Unity test

PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea — North Korea carried out what it said was the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The blasts at the test site in the sparsely populated northeast were supposed to build confidence ahead of a planned summit next month between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. But Trump canceled the meeting on Thursday , citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a North Korean statement released earlier in the day. The explosions were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area. North Korea held a closing ceremony afterward with officials from its nuclear arms program in attendance. The group of journalists that witnessed the demolition, which touched off landslides near the tunnel entrances and sent up clouds of smoke and dust, included an Associated Press … [Read more...] about North Korea destroys nuke test site in front of journalists

By now, plenty of us know that artificially intelligent virtual assistants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard can pull off sensational stunts, such as winning coding contests, passing bar exams and professing love to a tech columnist. But I wondered: How helpful are the bots, really, as actual assistants? It’s worth asking because our first rodeo with virtual assistants didn’t go so well. Older A.I. bots like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa had more than a decade to improve, but they ended up stagnating and are now used mostly for setting timers and playing music. ChatGPT and Bard, on the other hand, use so-called large language models that recognize and generate text based on enormous data sets scraped off the web. They are trained to compose sentences on the fly as if they were human, which potentially makes them far more versatile as assistants. To test that theory, I came up with a list of tasks that people might ask of a human assistant. I prodded friends who … [Read more...] about How ChatGPT and Bard Performed as My Executive Assistants

On the morning of Oct. 5, President Bush and his education secretary, Margaret Spellings, paid a visit, along with camera crews from CNN and Fox News, to Friendship-Woodridge Elementary and Middle Campus, a charter public school in Washington. The president dropped in on two classrooms, where he asked the students, almost all of whom were African-American and poor, if they were planning to go to college. Every hand went up. “See, that’s a good sign,” the president told the students when they assembled later in the gym. “Going to college is an important goal for the future of the United States of America.” He singled out one student, a black eighth grader named Asia Goode, who came to Woodridge four years earlier reading “well below grade level.” But things had changed for Asia, according to the president. “Her teachers stayed after school to tutor her, and she caught up,” he said. “Asia is now an honors student. She loves reading, and she sings in the school choir.” Bush’s Woodridge … [Read more...] about What It Takes to Make a Student

The King and Queen Consort are in Germany - the first state visit since the start of the new monarch's reign. The couple arrived at Berlin's Brandenburg Airport at about 1pm UK time, and visited the Brandenburg Gate, the first time the landmark has been used to welcome any visiting head of state. Day one of their three-day tour in one of the EU's leading nations will also include a state dinner with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The King took time to greet individuals who were waiting at the gate and spoke to a group of girls who had recently visited London, and a schoolchild who he asked: "No school today?" The King will head to the Presidential Palace, where he will learn what Germany is doing to support Ukraine, and address the German parliament, speaking in both English and German. It is rumoured that some of the King's German cousins have been invited to attend the event. One of these relatives include Prince Donatus of Hesse, who dined with the late Queen … [Read more...] about King and Queen Consort arrive in Berlin for first state visit

In a first-of-its-kind study, Australian researchers are trialing the immune-boosting powers of human waste to treat cancer survivors with a common chronic post-operative illness. "Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD) is a common complication of bone-marrow transplant," Andrea Henden, who is leading the study, told Newsweek . Bone-marrow transplants are used to treat patients with certain forms of cancer and other blood diseases. Bone marrow is the tissue where blood cells are made, so replacing this tissue can restore a healthy cell population in the patient's blood. However, because bone marrow is responsible for the production of white blood cells—the body's biological SWAT squad—the transplantation effectively introduces a whole new immune system into the host. Sometimes, this immune system does not recognize the cells of its new host, and so will start attacking the patient's own healthy cells. This is what happens in GVHD. "When [GVHD] occurs soon after bone-marrow … [Read more...] about “Poo transplant” trial could help save blood-cancer patients: Here’s how

