AUSTRALIA
AI articles criticized
A science magazine yesterday drew criticism after publishing artificial intelligence (AI)-generated articles that experts said were incorrect or oversimplified. Cosmos, published by the state-backed national science agency, used Open AI’s GPT-4 to produce six articles that were published last month. Although the use of AI was disclosed, the Science Journalists’ Association of Australia said its use had caused serious concerns. Association president Jackson Ryan told reporters that in the article “What happens to our bodies after death?” descriptions of scientific processes were incorrect or vastly simplified. These inaccuracies would damage people’s trust in and perception of the publication, he said. A spokesperson for the national science agency said the AI content had been fact-checked by a “trained science communicator and edited by the Cosmos publishing team.”
AUSTRALIA
Dog abuser sentenced
A crocodile expert was sentenced yesterday to more than 10 years in jail for sexually abusing and killing dozens of dogs, and a string of other crimes. Adam Britton, 53, had pleaded guilty to 63 charges relating to bestiality, animal cruelty and possessing child abuse material. In sentencing Britton, Northern Territory Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Grant described the acts as “unspeakable” and “grotesque.” Broadcster ABC reported that Britton acquired 42 dogs online from 2020 to 2022, promising their owners he would give them a “good home.” Instead, Britton filmed himself raping and killing dogs in a shipping container on his property in Darwin, ABC reported. The footage was shared via Telegram. Police arrested Britton in 2022. Britton was a crocodile expert in Australia and worked on several productions with the BBC and National Geographic. He would be eligible for parole in April 2028 and is banned from owning mammals for the rest of his life.
AUSTRIA
Swift concerts canceled
Organizers of three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna this week on Wednesday called them off after officials announced arrests over an apparent plot to launch an attack on an event in the Vienna area such as the concerts. Swift was scheduled to play at the Ernst Happel Stadium yesterday, today and tomorrow as part of her Eras Tour. Event organizer Barracuda Music said in a post on its Instagram channel that “we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety.” It cited government officials’ “confirmation” of a planned attack at the stadium.
PANAMA
‘VIP smugglers’ arrested
Border police on Wednesday arrested 15 people connected to a criminal organization that helped smuggle Chinese across the Darien jungle via a “VIP route” with fewer challenges to traverse. The arrests were made in the town of Santa Fe. More than 500,000 people traversed the so-called Darien Gap last year, where migrants face dangers such as rapid rivers, wild animals and criminal gangs. However, the “VIP route” used all-terrain vehicles and even horses to speed up the sometimes week-long journey for those who could afford it. Chinese were the primary migrants to pay to use the “VIP route,” local prosecutor Emeldo Marquez said. He attributed this to their generally higher purchasing power compared with other migrant groups.
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
‘DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY’: The melting of thousands of glaciers is a major threat to people in the landlocked region that already suffers from a water shortage Near a wooden hut high up in the Kyrgyz mountains, scientist Gulbara Omorova walked to a pile of gray rocks, reminiscing how the same spot was a glacier just a few years ago. At an altitude of 4,000m, the 35-year-old researcher is surrounded by the giant peaks of the towering Tian Shan range that also stretches into China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The area is home to thousands of glaciers that are melting at an alarming rate in Central Asia, already hard-hit by climate change. A glaciologist, Omarova is recording that process — worried about the future. She hiked six hours to get to
The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has hit a record high of more than 95,000, almost 90 percent of whom are women, government data showed yesterday. The figures further highlight the slow-burning demographic crisis gripping the world’s fourth-biggest economy as its population ages and shrinks. As of Sept. 1, Japan had 95,119 centenarians, up 2,980 year-on-year, with 83,958 of them women and 11,161 men, the Japanese Ministry of Health said in a statement. On Sunday, separate government data showed that the number of over-65s has hit a record high of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3 percent of
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