International

SAN FRANCISCO: Four US leaders in artificial intelligence (AI) announced on Wednesday the formation of an industry group devoted to addressing risks that cutting edge versions of the technology may pose. Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said the newly created Frontier Model Forum will draw on the expertise of its members to minimise AI risks and support industry standards. …

KABUL: Neckties worn by men were a sign of the Christian cross, a senior Afghan Taliban official said on Wednesday, adding they should be eliminated. “Sometimes, when I go to hospitals and other areas, an Afghan Muslim engineer or doctor uses a necktie,” said Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror, head of the Invitation and Guidance Directorate, a department that seeks to …

NEW YORK: Six people were injured in New York on Wednesday when the top portion of a construction crane caught fire and crashed into a Manhattan street during the morning rush hour, authorities said. Firefighters and rescue personnel arrived at the scene just as the crane fell, apparently responding to the blaze that had erupted in the cabin and caused …

Sinead O’Connor, the Irish singer known for her stirring voice, 1990 chart topping hit ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and outspoken views, has died at the age of 56, Irish media quoted her family as saying on Wednesday. Brash and direct — her shaved head, pained expression, and shapeless wardrobe a direct challenge to popular culture’s long-prevailing notions of femininity and …

SYDNEY: One of Australia’s longest-serving prime ministers on Wednesday said British colonisation was “the luckiest thing that happened” to his country, while predicting a referendum to give Indigenous communities a “voice” in national policymaking would fail. Australia is expected to hold a referendum this year on whether to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a constitutionally enshrined right to be …

AMELAND: An electric car was suspected in a blaze raging aboard a cargo ship off the Netherlands on Wednesday, which authorities fear could burn for days and threaten nearby natural sites. The cargo aboard the vessel includes electric vehicles and the ship’s owners told Dutch media it was the suspected cause of the deadly fire, which will now be investigated. …

WASHINGTON: A US federal judge on Tuesday voided a 2017 court-martial conviction against Bowe Bergdahl, an Army sergeant who walked off his post in 2009 only to be captured by the Taliban and spend five years as their prisoner. Bergdahl’s conviction in 2017 left him with a dishonorable discharge, reduction in rank to the lowest enlisted pay grade and an effective fine …

NIAMEY: Presidential guards were holding Niger President Mohamed Baz­oum inside his palace in the capital Niamey on Wednesday in what neighbouring countries called an attempted coup, but which the presidency desc­ribed as an “anti-republican” movement “in vain”. West Africa’s main regional and economic bloc ECOWAS said it was concerned about an attempted coup d’etat and called on the plotters to …

PHNOM PENH: Cam­bodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday he would step down and hand over power to his son next month, ending a near four-decade reign during which he established stability after years of war but stifled democracy in the process. One of the world’s longest ruling leaders, Hun Sen made the announcement days after his Cambodian Peoples …

The Indian government’s effort to privatise part of its space programme by opening bids to build its small satellite launch rocket has attracted initial interest from 20 companies, an official overseeing the process told Reuters. India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation, the national space agency, and had its first successful satellite launch in …