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If you're looking for a new reason to be nervous about AI, try this: Some of the world's smartest humans are struggling to create tests that AI systems can't pass.For years, AI systems have been measured by giving new models a series of standardized benchmark tests. Many of these tests consisted of challenging SAT-caliber problems in areas such as math, science, and logic. Comparing model scores over time served as a rough measure of AI progress.But AI systems eventually became too good at these tests, so new, more difficult tests were created, often with the kinds of questions graduate students might encounter on exams.These tests are also not in good condition. New models from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have scored high on many doctoral-level challenges, limiting the us...

In the days after a ceasefire agreement took effect in the Gaza Strip, Israel turned its attention to a Palestinian town about 75 miles northeast of the enclave, a town with a long history of resistance and militant activity.On Wednesday, as some of its troops withdrew from Gaza, the Israeli army said it was carrying out an operation in Jenin, a city in the northern part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The city has been a hotbed of militancy and the target of raids by Israeli security forces for decades.Since the war in Gaza began, Hamas has become increasingly popular and established its presence in the West Bank. Iran – which supports Hamas and other militant groups in the region – has flooded the territory with weapons. And the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West B...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick for health secretary, maintains his financial stake in major litigation against Merck over a widely used vaccine given to young people, according to ethics filings made public Wednesday and court documents. This conflict of interest could raise questions for lawmakers as Mr. Kennedy aims to run agencies that regulate the drugmaker.The ethics documents say Mr. Kennedy will continue to collect fees for cases in which he referred clients to Wisner Baum, a law firm that sued Merck over Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, and is given to adolescents to prevent cervical and other cancers later in life.The deal has earned Kennedy, one of the nation's fiercest vaccine critics, more than $2.5 million in recent yea...

Prince Harry's lawyer announced on Wednesday that he had reached a settlement with Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers over allegations of illegal intelligence gathering - an abrupt end to a case that Harry had launched as a last chance to hold years-old tabloids to account of predatory behavior. .The News Group newspapers offered Harry a "full and unequivocal apology" for hacking into his mobile phone and intruding into his personal life, and acknowledged the "unlawful" conduct of private investigators hired by one of the tabloids, The Sun It was the first time News Group had admitted wrongdoing involving that newspaper.The company also apologized for its journalists' past intrusions into the private life of Harry's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris in ...

President Trump on Tuesday granted clemency to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road drug market and a cult hero in the cryptocurrency and libertarian world.In doing so, Trump fulfilled a promise he made several times during the campaign, soliciting political contributions from the cryptocurrency industry, which spent more than $100 million to influence the outcome of the election. A Bitcoin pioneer, Mr. Ulbricht, 40, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015, after being found guilty of charges that included distributing narcotics over the Internet.“I just called Ross William Ulbright's mother to let her know,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, misspelling Mr. Ulbricht's name and referring to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New Yo...

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi announced Tuesday that he would resign in early March, citing in part the failure of the army under his command to protect Israelis from Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.The heavy toll from the attacks – 1,200 dead in Israel and another 250 taken hostage in Gaza – had long come with expectations in Israel that at least some of the country's leaders would eventually step down. Only a few officials have done so, and General Halevi is the highest-ranking military leader to resign so far.“My responsibility for the terrible failure accompanies me every day, every hour and every will for the rest of my life,” he said in a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, and Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, announcing the h...

President Trump moved quickly to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization on Monday, a move that public health experts say will undermine the nation's position as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic.In an executive order issued about eight hours after he was sworn in, Trump cited a number of reasons for the withdrawal, including the WHO's "mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic" and "failure to urgently adopt reforms necessary." .” He said the agency demands “unfairly burdensome payments” from the United States and complained that China pays less.The move was not unexpected. Trump has been railing against the WHO since 2020, when he attacked the agency for its approach to the coronavirus pandemic and threatened to withhold U.S. funding....

After his expulsion, Mr Rudakubana was enrolled at Acorns School in Lancashire, which caters for children with special needs, and Presfield High School and Specialist College. But it has struggled to integrate, the safeguarding agency said, a situation that worsened after the pandemic began in 2020 and school closures. Despite professionals' efforts to engage with him, he "continued to face challenges related to his emotional and behavioral well-being, social interactions and education," the agency said, and his presence was limited."Feeling and senselessness"On July 22, Mr Rudakubana booked a taxi to take him to Range High School, according to a local police official. But his father ran out and begged the driver not to take him, and eventually Mr Rudakubana returned home. CCTV footage sho...

President Trump signed an executive order Monday to delay enforcement of the federal TikTok ban for 75 days, though the law took effect Sunday and it's unclear whether such a move would prevail over it.The order, one of Trump's first acts after taking office, instructs the attorney general to take no action to enforce the law so that his administration will have "the opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action to follow ". The order is retroactive to Sunday.As he signed the order, Trump told reporters that "the United States should have the right to get half of TikTok" if a deal is reached for the app, without going into detail. He said he thought TikTok could be worth a trillion dollars.The order could immediately face legal challenges, including over whether a president has...

Gazans realized the extent of the devastation in their old neighborhoods and Israelis awaited news on three newly released hostages as a day-long ceasefire between Hamas and Israel continued Monday.With the war's 15-month lull, Palestinians returned to the parts of the Gaza Strip from which they fled, picking their way through vast areas of rubble and trying to salvage what they could – a sofa, a mattress, a chair or a crate – from the rubble of their old homes.“People can barely recognize the destroyed places where they lived,” said Montaser Bahja, an English teacher, a day after visiting his old neighborhood in the northern city of Jabaliya.In a video shared with The New York Times, Mr. Bahja, 50, can be seen running through the streets with his son Alhassan, 21, and trying to reconcile ...