and hard workers, but I was surprised when he became mayor of Solo because I thought it was too soon for him to hold that kind of office,” Slamet Raharjo, a longtime friend of the family, told Al Jazeera. “Logically, you have to take it step by step. You can’t create leadership in a moment. It is a psychological process that takes time, but he has been forced to grow up quickly.” Gibran, who was born in 1987, had never appeared to harbour any political aspirations. Sarti has been riding his pedicab around the streets of Solo for more than 40 years [Al Jazeera] He studied at secondary school in Singapore and then in Australia before returning to Singapore and earning a bachelor’s degree in management. Most expected him to join the family’s now famous furniture business, as his father had done. Instead, Gibran opened a catering business in 2010, and five years later a chain of pancake shops. Markobar, as he called the business, focused heavily on digital marketing, but has since closed. Local residents laughed when asked if Gibran had ever personally fried any of the sweet treats. Markobar had been designed to appeal to a social media crowd and featured signature dishes of eight and 16 flavours such as chocolate and green tea, priced from $2.50 for a single topping. In a city where the pancakes, called murtabak, are known as a cheap street food snack, Markobar was considered expensive. While the pancakes flopped, local residents say Girban’s tenure as mayor has been more successful. They say he made efforts to improve the city by further developing infrastructure and public transport, as well as designing initiatives to foster inclusivity. These included setting up decorations in front of the town hall to celebrate various religious holidays, including during the Christmas period, which some saw as an effort to enhance religious tolerance in a country where 87 percent of the population is Muslim. Still under probation Fransiskus Xaverius Hadi Rudyatmo, who was deputy under Jokowi and took over from him in 2012 until 2021, told Al Jazeera that he had been blindsided when Gibran’s vice presidential candidacy was first mentioned. “I was disappointed when Gibran ran for the vice presidency. He isn’t old enough and has only been mayor for two years. If you work in an office for two years, you are still in your probation period,” Rudyatmo said. Fransiskus Xaverius Hadi Rudyatmo was Jokowi’s deputy when the president was mayor of Solo [Al Jazeera] When Gibran originally stood for mayor, Rudyatmo said that he rallied behind the young candidate because they were both members of Indonesia’s Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), a secular-nationalist party that champions workers’ rights across Indonesia. But he was shocked when Gibran announced that he would run as a vice presidential candidate alongside three-time presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto, who was twice beaten to the presidency by Jokowi and is leader of the Gerindra Party, and backed by Golkar, which has close ties to the Indonesian military and was the ruling political group under former presidents Soeharto and BJ Habibie. Following the shock announcement, PDI-P said that Gibran had left the party, which already had candidates for president and vice president in the form of Ganjar Pranowo, the governor of Central Java, and Mahfud MD, the current coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, as vice president. Many wondered whether Jokowi, who had advanced to the very top with PDI-P, had shifted his support away from the party in favour of his son and Prabowo, a former general, although he has not
King Charles diagnosed with cancer
NewsFeed Buckingham Palace says King Charles is undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer. In a statement, the palace said the diagnosis was confirmed while the king was being treated last month for a separate health issue. Published On 5 Feb 20245 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Embattled DA Fani Willis faces 4th accusation to disqualify her from the Trump case
A fourth co-defendant in the Georgia case against former president Donald Trump has filed a motion for the court to disqualify embattled District Attorney Fani Willis. Co-defendant David Schafer, who in 2020 served as the Georgia GOP Chairman and a GOP presidential elector for Georgia during the 2020 election, filed a motion in court Monday saying Willis has engaged in a “pattern of prosecutorial, forensic misconduct” which he says should disqualify not only her, but her entire office and prosecution staff. Schafer’s motion follows co-defendant Michael Roman’s claims that Willis engaged in an “improper” relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade whom she hired to prosecute the sprawling racketeering case against Trump and asked the court to