Author: AFP

Today’s robots perform safety checks at industrial plants, conduct quality control in manufacturing, and are even starting to keep hospital patients company. But soon — perhaps very soon — these increasingly humanlike machines will handle more sophisticated tasks, freeing up people while raising complex questions about the roles of artificial intelligence that are gaining attention. At a panel hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), experts described the next five years as a period where robots transition primarily from industrial sites to service settings, helping to address a worsening health care labor…

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Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa told visiting Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Friday that he was ready to stem “illegal immigration” to Europe, the European diplomat said. “Sharaa says he is ready to block illegal immigration, (and) fight against drug traffickers,” Tajani said in the Lebanese capital, the second leg of his trip, adding these were “two crucial commitments for Italy”.

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Today’s robots perform safety checks at industrial plants, conduct quality control in manufacturing, and are even starting to keep hospital patients company. But soon — perhaps very soon — these increasingly humanlike machines will handle more sophisticated tasks, freeing up people while raising complex questions about the roles of artificial intelligence that are gaining attention. At a panel hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), experts described the next five years as a period where robots transition primarily from industrial sites to service settings, helping to address a worsening health care labor…

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a defence meeting of Kyiv’s allies in Germany on Thursday, he said in a video address. “Tomorrow I will attend a meeting in the Ramstein format, and I am also planning talks with partners at the level of defence ministers and military commanders,” Zelensky said Wednesday in the video posted online. He was referring to a meeting of Ukraine’s backers, hosted by the United States at the Ramstein air base in Germany.

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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, convicted twice in separate cases since leaving office, goes on trial Monday charged with accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Sarkozy’s career has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election but he is an influential figure and also known to regularly meet President Emmanuel Macron. The fiercely ambitious and energetic 69-year-old, who while in power from 2007-2012 liked to be known as the “hyper-president”, has been convicted in two cases, charged in another and is being investigated in connection with two…

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Chinese hackers were involved in most of the cyberattacks against Taiwan last year, which doubled to a daily average of 2.4 million, Taiwanese security officials said. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and for years has been ramping up military, diplomatic and political pressure on the island to accept its claims of sovereignty. Taiwan says cyberattacks have also increased as Beijing uses a range of “greyzone” methods to harass the island — tactics that fall short of an act of war. Most of the daily attacks received by Taiwan’s Government Service Network were attributed to China’s “cyber force”,…

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French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday accused Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of social media platform X, of intervening in elections, including Germany’s snap legislative polls next month. “Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany,” Macron said in a speech to French ambassadors, while also saying US president-elect Donald Trump “knows he has a strong ally in France”.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday vowed an “all-out battle against corruption” as top leaders convened in Beijing for an annual planning session of the country’s top disciplinary agency. “We must always maintain our tenacity and perseverance… and resolutely fight the tough, protracted and all-out battle against corruption,” Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The Chinese leader has overseen a wide-ranging campaign against official corruption since coming to power just over a decade ago. Proponents say the policy promotes clean governance, but others say it also serves as a means for Xi to purge political rivals. In November, the…

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Azerbaijan’s president said on Monday that Russia was “guilty” over the downing of an airline last month that Baku says was shot by Russian air defences. An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 jet crash-landed in Kazakhstan on December 25, killing 38 of the 67 people on board, after being diverted from a scheduled landing in the southern Russian city of Grozny. Moscow has admitted its air defences were operational in the area at the time, which it said was under attack from Ukrainian drones. Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised that the “incident” occurred in his country’s air space but has…

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned Elon Musk’s “erratic” comments and his open support for the extreme-right AfD party in an interview published Saturday. The world’s wealthiest man — who owns social media platform X — has in a string of posts attacked several European leaders and ruffled feathers on the continent. Asked about interference by Musk — who last month called Scholz an “incompetent fool” before calling the German president an “anti-democratic tyrant”, the chancellor told Stern magazine it was important “to keep calm” ahead of Germany’s snap elections on February 23. “In Germany, everything is proceeding according to the…

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