Using AI to speed up Australia’s environmental approvals risks ‘robodebt-style’ failures, scientists say
Conservationists say move could push species closer to extinction and clearer environmental rules are needed insteadFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastConservationists and scientists have warned a mining lobby proposal to use artificial intelligence to speed up national environmental approvals could generate “Robodebt-style” failures, putting threatened species at further risk.The Minerals Council of Australia has asked the government to spend $13m to trial the use of AI to help companies prepare applications and help the federal government make decisions. Continue reading...
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Iran’s internal power struggle could decide when Trump’s war ends
• An internal power struggle is unfolding within Iran as factions debate how to handle the ongoing 47-year conflict with the United States. • Pragmatists within the government argue that the window to settle the conflict from a position of strength is rapidly closing.
Read original · edition.cnn.comSmartglasses should automatically blur people’s faces while filming, Australia’s online safety regulator says
Smartglasses with cameras can benefit the vision impaired but companies might pit ‘accessibility benefits against safety and privacy’, eSafety saysFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s online safety regulator has urged smartglasses companies to automatically blur people’s faces filmed on the devices, and make it clearer when someone is filming, as the federal government faces pressure to ban the technology.In advice to industry published on Monday, the office of the eSafety commissioner warned that while smartglasses with cameras, such as Meta’s Ray-Ban, can offer accessibility benefits to low vision or blind people, companies might pit “accessibility benefits against safety and privacy considerations”, and noted there was already a backlash to the technology. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comAt least 15 people may be missing after flash flood in Arizona’s Grand Canyon
Dozens evacuated after flash-flood event near Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch, officials sayAt least 15 people may be missing or unaccounted for after a major flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon national park in Arizona on Saturday afternoon, according to the National Park Service.The flash-flood event occurred in the area of Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch, where park staff and the Arizona department of public safety have evacuated more than 60 people as of Sunday morning. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comUSDA reportedly shelves cyclospora research amid relocations and fund cuts
Trump officials shuttering three projects on foodborne parasite, two defunded by Congress, Politico reportsThe Trump administration is shuttering two of the three US Department of Agriculture research projects studying cyclospora after the foodborne parasite has sickened tens of thousands of Americans during the summer, Politico reported on Sunday.The two projects were defunded by Congress earlier in the year, while the third is due to be moved in coming months from Maryland to Iowa as part of a broader USDA reorganization, according to the report. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comUS strikes Iranian launchers on Larak island amid strait of Hormuz tensions
US says attack was response to Revolutionary Guards preparing rockets to launch sea mines into strait US forces have struck two Iranian launchers on Iran’s Larak island on Sunday, a US official said, marking the first known American strikes since late July.“I can confirm that earlier today US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak island. Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the strait of Hormuz,” the official said. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comNews live: number of Australians missing in Nepal floods rises; Penny Wong announces $3m additional aid for disaster
Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday. Follow the day’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe government will send $3 million in additional aid to Nepal, the foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has announced, bringing the total package to $8 million.Of this additional aid, the Australian defence force will coordinate $2m worth of hygiene kits, solar lighting and other emergency supplies following a request from Nepal’s government.The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will transport the first of these supplies from Queensland in the coming days. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comAll-time great Aaron Donald comes out of retirement to rejoin stacked LA Rams
Los Angeles were already Super Bowl favoritesDefensive tackle was 10-time Pro Bowler with Rams35-year-old aiming to win second Super Bowl in LAAaron Donald, one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, is coming out of retirement to rejoin his only professional team, the Los Angeles Rams.During a 10-season career with the Rams, who drafted him with the 13th overall pick in 2014, Donald was a three-time defensive player of the year and an eight-time first team All-Pro. He won a Super Bowl with the Rams at the end of the 2021 season before announcing his retirement in March 2024 at the age of 32. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comAustralian boxing great Tony Mundine dies aged 75
Father of former boxer and NRL star Anthony Mundine succumbed to a heart attack on SundayWarning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images and names of Indigenous Australians who have diedIndigenous Australian boxing great Tony Mundine has died, aged 75.The father of former boxer and NRL star Anthony Mundine succumbed to a heart attack on Sunday. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comTrump ‘border czar’ denies that Milo Yiannopoulos was deported after arrest
Tom Homan says rightwing influencer overstayed visitor visa after receiving final order of removalThe White House “border czar,” Tom Homan, denied on Sunday that the British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos was deported just a day after being arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for political reasons.Homan said it was his understanding that Yiannopoulos, 41, had overstayed what he believed to be a visitor visa, had not appeared at an immigration hearing and was issued a final order of removal on 22 July. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comPrisons ‘one major event from disaster’ after U-turn on early release scheme
Critics say the move, which will keep PC Harper’s killers in jail, leaves number of prison spaces ‘too close to the bone’PC Andrew Harper’s killers will remain behind bars after a critical intervention by Andy Burnham, but the move has led to warnings that overcrowded prisons will be left “one major event away from disaster”.Announcing a U-turn on the early release scheme after weeks of intense pressure, Burnham said he understood “how strongly people feel about this issue”. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.comMan killed by falling sign at Christian festival named as church pays tribute
Robert Guanco, 41, a pastor at Jesus Living Water church in Eastbourne, described as having ‘touched many lives’A 41-year-old man who died after a large wooden sign fell at a Christian festival on Friday has been named as Robert Guanco, a pastor at a church in Eastbourne, East Sussex.A tribute from his church on Sunday described him as a respected pastor who was a “loving husband” and “a devoted and caring father”. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.com‘Wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole’: Milo Yiannopoulos faces struggle to fit in with UK right wing
The ‘alt-right’ agitator and former Trump backer deported from US is said to be too extreme for GB News and ReformAs he arrives back in the UK after being deported from the US by the Trump administration, the far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos may be wondering what lies ahead for him in his native country.The “alt-right” agitator, 41, made his name in the US by promoting Donald Trump and associating with his allies before the 2016 election. Continue reading...
Read original · theguardian.com