
TEHERAN (ANP) - Iran kondigt represailles aan tegen de Verenigde Staten, nadat het Amerikaanse leger in de nacht van dinsdag op woensdag luchtaanvallen uitvoerde op Iraanse doelen rond de Straat van Hormuz. Volgens nieuwszender IRIB waren er zes explosies te horen op het Iraanse eiland Qeshm, zeven in de stad Sirik en nog meer in de grote havenstad Bandar Abbas.
"Iran geeft een ernstige waarschuwing af over de gevolgen van de Amerikaanse schending van het verdrag en zal beslissende maatregelen nemen om zijn belangen en nationale veiligheid te beschermen", aldus het ministerie in een verklaring die via Telegram door IRIB News werd verspreid. Met 'het verdrag' doelde Teheran op het in Islamabad overeengekomen memorandum dat tot vrede tussen de twee landen moet leiden.
De VS trokken eerder op dinsdag een tijdelijke ontheffing van sancties op Iraanse olie in, nadat drie tankers waren getroffen in de Straat van Hormuz. De Britse maritieme veiligheidsdienst UKMTO had gemeld dat een "onbekend projectiel" een tanker raakte en brand veroorzaakte. Daarna zouden nog twee schepen zijn getroffen.
ALMELO (ANP) - Een kleurloze brandbare vloeistof is dinsdag om 19.00 uur aangetroffen in een sloot op een bedrijventerrein in Almelo, zo meldt de brandweer in een bericht. De vloeistof, die werd gevonden op het bedrijvenpark Twente, wordt gebruikt in de chemische industrie.
Volgens de brandweer is gebleken dat het om een lekkage gaat die te herleiden is naar een bedrijf op het terrein. De oorzaak van die lekkage is nog niet gevonden.
De brandbare vloeistof is door het lek vrijgekomen in het riool van het bedrijf en in het openbare riool. "Samen met de gemeente Almelo, Waterschap Vechtstromen en het bedrijf werken we aan een oplossing om het incident te stabiliseren", aldus de brandweer.
WASHINGTON (ANP) - Ook Bernie Sanders dringt er bij de Democratische kandidaat Graham Platner op aan zich terug te trekken uit de senaatsrace in de Amerikaanse staat Maine. Sanders, een onafhankelijke senator die deel uitmaakt van de Democratische fractie in de Senaat, was de prominentste voorstander van de progressieve Platner in Washington.
Platner wordt door een ex-vriendin beschuldigd van het plegen van seksueel geweld, wat hij ontkent. Kopstukken in de Democratische Partij zoals senaatsleider Chuck Schumer en de New Yorkse senator Kirsten Gillibrand hebben hem al gemaand uit de race te stappen.
Sanders' oproep kwam vlak nadat The Washington Post met een nieuwe beschuldiging tegen Platner was gekomen, van een andere ex-vriendin. Zij beweert dat de oud-marinier en oestervisser tijdens de seks zonder haar toestemming condooms verwijderde. Platners campagneteam in Maine noemde de beschuldiging "categorisch onjuist en politiek gemotiveerd".
Platner is namens de Democraten de kandidaat om het in november op te nemen tegen de Republikeinse Susan Collins voor een plek in de Senaat, waar de Republikeinen een nipte meerderheid hebben.
Een Precies Vier bestaat uit 16 woorden, begrippen of namen, die moeten worden verdeeld in precies vier groepen van vier. Er is telkens maar één oplossing mogelijk. Welke woorden vormen een connectie?
Je krijgt een paar cijfers cadeau, maar het grid van 9x9 moet foutloos ingevuld worden.
Als je wel zin hebt om te sudokuen, maar het liever bij een gridje van 5x5 houdt.
Some of its amateur matches pull in bigger crowds than European leagues but are more of a spectacle than a pathway to the professional game, say experts
Michael Owen, a man who once quipped he had never drunk tea or coffee, isn’t known for his adventurous palate. Safe to assume, then, that the former England striker was out of his comfort zone sipping Roxburgh rose juice and eating chilli-wrapped rice noodle rolls during his recent visit to south-west China’s Guizhou province.
The 2001 Ballon d’Or winner dusted off his boots for a match in Rongjiang county, the birthplace of viral amateur football league Cun Chao, also known as the Village Super League. Scoring twice in a 4-3 loss for local side Rongjiang Niubi, Owen endeared himself to the thousands in attendance, even if some weren’t familiar with the former Liverpool and Real Madrid player.
