Important Takeaways:
- The death toll from heavy rains in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state rose to 143, up from 136 on the day before, the local civil defense government body said on Sunday, as rains continue to pour on the state.
- Another 125 people remain unaccounted for in the state, where rivers are reporting rising levels. Weather service Metsul called the situation “extremely worrying.”
- On Saturday evening the government announced around 12.1 billion reais ($2.34 billion) in emergency spending to deal with the crisis that has displaced more than 538,000 people in the state, out of a population of around 10.9 million.
- With this new money, more than 60 billion reais in federal funds has already been made available to the state, said the federal government in a statement on Saturday.
- Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the state will rebuild what was destroyed.
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Important Takeaways:
- Deceitful tactics by artificial intelligence exposed: ‘Meta’s AI a master of deception’ in strategy game
- Paper: ‘AI’s increasing capabilities at deception pose serious risks, ranging from short-term, such as fraud and election tampering, to long-term, such as losing control of AI systems’
- At its core, deception is the luring of false beliefs from others to achieve a goal other than telling the truth. When humans engage in deception, we can usually explain it in terms of their beliefs and desires – they want the listener to believe something false because it benefits them in some way. But can we say the same about AI systems?
- The study, published in the open-access journal Patterns, argues that the philosophical debate about whether AIs truly have beliefs and desires is less important than the observable fact that they are increasingly exhibiting deceptive behaviors that would be concerning if displayed by a human.
- “Large language models and other AI systems have already learned, from their training, the ability to deceive via techniques such as manipulation, sycophancy, and cheating the safety test. AI’s increasing capabilities at deception pose serious risks, ranging from short-term risks, such as fraud and election tampering, to long-term risks, such as losing control of AI systems,” the authors write in their paper.
- The study surveys a wide range of examples where AI systems have successfully learned to deceive. In the realm of gaming, the AI system CICERO, developed by Meta to play the strategy game Diplomacy, turned out to be an expert liar despite its creators’ efforts to make it honest and helpful. CICERO engaged in premeditated deception, making alliances with human players only to betray them later in its pursuit of victory.
- The risks posed by AI deception are numerous. In the short term, deceptive AI could be weaponized by malicious actors to commit fraud on an unprecedented scale, to spread misinformation and influence elections, or even to radicalize and recruit terrorists. But the long-term risks are perhaps even more chilling. As we increasingly incorporate AI systems into our daily lives and decision-making processes, their ability to deceive could lead to the erosion of trust, the amplification of polarization and misinformation, and, ultimately, the loss of human agency and control.
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Important Takeaways:
- 70 Dairy Farm Workers in Colorado Monitored for Symptoms After Exposure to Bird Flu Virus
- Colorado health authorities are closely monitoring 70 dairy farm workers after a potential exposure to the bird flu virus on a northeastern farm. This situation follows a recent announcement of a second possible bird flu outbreak affecting a dairy herd in the state.
- The virus has now been detected in 36 dairy herds across nine states, one of which is located in Colorado. As the virus transitions between birds and cattle, it is at risk of mutating further, according to experts, potentially enhancing its capability to infect humans.
- Rachel Herlihy, MD, MPH, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Chief Epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health, stated that while the overall risk to humans is low, it varies based on exposure levels.
- She noted that approximately 70 farm workers in Colorado have been under observation, and to date, none have exhibited symptoms.
- In a recent Senate Committee briefing, Dr. Robert Califf, the head of the FDA, announced proactive measures being implemented in preparation for a potential bird flu pandemic that could prove deadly to a significant portion of the infected population.
- “This virus, like all viruses, is mutating,” Dr. Califf claimed to the lawmakers. “We need to continue to prepare for the possibility that it might jump to humans.”
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘I Could Make It Infectious In Months’: Former CDC Director Sounds Alarm Over Bird Flu Experiments
- Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield warned last week on NewsNation:
- “I’m obviously most worried about bird flu. Right now, it takes five amino acid changes for it to be effectively infecting humans. That’s a pretty heavy species barrier – but this virus is already in 26 mammal species, as you most recently saw cattle. But in the laboratory, I could make it highly infectious for humans in just months.”
- Redfield continued:
- “That’s the real threat. That’s the real biosecurity threat that these university labs are doing bio-experiments that are intentionally modifying viruses – and I think bird flu is going to be the cause of the Great Pandemic – where they’re teaching these viruses to be more infectious for humans.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia warns it is ready for direct conflict if the West wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield – as Swedish PM says he is open to hosting nukes ‘in a war situation’
- If the West wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield, Russia is prepared for it, the country’s foreign minister declared today.
- ‘It’s their right – if they want it to be on the battlefield, it will be on the battlefield,’ Sergei Lavrov said in comments carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti.
- His statement comes months after French President Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out the possibility that Western troops could one day be sent to Ukraine, and weeks ago said he could send troops if Russian forces break through the front lines.
- Lavrov made the warning as Sweden’s Prime Minister said he would be willing to host Western nuclear weapons should war break out.
- Leaked German documents have also suggested Berlin may be planning to introduce mandatory military service for men and women aged 18.
- The war of words between Moscow and the West dialed up as Russian troops pummeled 30 towns in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region after launching a surprise ground offensive over the border last week.
- RIA also cited him as saying that peace talks on Ukraine due to take place in Switzerland next month without Russia’s participation amounted to an ultimatum to Moscow.
