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  • Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent execs among Big Tech members on new China AI standards committee

    China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday announced the establishment of an "artificial intelligence (AI) standardisation technology committee" that includes executives from tech giants Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Huawei Technologies. The committee will be responsible for "making and revising" standards for different AI vertical markets, including assessment and testing, data sets, large language models (LLMs), and application development man

  • AI helps Telegram remove 15 million suspect groups and channels in 2024

    Telegram has been under unprecedented pressure to clean up its platform this year, after its founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France and faces charges over the alleged harmful content shared on his messaging app. After announcing a crackdown in September, Telegram now says it has removed 15.4 million groups and channels related to harmful content like fraud and terrorism in 2024, noting this effort was "enhanced with cutting-edge AI moderation tools." The announcement is part of a newly launched moderation page Telegram has created to better communicate its moderation efforts to the public, according to a post from Durov's Telegram channel.

  • Haliey Welch’s $HAWK Shows Why We Need Better Standards for Memecoins

    The saga of Hawk Tuah’s memecoin testifies to the need for governance and transparency in Web3, Azeem Khan says. It’s up to the industry to provide it.

  • As AI-fueled disinformation explodes, here comes the startup counterattack

    With disinformation on the rise, especially given the explosion of AI, companies are just as vulnerable to its effects as individuals. Refute is a London-based startup that detects and responds to disinformation on behalf of these commercial entities. It’s now raised a £2.3 million ($2.9 million) pre-seed round led by U.K. investors Playfair and Episode 1.

  • Uyghur fighters in Syria vow to come for China next

    A Uyghur militant group that helped to topple Bashar-al Assad has vowed to take the fight to China.

  • Why Israel captured Syria’s tallest mountain just hours after Assad fell

    Israel wasted no time after Bashar al-Assad’s fall to bomb all the Syrian military assets it wanted to keep out of the rebels’ hands – striking nearly 500 targets, destroying the navy, and taking out, it claims, 90% of Syria’s known surface-to-air missiles.

  • Grace Wong reveals pregnancy in stunning Santorini announcement

    The former TVB actress shares that she and husband will be welcoming a baby after eight years of marriage

  • Elizabeth Hurley reveals Hugh Grant’s response when he saw her in ‘that dress’ for the first time

    Hurley was an unknown name when she appeared at the 1994 premiere for ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’

  • Fears mount for Syria’s minorities as video emerges showing rebel fighters executing suspects

    Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has become Syria’s new strongman, replacing the Alawite regime of Bashar al-Assad. Once a partner of al Qaeda, Jolani now speaks the language of tolerance towards Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities and told his fighters to refrain from extrajudicial violence. Videos emerging on social media, including one apparently showing the execution of four suspected regime collaborators, suggest that not all of his fighters are following hi

  • US serviceman sentenced to 5 years for kidnapping and raping Japanese schoolgirl, officials say

    A US serviceman was sentenced to five years in prison for kidnapping and raping an underage girl last year, an official from Naha District Court on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa told CNN Friday.

  • Bloody siege ends Myanmar army control of western border

    Insurgents seized Myanmar's border with Bangladesh in one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war.

  • Jennifer Lopez Is Trying to Convince Us That Super Low-Rise Jeans Are Back and It’s Working

    The 'Unstoppable' star may be reviving a highly-debated denim trend

  • Sydney Sweeney Claps Back at Body Critics with Intense Workout Footage for Boxing Biopic

    The actress posted videos of her flipping tires, pumping iron and punching bags in response to negative comments

