Zelenskyy says ‘we must do everything’ against ‘wicked Russian attacks’ as Ukraine and US meet for emergency talks
The Ukrainian delegation has held talks with European security officials in Geneva, according to the head of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Andriy Yermak.
“Overall, a series of meetings in various formats is planned for today. We continue working together to achieve a lasting and just peace for Ukraine,” Yermak wrote in a post on X. “The next meeting is with the US delegation. We are in a very constructive mood.”
To live in Toronto, to be subjected to its politics, is to watch the perfect lay waste to the good over and over again. So it’s tempting to side with the admirably uncynical activists and advocates who championed what passes for a recent major change in this city: Neighbourhood retail, which is to say retail in neighbourhoods, has been “legalized.” Read More
The UK could’ve been a true tech leader – but it has cheerfully submitted to US dominance in a way that may cost it dear
Two and a half centuries ago, the American colonies launched a violent protest against British rule, triggered by parliament’s imposition of a monopoly on the sale of tea and the antics of a vainglorious king. Today, the tables have turned: it is Great Britain that finds itself at the mercy of major US tech firms – so huge and dominant that they constitute monopolies in their fields – as well as the whims of an erratic president. Yet, to the outside observer, Britain seems curiously at ease with this arrangement – at times even eager to subsidise its own economic dependence. Britain is hardly alone in submitting to the power of American firms, but it offers a clear case study in why nations need to develop a coordinated response to the rise of these hegemonic companies.
The current age of American tech monopoly began in the 2000s, when the UK, like many other countries, became almost entirely dependent on a small number of US platforms – Google, Facebook, Amazon and a handful of others. It was a time of optimism about the internet as a democratising force, characterised by the belief that these platforms would make everyone rich. The dream of the 1990s – naive but appealing – was that anyone with a hobby or talent could go online and make a living from it.
The dangers of artificial intelligence and its potential to consolidate power are clear. But used fairly, it can be a boon for good government
Democracy is colliding with the technologies of artificial intelligence. Judging from the audience reaction at the recent World Forum on Democracy in Strasbourg, the general expectation is that democracy will be the worse for it. We have another narrative. Yes, there are risks to democracy from AI, but there are also opportunities.
We have just published the book Rewiring Democracy: How AI will Transform Politics, Government, and Citizenship. In it, we take a clear-eyed view of how AI is undermining confidence in our information ecosystem, how the use of biased AI can harm constituents of democracies and how elected officials with authoritarian tendencies can use it to consolidate power. But we also give positive examples of how AI is transforming democratic governance and politics for the better.
Nathan E Sanders is a data scientist affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center of Harvard University and co-author, with Bruce Schneier, of the book Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship. Bruce Schneier is a security technologist who teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University
With daft jokes and experimental wordplay, the first comprehensive translations of his lesser-known stories show Anton Chekhov in a new light
Few writers are as universally admired as Chekhov. As Booker winner George Saunders puts it, “Chekhov – shall I be blunt? – is the greatest short story writer who ever lived.” Novelists from Ann Patchett to Zadie Smith cite him as an inspiration. His plays The Seagull, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard still pack out theatres internationally. In the past year alone, Andrew Scott wowed audiences in his one-man Vanya for London’s National Theatre and Cate Blanchett took on the role of Arkadina in The Seagull at the Barbican. But how much did you know about his silly side?
Anton Chekhov: Earliest Stories offers the first comprehensive translation in English of the stories, novellas and humoresques that the Russian author wrote in the early 1880s. And it is supremely juvenile in the best way. The reason many of these stories are now appearing in translation for the first time is because, explains editor Rosamund Bartlett, they have never been regarded by commercial publishers as “worthy” of Chekhov’s reputation. They are too childishly comical. During the translation process, she says, “we would just collapse in fits of giggles”.
Captain visibly angry after defeat to Nottingham Forest
Accuses champions’ squad of letting down Arne Slot
Virgil van Dijk has delivered a scathing assessment of Liverpool’s woeful title defence, the club captain admitting the champions are in a mess and letting down Arne Slot while questioning whether every player is shouldering responsibility for the team’s slump.
Van Dijk could not contain his anger following Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest that left Liverpool in the bottom half of the table with a negative goal difference. Chairman Tom Werner was at Anfield to witness Liverpool’s sixth defeat in seven Premier League games, their eighth loss in 11 matches in all competitions, and a performance that unravelled against a Forest side that started the day in the relegation zone.
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The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen gold watch belonged to Isidor Straus who, along with his wife, lost his life when the ship sank
A gold pocket watch that belonged to a man who died on board the Titanic when it sank has sold for a record sum.
The watch, which belonged to 67-year-old Isidor Straus, went for £1.78m at auction, the highest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia. He was given the watch, an engraved 18-carat Jules Jurgensen, as a gift on his 43rd birthday in 1888.
Cars failed to meet minimum skid wear measurements
Loss of points places title within reach of Max Verstappen
McLaren have held their hands up and issued an apology to their drivers after their breach of Formula One regulations led to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the two leading title contenders, from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and putting the F1 drivers’ championship within the grasp of reigning champion, Max Verstappen.
The race was won by the Red Bull driver but Norris took a strong second and Piastri fourth. However, four hours after the race and following an investigation by the FIA, both were disqualified after the skid blocks on the floor of their cars were found to have been worn down below the 9mm limit defined in the rules.
‘Severe lack’ in territory where Israeli strikes have killed more than 50 people and injured over 100 in recent days
Hospitals in Gaza are running out of essential supplies, with new waves of Israeli airstrikes killing more than 50 people and injuring more than 100 in recent days, medical and aid workers in the devastated Palestinian territory have said.
Medics told the Guardian on Sunday that stocks of gauze, antiseptics, thermometers and antibiotics were running low.
I wrote last week of how the most significant churchman of the 20th century, St. John Paul the Great, proclaimed the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire with his June 1979 sermon at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw. The whole world knows of his impact. Read More
ICE and CBP’s North Carolina operation faced an early-warning system run by thousands of volunteers
“The operation is not over and it is not ending anytime soon.”
The message from the Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin went out to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon, in response to an announcement by Sheriff Garry McFadden that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was done with its immigration enforcement sweep.
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