Author: i2wtc

NEW YORK — As crucial elections approach in the United States and the European Union, publicly available artificial intelligence tools could easily be weaponized to inject convincing election lies into the voices of leading politicians, a digital civil rights group said Friday.Researchers at the Washington, DC-based Countering Digital Hate Center tested six of the most popular AI voice cloning tools to see if they could generate audio clips of five false statements about the election in the voices of eight prominent American and European politicians.Out of 240 total tests, the tool produced convincing voice clones in 193 cases, or 80…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday asked former Prime Minister Imran Khan to “keep quiet” if he wants to ease political tensions in the country, days after a controversy erupted over the latter’s social media posts.”All Pakistanis should study the Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission report and know who is the real traitor – General Yahya Khan or Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” a post purportedly from Khan, the jailed founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, wrote on X on May 26. The post was accompanied by a video of black-and-white photos from the 1970s.The Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission Report was a report by…

The State Board of Education has upheld a rule requiring student athletes to compete based on the sex they were assigned at birth. It is already illegal in Florida for transgender women and girls to participate in girls’ sports at academic institutions, and now the state Board of Education has approved Florida High School Athletic Association rules that further strengthen that ban. Florida Education Secretary Manny Diaz praised the ban and criticized the Biden administration during a conference call on Wednesday. “Rather than simply preventing discrimination based on biological sex, the Biden administration is trying to convince the public that…

The seventh phase of India’s Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for June 1, in which voters in 57 constituencies across eight states will exercise their franchise to decide the composition of a new government. Results of this phase will be announced on June 4, 12 days before the end of the current Lok Sabha term.Prior to this final phase, the electoral process had gone through earlier phases: the first phase on April 19 covered 102 constituencies in 21 states, followed by the second phase on April 26 covering 89 constituencies in 13 states.2024 House of Representatives Election Schedule | Exit…

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Wednesday that the city’s embattled police chief had been fired, just days after the city’s deputy chief was placed on administrative leave and at least six officers filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination against women and people of color.Harrell said he had appointed former King County sheriff Sue Lahr, who most recently served as director of the state’s police academy, to replace Adrian Diaz on an interim basis. He said Lahr would not be considered a permanent replacement and that Diaz would be reassigned to “special assignment.”During a news conference on Wednesday, Harrell praised Diaz as…

As a heatwave grips South Asia, life-and-death decisions are made in the midday sun.Abideen Khan and his 10-year-old son make $3.50 a day molding mud into bricks in an open-air kiln in the southern Pakistani city of Jacobabad, and they don’t want to waste a cent of it. But in recent days, temperatures have soared to 126 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Celsius), forcing them to stop work by 1 p.m. and cutting their income in half.”This isn’t the heat,” Khan said, sweat streaming down his face and soaking his old clothes. “This might be a punishment from God.”It’s another brutal…

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin and his Chinese counterpart met in person for the first time in 18 months on Friday to discuss trial steps to manage military tensions despite their opposing positions on Taiwan, the South China Sea and other disputes.Austin’s 75-minute meeting with Chinese Navy Admiral Dong Jun in Singapore came after a flurry of senior Biden administration officials visited Beijing to discuss trade imbalances, U.S. restrictions on technology trade with China, China’s support for Russia during the war in Ukraine and other sources of tension.President Biden has said the United States and China need to…

clock: Miss USA resigns due to mental health issues Miss USA CEO Layla Rose is refuting allegations of fostering a toxic environment, bullying and sexual harassment made against the organization by former Miss USA Noelia Voight in her resignation letter earlier this month. “We are extremely disappointed to hear of the recent false allegations made by those representing our former titleholders,” Rose said in a statement Thursday regarding the litany of accusations that have been leveled at the organization since Voight’s resignation and subsequent submission of his resignation.Former Miss USA 2023 alleges toxic work environment in resignation letter “The allegations…

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea by an independent candidate challenging his denial of nomination from Bihar’s Jahanabad constituency in the Indian Lok Sabha elections.A vacation bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Aravind Kumar asked the plaintiff’s counsel to approach a division bench of the Patna High Court in appeal against the single judge’s order dismissing the plaintiff’s petition for rejection of the nomination papers.The Supreme Court also suggested to the lawyers that they could file an election suit against the High Court order.The lawyer then sought and was granted permission to withdraw his plea.”The counsel…

PARIS — Monaco midfielder Mohamed Kamara has been suspended for four games by the French league for covering up an anti-homophobic message written on the team’s shirt during the club’s final league game of the season.The French league’s disciplinary committee said in a statement late on Thursday that it had sanctioned the Malian player for refusing to “carry out one or more actions to raise awareness in the fight against homophobia.”The French league held its annual anti-discrimination campaign at the weekend’s final match, with each team wearing a badge with the word “homophobia” crossed out. Camara covered his badge with…