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Grok, what's the difference between right and wrong?
Last Sunday, San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey relaxed after what was, for most, a fun-packed SF Pride by repeatedly prompting xAI chatbot Grok to provide justifications for the killings of civilians in Gaza by Israeli forces. [...]
In lieu of actually addressing his critics online, of which there were many in the replies, Dorsey only had eyes for Grok, a chatbot that is notorious for being programmed to push false narratives about politics, history, and everything else according to the very transparent whims of xAI's trillionaire backer, Elon Musk.
Matt, are you OK? I really mean that. I'm not trying to be funny. Frankly, I tried to write something satirical about what was happening -- tried to find a lighter way through this -- but the more I dug in, the more concerned I started to feel.
Only a year ago, some backend overcompensation by Grok's puppeteers resulted in the bot compulsively spitting out conspiracies about "white genocide" in South Africa, praising Adolf Hitler, and engaging in Holocaust denial. To that point, AI researchers have warned that AI boosters' framing of chatbots as objective and reliable could be weaponized to push propaganda and even encourage people to commit violence.
So of course, watching an elected official openly using it to confirm his very loaded questions about the correctness of killing civilians is unsettling -- even terrifying.
In his most recent dealings with Grok, the supervisor's behavior is giving off the sketch vibes of a person antagonizing those around him while not even looking at them. Instead, it's almost like he's staring off into space and talking to someone who isn't there.
As it stands today, X is a platform that actively facilitates the turning of brains into pudding. And if this were some rando in the city posting, it would be easy to dismiss them as another soul lost to AI obsession. But Dorsey represents a major and heavily populated slice of San Francisco, including Mid-Market, Mission Bay, SoMa, and other neighborhoods. Supervisors like him write legislation and have a profound impact on the lives of the people in their districts and the city at large.
If this is what he's doing publicly, what is he asking Grok in private?
Despite this, Matt remains only San Francisco's second-worst weird dude named Dorsey.
Waymos were a key reason for the traffic snarl in the Presidio after Saturday night's foggy fireworks display on the Golden Gate Bridge. Videos and social media posts from people stuck in traffic show Waymos locked in giant lines, randomly blocking the road, and stuck in a roundabout.
A number of Waymos had to be towed after they lost battery power; the vehicles that could hold a charge made errors on the road that backed traffic up for blocks, bystanders said.
Fellow drivers acted like, well, drivers. "We realized people were getting out of their cars, yelling and screaming at these Waymos because there were no drivers," Dave Guingona, who was stuck in Presidio traffic for two hours, told NBC News. [...]
In the Mission, meanwhile, one Waymo drove into an intersection despite a large lit firework sitting in the middle of the road. Video taken inside the car by passenger Rose Peterson shows the firework's sparks flashing all around them as the Waymo takes a lazy left turn. A second angle shows Peterson's Waymo tip the firework over, which then shoots projectiles at cars, homes, and bystanders on the sidewalk. [...]
A second Waymo that encountered a firework was a different story, though: A vehicle that drove into a firework near the 1200 block of Connecticut Street in Potrero caught on fire, Waymo said. The Waymo was unoccupied and there were no injuries; the vehicle had to be removed by the San Francisco Fire Department and other city authorities, according to Bonelli.
These incidents raise serious concerns about autonomous vehicles, especially those operating during unusual traffic patterns that may require real decision-making by drivers. "Human drivers don't just drive. They are the captain of the ship and anything that can happen to it," AV expert Phil Koopman told Gazetteer in 2024. "Well, if you put a computer in charge and it's not capable of doing anything other than navigating traffic, who's the real captain of the ship?"
The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins did not respond by press time to Gazetteer's questions about legal mechanisms that might hold Waymo accountable when its operational failures, including parking and moving violations, lead to blocked roads and other forms of extended congestion. Jenkins recently attempted to prosecute seven members of the so-called "Golden Gate 26" who blocked the bridge in 2024 during a protest and were charged with felonies for false imprisonment (for keeping people stuck in traffic) and obstructing a thoroughfare.
Meanwhile, Mayor Daniel Lurie, who has been a major ally for Waymo in its San Francisco expansion, did not mention the company in his statement regarding the July 4 pileups.
Mirroring these videos that were posted on oligarch-controlled social media sites for posterity...
I have so many posts about Waymos on fire that it almost deserves its own tag:
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