  • A Syrian soldier's story: Why Assad's army didn't fight for him

    STORY: Just weeks ago, Farhan al-Khouli was manning a military outpost in Idlib, northern Syria, for Bashar al-Assad's army.The story of his desertion - one of many - shows how Assad's army crumbled as the rebels advanced.Khouli's commanding officer called to say a rebel convoy was heading their way.They were just three men, badly paid and demoralized, one deemed unfit by his superiors to bear arms.They were meant to be nine but others had bribed their way out.They should stand and fight, the officer said.Instead Khouli put his phone on airplane mode, changed into civilian clothes, dropped his rifle and fled.Ending up in Damascus, now taken by the rebels, where he got this job at a horse stable.On the road he saw other groups of deserting soldiers.“Those who were with me in the room, I no longer know anything about them. Everyone went in a different way, some went this way, others went that way. I wanted to reach the highway, because if I reached the highway, I would no longer worry. I reach Hama, I reach Homs, I have no problem. I saw all the people gathering. It was over, they fled, the whole area was gone. I said praise be to God, I am here, by God Almighty, when they said that the whole area had fallen, I started to cry with joy.":: November 29, 2024Reuters spoke to a dozen sources, including Syrian military and security sources and allied militia commanders. As Aleppo came under attack in late November, army units were not given a clear plan but were told to work it out for themselves, two Syrian security sources said. Within two weeks, the rebels had toppled Assad's brutal regime. His army lacked leadership and a defense strategy, the sources said, and had lost much of its command structure - the Iranian military advisors and militia allies such as Hezbollah - who'd left as war with Israel escalated.The army also lacked loyalty, as Khouli's story describes.Khouli didn't want to sign up but says he was forced to. He ended up at that remote post in Idlib because he'd tried to desert once and been jailed for it.One former major told Reuters the use of forced conscripts was a "fatal mistake." Khouli says he had to do heavy manual labor in extreme heat and cold.Reuters was not able to verify the details of his experiences.He says he was paid $40 a month and went hungry.“We used to get sugar, and we used to get ghee, and we used to get oil, but it all went away, it used to get stolen, and we wouldn't see any of it. What we received was a pot of bulgar wheat, mostly bulgar, I mean, we used to go 4 or 5 days with only bulgar, and each person had a pinch of tomato and potato. Each person received his portion, I mean, it wasn’t enough to fill you up.”:: North Hama, Syria:: Released December 1, 2024In 2020, the army had 130,000 personnel, according to the IISS think tank, depleted by the long civil war and functioning more like a militia.A U.S. official told Reuters Washington was learning of high-level desertions and military forces changing sides in the days before Assad fell.Corruption went up through the ranks.Colonel Makhlouf Makhlouf served in an engineering brigade stationed in Hama but deserted before the city fell on December 5.He said if anyone complained about corruption they were questioned at a military court, which happened to him more than once. A serving senior military intelligence officer told Reuters anger had been building against Assad personally within the military, especially over the past year......including among core high-ranking supporters from his minority Alawite community.Despite his army past, Khouli says he has no fear for the future. "I'm happy and at ease," he says. "I'm not afraid at all."

  • Woman Brings Her Ailing Dog to Spain to Live Out Her Final Days. Then She Unexpectedly Falls in Love (Exclusive)

    A Seattle woman's compassionate mission to take her ailing dog on a final adventure led to an unexpected friendship that's capturing hearts worldwide

  • Battered corpses show the horrors of life and death under Syria’s Assad

    The 35 or so bodies were found in a military hospital in the Syrian capital of Damascus, days after the regime fell. They are believed to be among the last victims of Assad.

  • Russian missile scientist ‘assassinated by Ukrainian special forces’

    A Russian scientist known for developing cruise missiles has been found shot dead in a snowy wooded area near Moscow.

  • Blue Ivy Carter Sparks Controversy By Wearing What Some Call A ‘Wildly Inappropriate’ Dress

    Certain social media users criticized the outfit, but many others voiced support for the 12-year-old daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

  • Megan Fox's ex-husband Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'

    Megan Fox's ex-husband Brian Austin Green has told Machine Gun Kelly to "grow up" after the pregnant actress ended their relationship.

  • China jails former Premier League star Li Tie 20 years for corruption

    China on Friday jailed former Premier League star and men's national coach Li Tie for 20 years for bribery, snaring one of the country's greatest football figures in a sweeping government crackdown on corruption in sport.The 47-year-old is one of China's biggest football names, serving as national team coach from January 2020 to December 2021, after racking up nearly 100 international caps and playing as a midfielder for English Premier League side Everton.