disqualify her from the case. Willis on Friday responded to the allegations in a court filing and admitted to having a “personal” relationship with Wade but denied any conflict of interest. She also argued that according to Georgia law, in order for a district attorney to be forcibly removed from a case, the conflict of interest has to be harmful to a defendant’s case. FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ADMITS PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH PROSECUTOR BUT DENIES CONFLICT OF INTEREST Schafer on Monday claimed that Willis has a “pattern of prejudicial public statements” about the case through various media interviews and public speeches, and claimed that in making such statements, she intended to “reject and infect the jury pool.” Shafer and his lawyers argue that this is primarily what warrants her removal. The court filing Monday references when Willis first addressed the affair allegations in January during remarks she made at Bethel AME Church in Atlanta. “They only attacked one,” she said. “First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’ “But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one,” Willis asked. FANI WILLIS WHO ‘RELISHED IN’ DONALD TRUMP PROSECUTION SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM CASE FOR ILLICIT AFFAIR: EXPERTS “You cannot expect Black women to be perfect and save the world,” Willis said, adding that “we need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace.” Schafer argued in Monday’s court filing that, “The obvious intent of her remarks was to inject and infect the jury pool in Fulton County with unfounded allegations that anyone who dares question her or Mr. Wade’s conduct must have done so for racist purposes.” “As an attorney and, most importantly, a public prosecutor, her comments which directly affected the pending litigation were indefensible and reprehensible. These comments constitute prosecutorial, forensic misconduct and warrant her removal and that of her Office from the prosecution of this case,” the filing states. In legal filings last month, Roman alleged that Wade billed Fulton County for 24 hours of work on a single day in November 2021, shortly after being appointed as a special prosecutor, and that Willis financially benefited from her alleged lover’s padded taxpayer-funded salary by taking lavish vacations together on his dime. According to the court documents, Wade, who has no RICO and felony prosecution experience, billed taxpayers $654,000 since January 2022. Schafer also argues that Willis’ employment of Wade “to investigate and prosecute the defendants and payments to Mr. Wade of over a half a million dollars from the Fulton County treasury while allowing Mr. Wade to pay for vacations for the District Attorney and other personal expenses constitutes a disqualifying conflict of interest as well as a violation of ethical rules applicable to attorneys and Fulton County employees, and potentially criminal law.” The motion also claims that Willis’ “improper and inaccurate characterization” of Schafer and the other 2020 nominee Republican Presidential Electors as “Fake Electors” to the national media “has been exceedingly prejudicial” to Schafer, noting that “at all times material” to her indictment, Schafer was qualified as a “lawful” Presidential Elector pursuant to Georgia law through his nomination as a Presidential Elector by the Georgia Republican Party. Schafer asked the court to keep in place a Feb. 15 evidentiary hearing set by Judge Scott McAfee, in which the parties will present evidence to try and compel the court to remove Willis and her office from the case. GEORGIA HOUSE VOTES TO REVIVE PROSECUTOR OVERSIGHT PANEL THAT COULD OUST FANI WILLIS Schafer’s lawyer, Craig A. Gillen, wrote Monday that he “understands and appreciates that an evidentiary hearing regarding the District Attorney’s forensic misconduct and the financial aspects of District Attorney Willis and Mr. Wade’s personal relationship that create these disqualifying conflicts of interest is unseemly and an uncomfortable experience for all involved,” and that he “does not pursue these claims lightly.” “But, as noted,” Gillen states, “District Attorney Willis and Mr. Wade are not victims here—these are all self-inflicted and completely avoidable errors in which the defense had no hand, but are of such significance that the defense has no choice but to put them before the Court.” Gillen said in the filing that Willis’ discomfort “pales in comparison to what Mr. Shafer – a presumptively and actually innocent man – has endured.” “His life has been upended by unwarranted and meritless charges filed by District Attorney Willis (that she does not have the legal authority or jurisdiction to pursue),” the filing states. The Fulton County District Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.