UNITED STATES
AI beats top poker players
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made history by beating humans in poker for the first time, the last remaining game in which humans had managed to maintain the upper hand. Libratus, an AI built by Carnegie Mellon University, racked up more than US$1.7 million in chips against four of the top professional poker players in the world in a 20-day marathon poker tournament that ended on Tuesday in Philadelphia. “The best AI’s ability to do strategic reasoning with imperfect information has now surpassed that of the best humans,” computer science professor Tuomas Sandholm, who created Libratus with doctoral student Noam Brown, said on Wednesday.
UNITED STATES
Bobcat Ollie returns to zoo
After an elusive feline from Washington’s National Zoological Park triggered a three-day cat hunt — and an online sensation — Ollie the bobcat on Wednesday ventured home on her own terms. The seven-year-old, 12kg female went missing early on Monday from her enclosure in the capital, apparently after slipping through a hole in the fencing. Ollie ultimately turned up near the zoo’s birdhouse, where keepers successfully captured her and took her for a checkup with veterinarians. “We’re just over the moon happy,” said Craig Saffoe, curator of big cats at the zoo. “I think she was ready to come home.” A team of zookeepers, police officers and animal rescue workers had deemed their search futile just hours earlier.
MEXICO
Police find bodies of six men
Police found the bodies of six men reportedly kidnapped by an armed gang in the southern state of Guerrero, state prosecutor Xavier Olea said on Wednesday. Two women who were kidnapped along with the six men were released alive, Olea said, but added that the women “are in a state of shock, they are very afraid” and had not yet spoken to investigators. The kidnappings were reported Monday, Olea said, adding that the bodies were apparently found on Tuesday in a rural mountain community north of Acapulco, an area that has been the scene of turf battles involving drug gangs and vigilante “community police” forces.
SLOVAKIA
Fico unveils anti-terror unit
Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday unveiled a special police unit to fight extremism, warning about the rise of fascism in Europe and Slovakia. The 125-strong unit is to investigate crimes related to support and funding of terrorism and extremism, hate crimes and hate speech, both online and off-line, the police said. In an electoral shock, the far-right People’s Party-Our Slovakia last year entered parliament for the first time after winning 8 percent of the vote in a March election. The party openly admires Jozef Tiso, leader of the 1939-1945 Nazi puppet state who allowed tens of thousands of Slovak Jews to be deported to Nazi death camps.
NIGERIA
Lagos restores death penalty
Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday signed a law authorizing the death penalty for anyone convicted in a kidnapping where the victim dies, saying it would help halt a spate of abductions for ransom. The central government signed a moratorium to stop executions seven years ago, but that has been breached in Edo State, where three men convicted of armed robbery were hanged in December last year and four convicted criminals were hanged in 2013.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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