Sports Video games NBA Gamers The cramped room in Midtown Manhattan was packed wall-to-wall with YouTubers—a relentlessly cheery bunch—the lot of them excitedly live-streaming, likes and comments bobbing across their screens. It was August, and the crowd was previewing the latest product from the NBA 2K video game series—NBA 2K18, which was released Friday to those who pre-ordered—and the event was crowded with elite gamers, social media stars, 2K staffers and, pocked about the room, honest-to-God, in-the-flesh NBA players. Security stood at the front door. Booze flowed from a bar in the back. TVs pinstriped the length of the room, cutting it into even rows. That was the main attraction, with the gamers lining up, jostling through the morass of people to get their turn on the joysticks (all of this, of course, beamed over the internet to 2K devotees). In a room full of presumed NBA fans it was somewhat disorienting to see these NBA players—Brooklyn Nets guard … [Read more...] about Virtual Meets Reality: Inside NBA 2K and Pro Basketball

Kia's new flagship three-row electric SUV has been fully revealed, bringing fresh styling and innovative technology to the company's electric vehicle (EV) lineup. It's a combination of what is expected from a family-friendly sport utility vehicle (SUV), and a new show of what Kia is capable of, from luxe appointments and an energy-efficient powertrain to sustainable materials and spaciousness. "The Kia EV9 transcends all aspects of traditional SUV thinking and represents the pinnacle of Kia's design and engineering capabilities," Ho Sung Song, Kia's president and CEO, said. "Created to meet the needs of all family members, the EV9 also spearheads Kia's rapid transition to a sustainable mobility solutions provider, not just by its advanced EV architecture, but also through the numerous recycled and sustainable materials used in its creation." As the market stands now, the EV9 has few direct competitors in the American market. However, that is expected to change drastically over … [Read more...] about New Kia EV9 electric SUV is a funky, fresh take on family hauling

Weight loss jabs such as Ozempic and Wegovy have been hailed as the future of obesity treatment - but some users are debilitated by nausea and regain the lost pounds as soon as they stop injections. Both those problems could be solved by a new weight loss treatment that has shown promising results in a newly svelte group of rats. For now, this potential weight loss miracle is known as GEP44. It is similar to other weight loss jabs in that it interacts with gut hormone receptors to signal fullness, curb appetite and normalise blood sugar. The difference is that it activates multiple receptors rather than just one - and it seems that could be the key to bypassing nausea and vomiting. Obese rats were given GEP44, which caused them to eat up to 80% less than they normally would. By the end of the 16-day study they had lost 12% of their body weight - with no signs of nausea. Shrews were also part of the study because rats are not capable of vomiting, and did not show … [Read more...] about Next wave of weight loss jabs could be coming – without the nausea Ozempic and Wegovy can cause

Health officials sit at an empty government-run Covid-19 screening clinic in Jung District, central Seoul, on Wednesday. [YONHAP] Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 will have to quarantine for five days, not seven, from early May. The mandate could be entirely lifted in July, meaning that people won't have to isolate even if they come down with the virus. Under the current system, patients must report their infection to local health authorities and quarantine for a week. If they refuse to isolate, they face up to a year in prison or 10 million won ($7,700) in fines. The mask mandate for high-risk facilities could also be lifted in July. Since March 20, the Korean government has allowed people to unmask on public transportation, but masks are still required at hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, welfare centers for the disabled and mental health centers. Visitors to pharmacies in large supermarkets or subway stations, however, do not have to wear masks. If the … [Read more...] about Mandatory quarantine to be cut to five days from May

Chun Woo-won speaks to reportrers after being released from police custody at the Seoul Mapo Police Station on Wednesday. [YONHAP] Chun Woo-won, grandson of former president Chun Doo Hwan, immediately left for Gwangju on his release from police custody on Wednesday. He said he will continue to apologize to the people of Gwangju regarding the atrocity committed by his grandfather during the pro-democracy uprising in 1980. “There is a low possibility that my family will cooperate,” Chun said regarding his family member confessing to the various crimes that he had accused recently through his Instagram and YouTube videos. “They will try to hide whatever crime that they had committed,” Chun said in front of the Seoul Mapo Police Station surrounded by reporters. “And I will apology for my family. “I thank the citizens of Gwangju for accepting this sinner.” He said he decided to expose the dark secrets of his family and close friends including the hidden wealth, drug abuses and … [Read more...] about Chun Doo Hwan grandson heads straight to Gwangju after release