- He compared the situation to ‘a reprimand for a schoolchild’ whose fate was being decided by teachers while he was out of the room.
- ‘You can’t talk to anyone like that, especially to us,’ Lavrov said. ‘The conference… boils down to restating an ultimatum to Russia.’
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden faces criticism for failing to impose pressure campaign on Iran as it races toward nuclear weapon
- After the head of the United Nation’s atomic watchdog agency warned that Iran has enough uranium to produce “several” nuclear bombs, a firebrand Iranian lawmaker declared on Friday that the Islamic Republic of Iran possesses atomic weapons.
- “In my opinion, we have achieved nuclear weapons, but we do not announce it. It means our policy is to possess nuclear bombs, but our declared policy is currently within the framework of the JCPOA,” Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani told the Iran-based outlet Rouydad 24 on Friday, according to an article published by the independent news organization Iran International in London.
- The JCPOA provides massive economic sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for assurances it will not, within a limited time period, build a nuclear weapon.
- Ardestani, who was re-elected to Iran’s quasi-parliament in March, added, “The reason is that when countries want to confront others, their capabilities must be compatible, and Iran’s compatibility with America and Israel means that Iran must have nuclear weapons”
- The Iranian parliament member noted, “In a climate where Russia has attacked Ukraine and Israel has attacked Gaza, and Iran is a staunch supporter of the Resistance Front, it is natural for the containment system to require that Iran possess nuclear bombs. However, whether Iran declares it is another matter.” Fox News Digital sent press queries to Iran’s Foreign Ministry in Tehran and its U.N. mission in New York.
- Just two days before Ardestani’s announcement, the president of the Iranian Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Kamal Kharrazi, told Al-Jazeera Network Qatar, “I announced two years ago, in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV, that Iran had the absorptive capacity and the capability to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran still has that capability, but we have not made the decision to produce a nuclear bomb
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel has insisted that it must invade Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million people had sought refuge, in order to accomplish its core objective of “eliminating” Hamas’ presence in the enclave after months of fighting further north.
- But Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Sunday that even a full-scale ground assault on Rafah would fail to achieve that goal.
- Israel is “on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,” he said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
- “Even if it goes in and takes heavy action in Rafah, there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left,” Blinken said, noting that “we’ve seen, in areas that Israel has cleared in the north, even in Khan Younis, Hamas coming back.”
- Blinken said that instead of focusing on an assault on Rafah, Israel should prioritize presenting a credible post-war plan for Gaza.
- Talks for a new cease-fire deal have seemingly broken down, and President Joe Biden threatened last week to halt the shipment of certain arms to Israel should it launch a full-scale assault on Rafah.
- Nearly 360,000 people have fled the city since Israel ordered a partial evacuation a week ago and sent tanks in, according to the United Nations.
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Important Takeaways:
- A majority of Americans think that the U.S. economy is heading in the wrong direction, according to an exclusive poll for Newsweek, with many blaming Joe Biden’s economic agenda—Bidenomics—for it.
- But experts told Newsweek that the U.S. economy is doing relatively well, especially when compared to most other Western economies. The negative outlook on the economy that many Americans hold is likely linked to the fact that the economic picture is objectively complicated and hard to understand right now.
- Their widespread pessimism is reflected in the results of a Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll conducted on behalf of Newsweek on April 11. According to the survey, some 50 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy is heading in the wrong direction, while only 25 percent said it is going in the right direction.
- Americans are also negative about their own financial situation. Some 42 percent of respondents said their financial situation has worsened in the last year. Only 26 percent said it has improved, while 32 percent said it has stayed the same.
- Some 47 percent of Americans said they were now financially worse off than they were three years before, against 26 percent who said they were better off and 27 percent who said they were about the same. Some 45 percent said they were now worse off than before the pandemic, while 28 percent said they were better off and 27 percent were about the same.
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Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine warns northern front has ‘significantly worsened’ as Russia claims capture of several villages
- Ukraine’s top general says the situation in the northern Kharkiv region has “significantly worsened” after Russia claimed to have captured four further villages as it expanded its surprise cross-border offensive.
- A Ukrainian regional official insisted Russia’s progress was not yet “significant” but admitted ground fighting in the area was spreading. Meanwhile, speaking on British television, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron acknowledged it was an “extremely dangerous moment,” adding that Russia had effectively “invaded [Ukraine] again.”
- The precise goal of Russia’s new push – which began in the early hours of Friday morning – is unclear. It may be to create a buffer zone designed to reduce Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, or possibly even a renewed assault on the city of Kharkiv, 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the south.
- Equally, it could be an attempt to draw Ukrainian forces away from other key Russian objectives further south – which was the rationale Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered in his Sunday evening address.
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Important Takeaways:
- Joe Biden has been hiding intelligence on the whereabouts of Hamas leaders and their command tunnels, depriving Israel of vital information that could lead to an end to the war. That revelation came in a report on Saturday and was framed as the administration offering that information now if the ongoing operation in Rafah is canceled.
- The story first broke in The Washington Post , with the paper describing the offer as follows.
- The Biden administration, working urgently to stave off a full-scale Israeli invasion of Rafah, is offering Israel valuable assistance if it holds back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the group’s hidden tunnels, according to four people familiar with the U.S. offers.
- There’s no other way to read this except that the Biden administration has been protecting Hamas. If intelligence exists that can help “pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders,” it should have been given to Israel the moment it was produced. The same goes for any information about the terror tunnels.
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